Fnatic will not start bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp at the beginning of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship group stage, according to a statement released by the team on Sunday. Instead, the team will be field substitute bot laner Louis “Bean” Schmitz. Upset also issued a statement on his personal Twitter on Oct. 13.
Worlds 2021 Roster Update pic.twitter.com/UojSgt1iBe
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) October 10, 2021
Upset, who played a large part in the team’s success in helping Fnatic reach Worlds 2021, must return home due to a family emergency. He joined the team at the start of the year and forged a strong duo alongside support player Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov. While Fnatic did not find success during the spring split, the team completed an impressive four-series win streak in the LEC summer split playoffs to make it to the grand finals.
Bean, who is set to replace Upset, only joined Fnatic’s Academy team, Fnatic Rising, this year. He made the NLC finals twice and reached the EU Masters grand finals last summer.
Once the group stage begins on Monday, Fnatic will have to overcome teams like Hanwha Life Esports and PSG Talon in Group C to advance to the next stage of the event.
Upset posted the following personal statement on Twitter.
Everyone who knows me understands that playing worlds was always my dream. But there is always a thing more important and that is taking care of your family when there is intense suffering and I felt very bad being so far away in such a difficult time when I was needed so for me
— Elias Lipp (@LoL_Upset) October 13, 2021
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story misquoted Fnatic’s Dardo in regard to Upset’s potential availability for Worlds 2021. The following is the correct statement:
“Right now, as we posted yesterday, he is not available to be here because of a family emergency,” Dardo said. “There are some policies around the event and I think it’s very difficult that he could be coming back for the last three games of groups. Whether there would be an opportunity in the future for him to join if we continue moving forward in the tournament or not is something we cannot anticipate.”
