Fnatic

Overview

The organization was founded on 23 July 2004 by Sam Mathews and Anne Mathews. After playing several years for Fnatic, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, a Counter-Strike player, became the Chief Gaming Officer of Fnatic in 2012. Wouter Sleijffers replaced Anne Mathews as CEO in 2015, whilst Sam Mathews is the Board Chairman.

Between 2008 and 2009, Fnatic was sponsored by MSI and SteelSeries, spurring a temporary name change to FnaticMSI. On 1 June 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to launch their gaming monitors into the market.

In 2006, Fnatic acquired a World of Warcraft team, Fnatic. WoW. Returning to represent Fnatic in the World of Warcraft 3v3 community was players TooGood, Vo0, and Ztrider. The Fnatic. WoW division won top finishes in events including BlizzCon, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and Major League Gaming (MLG).

In 2007, Fnatic acquired a DotA team, Fnatic. DotA, represented by Ritter "Ritter" Rusli, Romi "melen" Gunawan, Ariyanto "Lakuci" Sony, Sugiarto "BaHaMuT" Cahyadi, Jeffry "Neo" Lu. They were formerly known as XcN DotA.

In 2008, Fnatic picked up a new DotA team with a roster of Edvin "Kwom" Börjesson, Jonathan "Loda" Berg, Rasmus "Misery" Berth, Rene "Kebap-" Werner, and Aringazin "Aidar" Aidar.

In 2010 FnaticMSI.HoN was restructured with a roster of Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, Henrik "Freshpro" Hansen, Jascha "Nova" Markuse, and Tal "Fly" Aizik.

In January 2012, Fnatic took on RaidCall as a sponsor. With the new title sponsor, Fnatic expanded into South Korea and became the first non-Korean esports team to acquire a professional gaming house in Seoul.

In 2012, Fnatic picked up the former GamersLeague Dota 2 team in order to compete with other top teams. The team placed fourth in ESWC, but soon after, the team parted ways with Fnatic.

In August 2014, Fnatic announced that it had partnered with Luke Millanta to produce a number of Counter Strike: Global Offensive weapon finishes.

In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to Dota 2, acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia.

On 1 October 2015 sports betting website Dafabet became a sponsor of Fnatic.

The company has its headquarters in London, near the Silicon Roundabout at Old Street, with a full-time senior management team including a CEO, CGO, Sales Director, Accounts Director and Head of Creative Services.

Fnatic also runs an independent digital agency, Sannpa, for businesses looking to be involved in eSports.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Dota 2

Heroes of the Storm

League of Legends

Substitutes

Overwatch

Vainglory

Counter-Strike

Fnatic entered the Counter-Strike competitive scene in 2004, when the team was founded by Freek FraK Tammeling. The initial roster, led by Benjamin "diGitaL" Hildén, managed to win CPL Singapore 2005 but struggled to make much of an impact at other international events. At the beginning of 2006, Fnatic released the entire lineup except for sniper Harley "dsn" Örwall, who was tasked to assemble a new roster. Örwall recruited Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, the in-game leader of EYEballers; Oscar "Archi" Torgersen, from Team GoN; and Begrip duo Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund. This lineup would go on to win many major events in 2006, culminating with a 1st-place finish at CPL Winter 2006. In 2011, Fnatic's Counter-Strike team placed top three in many events with their newly acquired player, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen. This simultaneously led to dropping many uncontracted players such as Qet (Counter-Strike), Lauke (UT) and Vo0 (Q3).

cArn gained a reputation as one of Counter-Strike's premier in-game leaders and strategy callers from 2006-2012 due to his ability to lead several completely different Fnatic rosters to major tournament wins. However, in March 2012, he announced his surprise retirement before the IEM Season VI World Finals, going on to become the first Chief Gaming Officer (CGO) for Fnatic. Xizt took on the role of the in-game leader, replacing cArn with Finn "Karrigan" Andersen, another Danish player. The new team won their first major LAN event at Copenhagen Games 2012. On the same weekend, FnaticRC.aLive won his first ever major tournament at IPL4 Las Vegas.

After Fnatic CS won 2012 DreamHack Summer and the Swedish Championships, Rasmus "Gux" Stahl retired from Counter-Strike, leaving an open spot in Fnatic. On 26 June, Fnatic announced that Martin "trace" Heldt will join the team. In August, Richard "Xizt" Landstorm left the team to play CS:GO for NiP; Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson was announced as his replacement.

When Fnatic switched to Counter Strike: Global Offensive, they became one of the top teams in the world. In order to complete the roster, Fnatic announced that Xyp9x & JOKERN will join them to compete in Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The team was able to finish in the 3rd/4th position of the EMS Season 1 Finals.

