According to Esport Maniacos, Gabriel “Bwipo” Ray and Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek have refused to renew their contracts with Fnatic. Both players’ contracts end on Nov. 15, 2021, after the LEC summer split and a potential League of Legends World Championship. This news comes after the rumored departure of the team’s mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dancer.
According to @Esportmaniacos, Bwipo and Selfmade have not extended their contracts with Fnatic beyond 2021. I heard the same info https://t.co/jSpmqPt6Sr
— LEC Wooloo 🇪🇺 (@LEC_Wooloo) April 26, 2021
Fnatic had a disappointing end to the spring split after finishing fifth with a 3-0 defeat against Schalke 04 in the losers bracket. Bwipo has been with Fnatic since 2018 and he is one of Europe’s most talented top laners. Selfmade joined the team in 2019 from SK Gaming.
Fnatic’s spring split in review
The year 2021 has not gone according to plan for Fnatic. The old kings of Europe have struggled to play at the pace of the other top teams. After losing their star player Martins “Rekkles” Larsson to G2, Fnatic signed Astralis’ Elias “Upset” Lipp.
While there is no doubt that Upset is a talented player, Fnatic have not looked the same without Rekkles. They brought in Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi as head coach alongside other new coaching staff.
However, all these changes didn’t help the team as they continuously struggled against the top four teams. They eventually finished the spring split in fifth place and faced an embarrassing exit at the LEC playoffs.
After the spring split ended, the League community opined that Fnatic needed several changes to their system. Fnatic’s attempt to renew these players’ contracts may be in effort to avoid another Rekkles situation. The reported decision that Bwipo and Selfmade made to not renew their contracts with the organization shows that they may not be convinced of Fnatic’s plan for the future.
Furthermore, from Nov. 15, both players will be free agents and their talents will attract many League of Legend teams in Europe and beyond.
Fnatic’s future without Bwipo and Selfmade
Fnatic must now look towards a total rebuild. From their recent gameplay, they lack cohesion and communication. Per LEC Wooloo, Fnatic was already interested in signing a new top laner to share Bwipo’s position in the summer.
Although there are no confirmed names as of yet, there are several talents from the European Regional League that Fnatic can look to. Given Karmine Corp’s dominance at the EU Masters, it will not be surprising to see Fnatic or any other team sign their top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane.
As of this release, Fnatic has not commented on these reports. However, the team may have to undergo some weighty changes heading into 2022.
Published: Apr 26, 2021 02:15 pm