A surprising upset at the Shanghai Major could now result in the upending of Fnatic’s current roster, according to its most tenured player.
The Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 kicked off on November 29, 2024. Fnatic has been a near-constant presence at the top of the Counter-Strike esports scene. The team took home the trophy from three different majors in the game’s early days and has been qualifying for and performing well in major events as recently as 2023. However, while Fnatic qualified for the Shanghai Major, it didn’t stick around for long. One player is uneasy about where the team could go from here.
With a rocky start and end to the Shanghai Major, some of Fnatic’s members are expressing concern over their careers with the team.
In a post on X, longtime Fnatic team member Freddy “Krimz” Johansson shared that he was “uncertain” about what would happen in the near future from all parties involved. Though no clarification was provided, this could mean a few different things.
It wouldn’t be shocking if Fnatic let go of its whole CS2 team, or at least a few major players. Krimz himself could also be considering a change given his past success in Counter-Strike majors and legendary status. “All parties” implies that both the organization and the players could be considering options. Whatever the reason, big changes may be coming to the Swedish team.
The current roster has only been together since May 2024. Two players joined in November 2023, and one player is currently on loan. Krimz has been the cornerstone of Fnatic’s roster, with a decade under the organization’s umbrella, save for his two-month run with Godsent. Some fans speculate the team has the right pieces, but needs more time together.
Fnatic lost its first two best-of-ones during the opening stage of the Shanghai Major. The first was against Wildcard, with the second coming against Cloud9. The team’s fate was sealed with a 2-1 defeat dealt by China’s Rare Atom. Rare Atom was widely chosen in pick’ems as one of the teams to suffer a 0-3 defeat.
The Perfect World Shanghai Major runs through December 15. At the end, CS2 will have a new major champion to add to the history books. If nothing else good happens for Fnatic, at least all competing players still get a cool Shanghai Major sticker.
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