In late 2013, Fnatic won their first ever major tournament in Counter Strike: Global Offensive, under the guidance of their new leader, Markus "pronax" Wallsten, taking out the team Ninjas in Pyjamas. In 2014, Fnatic took in 2 ex-LGB players, Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Freddy "Krimz" Johansson. They went on to win ESL One Katowice 2015 after defeating NiP, and on 24 August 2015, Fnatic won ESL One Cologne 2015, after defeating Team EnVyUs. Because of this roster's back-to-back major wins and 11 other international titles, some consider this Fnatic team to be the strongest roster ever assembled in the history of CS:GO.

In November 2015, after a few disappointing tournament performances, pronax decided to take a hiatus from competitive CS:GO. He was replaced with Dennis "dennis" Edman from international team G2. In December 2015, Fnatic beat NiP 2-1 and secured their second Fragbite Masters win, the other being in season 3. Fnatic regained the #1 position in HLTV.org's team rankings after the tournament, and remain the #1 ranked team in the world today.

In April 2016 olofmeister announced a wrist injury and John "wenton" Eriksson took his place temporarily.

On 15 August 2016 Fnatic announced that Flusha, JW, and KRiMZ will be transferred to GODSENT and the team would be welcoming Twist and Lekro in return. Wenton, who is already a sub for Fnatic, will be completing the lineup.

Dota 2

On 30 March 2012, Fnatic's Heroes of Newerth team, consisting of Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Jascha "NoVa" Markuse, Tal "Fly" Aizik, and Adrian "Era" Kryeziu officially switched to Dota 2. By early September of the same year, a roster was finalized with the addition of Kai "H4nn1" Hanbückers and Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, the latter of whom replaced Jascha "NoVa" Markuse.

In 2014, Fnatic parted ways with its Dota 2 squad with each member deciding to leave the organization.

In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to Dota 2, acquiring the roster of Team Malaysia.

Fnatic placed 4th at The International 2016.

Season 1

Fnatic entered the League of Legends scene in March 2011 by acquiring the roster of the eSports team myRevenge. Two months later, the squad consisting of xPeke, LaMiaZeaLoT, Shushei, CyanideFI, Mellisan and MagicFingers qualified for the Season 1 World Championship after WetDream left. Fnatic performed well during the championship and after taking down against All authority 2-1 they were crowned the Season 1 world champions.

Season 2

In season 2 and the preseason before it, the team participated in the Intel Extreme Masters Season VI circuit and Azubu The Champions Spring 2012, where they reached the quarter finals. After that, the team lost many of its players. Between June and September 2012, Shuhei, Mellisan, Pheilox, and Lamia moved on and were replaced by sOAZ, and nRated. Among these roster changes the team did not manage to qualify for the Season 2 World Championship after losing the deciding series in the Regional Finals with 0-2 against Counter Logic Gaming EU.

Season 3

In the Season 3 preseason Rekkles was recruited and Fnatic won DreamHack Winter 2012, finished second at IPL 5 in Las Vegas and IEM Season VII – Global Challenge Cologne. Rekkles did not meet the minimal age requirements for Riot's Season 3 League Championship Series and was replaced by YellOwStaR on 26 December.

In 2013, Fnatic won the Spring Split of Season 3, but during the Summer Split, the team struggled and decided that a player change was necessary. In July 2013, Fnatic announced changes to their League of Legends roster. nRated, the main support, left the team and YellOwstaR, the former AD carry, switched roles to play support. Puszu then joined the team in their Cologne gaming house to finish Season 3 as Fnatic's AD Carry. Fnatic later won the Season 3 Summer Split and qualified for the World Championship in Los Angeles, California.

During the Group Stage of the Season 3 World finals, Fnatic went into the quarter-finals against Cloud9, considered the best team in North America at the time. After defeating Cloud9 2–1, Fnatic advanced to the semi-finals against Royal Club Huang Zu. They later lost against Royal Club and placed tied for 3rd place.

Season 4

In the 2014 season Rekkles rejoined the team and Fnatic secured their third LCS title after defeating SK Gaming in the playoffs final of the Spring Split. The Summer Split saw Fnatic struggle against Alliance in another playoffs final but even after losing the match, Fnatic had collected enough points to qualify for the 2014 World Championship.

The World Championship saw Fnatic placed in Group C with Samsung Blue, OMG, and LMQ. The team was only able to win 2 out of 6 matches, meaning that they would go no further in the tournament.

Season 5

In the 2015 preseason sOAZ, Rekkles, xPeke and Cyanide left Fnatic and were replaced by Huni, Reignover, Febiven, and Steeelback.

Fnatic won the 2015 Spring Split, after beating the Unicorns of Love on 19 April 2015 in Madrid, Spain in the playoffs grand final that went 3-2 in favor of Fnatic. They would later attend the Mid Seasonal Invitational, an international competition attended by the top teams of each region. They went 2–3 in the group stage and made it to the playoffs. They were matched against former world champion SK Telecom T1, to whom they lost 2–3.

