After a disappointing showing at the London Major, Fnatic is moving Robin “flusha” Rönnquist to the roster bench. Standing in for him will be Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, formerly from Team Envy.
Ahead of our participation at ESL One New York, we make a change to our starting CS:GO roster.@flusha_csgo moves to the bench whilst we explore his future. @nV_ScreaM_ comes in as stand-in.
READ MORE 📰 https://t.co/1VQ6cEqpoo pic.twitter.com/cSPC6jO0wa
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) September 21, 2018
Flusha and co. were having a pretty disappointing second half of the season. After winning the Intel Extreme Masters Season XII Championship and the WESG in early 2018, they have not been able to find the same success. For example, Fnatic would have early exits in big events like ECS Season 5 Finals, ESL One Cologne, 2018 ELEAGUE Premier, and Dreamhack Masters Stockholm. Finally, the Swedish squad would fall out of the recent FACEIT London Major in the Legends Stage. Fnatic was a top-six team for most of 2018 but was not able to find results in later tournaments.
Flusha: A Historied Past
Meanwhile, Flusha was a staple member of Fnatic and marks a dramatic twist in the organization’s history. He would play for the team for an almost combined five years and would remain on the team amidst multiple roster changes. In his first stint with Fnatic, he would win three Major championships through 2013 to 2016. DreamHack Winter 2013, ESL One Katowice 2015, and ESL One Cologne 2015 would make the Counter-Strike history books!
In 2017, the Swedish veteran would actually change teams for half a year, joining Jesper “JW” Wecksell and Markus “pronax” Wallsten on GODSENT. Unfortunately, the roster would not be successful at many events and would eventually cease operations. Flusha would rejoin Fnatic in 2018 and would find their form in time for IEM Season XII and WESG. However, Fnatic losing their Legends status for the next Major means they will need to play the qualifiers. This was the straw that would end up breaking the camel’s back for the organization to make a drastic change.
Fnatic’s New Lineup
As of now, Fnatic’s new lineup stands as:
- Richard “Xizt” Landström
- Jesper “JW” Wecksell
- Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson
- William “draken” Sundin
- Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom
Fnatic would release a press statement about the benching of Flusha, saying:
We have not taken this decision with a light heart. Recent results, culminating in our failure to reach Legend Status for the first time during the Major in London this month, have led us to begin work towards a revised team culture within Fnatic and thus moving towards instilling a new sense of stability in the team. We hope to establishing Fnatic as the world-renowned name in Counter-Strike that we have seen before and towards which we believe we should always be striving.
Many of his teammates would take to social media to share their thanks to their longtime teammate. “6 years. Thanks for everything Flusha. I hope we cross each other’s roads in the future again.” said JW, one of Flusha’s good friends on the team. KRIMZ would also share his sadness on Twitter, saying, “We fought, won some, lost some. One of the greatest friends and teammates I’ll ever have.” Fans are also quite confused about the move, saying that it isn’t a real upgrade and that it simply came out of nowhere. It was clear, however, that Fnatic was in need of some change.
The organization is also considering its options with their newly benched player. One can only believe that if a team would come with an offer, Fnatic would allow Flusha to take it if he so chooses. There are many teams who would consider picking him up, as he is still a capable player with a lot of veteran experience. No matter what happens, we wish Flusha the best of luck in the rest of his endeavors. Meanwhile, ScreaM has not been in action after being released from Team Envy’s roster. We will see if he can find his form for ESL One New York.
What do you think of Fnatic benching Flusha and picking up ScreaM? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want more Counter-Strike coverage, check us out here!
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