Fnatic has been considered a top-tier team in the LEC and world. First and second place records in the EU LCS and appearances at the World Championships are common. Similar placings at the IEM World Championships and Mid-Season Invitational can be seen as well. However, during the 2019 LEC Spring Season, Fnatic ended with a third place finish. The League of Legends team ended up losing to Origen and not making it out of Spring Playoffs. Now it seems the United Kingdom-based esports organization has made a big change to its roster to fix these problems. The team has brought Daniel “Dan” Hockley up from the Fnatic Academy team as a substitute jungler for the summer season, to play alongside Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen.
Dan on joining Fnatic
📰 LEC Summer Split Player and Staff Update 📰
@FNC_Dan is promoted from #FNATICRISING to become the sixth player in our LEC roster.
@njiiLoL arrives in the jungle position for #FNATICRISING.@BroxahLoL remains our starting LEC jungler.
READ MORE ➡️ https://t.co/qI35rn7xBt pic.twitter.com/c49ZZhU1g1
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) May 30, 2019
“Having been around the Challenger and Academy scene for several years, I’m thankful to Fnatic for seeing that I can make the step up to LEC,” said Dan. “I’m looking forward to working with Broxah and the rest of the team as we aim for a return to the top. Thank you to my teammates at Fnatic Rising for an amazing spring, which I’m sure they’ll continue this summer.”
With Dan moving up to Fnatic’s main roster, Cantoursna “Nji” An will take his place on Fnatic Rising. While on Fnatic Rising, the team achieved a second place finishing during the Spring Split of the 2019 LVP UK League Championship. The roster later finished in first place at the Spring Playoffs. They also placed first at the 2019 LVP Forge of Champions Spring Main Event.
Broxah on the roster change
— Broxah (@BroxahLoL) May 30, 2019
Broxah released his own statement to Twitter saying that he disagreed with the move. He describes that the “final decision” was from the coaching staff to add Dan to the roster as a substitute jungler. He later goes on to mention how he has “been trying to accept this decision” and it is something that he has a “difficult time” with.
“Amongst many improvements is to increase our depth and strength in the jungle position for our LEC team. After a very successful spring split with our UKLC squad, we see this as an incredibly timely and deserved opportunity to promote Dan,” said Jan “Careion” Hoffmann, the Fnatic League of Legends Team Director. “We’re incredibly happy to see Dan progress, but also have absolutely no doubt that Broxah will continue to be an integral part of our team and also start in LEC. We hope this helps reaffirm our utmost belief in our academy system — to not only grow new talent but to improve our team as a whole.”
After a disappointing finish, the fact that the coaching staff made these decisions means they thought of it as a good idea. The 2019 LEC Summer Season starts up this week on June 7. How will Fnatic fair this time? Will they make it to the 2019 World Championships? Only time will tell.
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Published: Jun 4, 2019 11:49 am