In the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split, Fnatic became the first LCS team to complete a regular split undefeated, finishing with a score of 18 wins and 0 losses. They would go on to win the 2015 EU Summer Split Playoffs, beating Origen 3-2, and qualifying for the 2015 League of Legends World Championships as the #1 seed from Europe.

In the 2015 League of Legends World Championship, Fnatic won Group B in the group stage with a 4–2 record. In the quarterfinals they defeated the Chinese team EDward Gaming with a score of 3:0. In the semifinal they ended up losing to the Korean team KOO Tigers with a score of 0–3, giving them a third/fourth-place finish in the tournament.

Season 6

The 2016 preseason saw the departure of Huni, Reignover and Yellowstar from the team. It was then announced that they would be replaced by Spirit, Gamsu and NoxiaK.

In the 2016 Spring Split the team struggled to find its footing at first but the replacement of NoxiaK by Klaj saw an improved Fnatic make it to the final of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice where they lost 0-3 against SKT T1. The team finished the split in sixth place and made it to the playoffs where they upset Team Vitality 3-1 before losing to eventual champions G2 Esports 3-1 in the semifinals. They then defeated H2k Gaming 3-2 to secure third place overall.

A month later, Fnatic announced the return of Yellowstar to the lineup for the 2016 Spring Split.

On 13 May 2016, Fnatic announced the departure of Noh Yeong-Jin, better known as Gamsu, from the starting line-up. Gamsu had been with the team for 7 months, joining alongside his Korean counterpart and friend, Dayun "Spirit" Lee, at the start of the 2016 season. Together, the team battled against the odds to reach the Grand Final of IEM Katowice as well as clinching 3rd place in the LCS Spring Split. He was replaced by former G2 Esports top laner Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek, after stepping down from their main roster. Kikis debuted with Fnatic during the start of the 8th week of the EU LCS. Fnatic finished the 2016 EU LCS Summer Split regular season in 4th after a playoff match against H2k-Gaming. They would go on to play H2k again in the playoffs. In between the two fixtures, Fnatic parted ways with head coach Luis "Deilor" Sevilla and replaced him with Nicholas "NicoThePico" Korsgård. After their series against H2k was delayed due to technical issues, H2k defeated Fnatic 3-0 on 16 August 2016.

Smite

On 8 November 2014 Fnatic signed its first Smite team, acquiring the roster of Exposed Secrets. The team made it to the semifinals of the Season 1 EU regional Championship but did not manage to qualify for the SMITE World Championship. On 23 December 2014 the team disbanded.

On 6 March 2015 Fnatic announced signing the roster of SK Gaming. The team competed in the Smite Pro League and finished 5th in the Summer Finals, winning $18,250.

For the Season 3 Spring Split, Fnatic announced the addition of BigManTingz and Jiffy to the team after Badgah and CaptainTwig left at the start of 2016. The team finished the season in 8th place with an 8-20 record.

ShootMania Storm

In November 2012, Fnatic announced that they picked up a ShootMania Storm team. The team recruited Kévin "Strenx" Baéza, a former member of their previous Quake team, as well as two new players, Maikel "LeKaiM" Peeters and Jean Pierre "JiePie" Janssen. The trio won numerous small cups, and the Shootmania Launch Party, where they won $30,000. In December, Christoffer "Luxxiz" Losell joined the team after the departure of LeKaiM.

On 8 January 2014 Fnatic announced the departure of their ShootMania squad and the closure of their Shootmania division, stating a decline in quantity and quality of ShootMania tournaments as the main reason.

Real-time strategy games

With DXRacer joining the list of sponsors, Fnatic decided to expand to Korea. On 19 March 2012 they announced that they would open a Fnatic Gaming House in Seoul. They became the first foreign team to establish a permanent training facility for players in Seoul. Fnatic then acquired several talented players from the Korean StarCraft II scene. In January, "DeParture" and Warcraft legend "Moon", and "aLive" moved into the gaming house. They were coached by Hwanni, who also joined Fnatic that month. Later, OZ and Luvsic signed a contract with Fnatic. In 2012, Rain announced his retirement and left the team, followed by Byul, Ares and Moon. Only two players were left in Korea, forcing Fnatic to announce their closure of their gaming house in Seoul and the end of their contracts with aLive and OZ. Harstem was later promoted from the Academy to the main roster, and the team picked up SaSe, another well known player in the scene.

Other divisions

In 2008, Fnatic picked up Maximo12, a FIFA soccer video game player who won several titles in 2008 & 2009, such as the WCG Spain Champion in 2008.