Fnatic announce their Spring LEC Roster

Fnatic has announced their starting roster for the 2023 LEC Spring Split. In a blog post on their website, they announced the changes as well as addressing fan concerns.

This follows an extremely lacklustre Winter Split, which saw the star-studded team place ninth, failing to reach playoffs for the first time in the organisation's history.

In response, Fnatic has changed from top laner Martin "Wunder" Nordahl Hansen to Óscar Muñoz "Oscarinin" Jiménez. Additionally, they have changed support Rúben "Rhuckz" Barbosa for Henk "Advienne" Reijenga. Both players have been promoted from Fnatic TQ, the organisation's academy squad.

Fnatic said: "The pair are incredibly talented young individuals who have highlighted their skills time and time again in the ERL's, and their commitment and focus massively align with the organisation's going forward this spring.

"Oscarinin brings a dominant, carry-style top lane presence, worthy of going toe to toe with the LEC's best. Anyone who's tuned into Fnatic TQ will understand just how capable he is.

"Advienne brings a mature, level-headed, and vocal presence to the team, using his previous experience with XL to put up impressive performances and bring the team together.

"Importantly, we believe both players are perfect fits into the current teams' chemistry and share the same mindset of the entire squad - an important factor we pursued in the offseason."

Fnatic has also made changes to staff, bringing in Tomáš "Nightshare" Kněžínek as their new head coach. Nightshare is well known in the Czech LoL scene, and has experience working with Immortals in the LCS.

Fnatic said: "Tomáš brings a wealth of experience from multiple backgrounds, as a player, assistant coach, and head coach.

"An extremely emotionally intelligent individual, Nightshare has instantly connected with the group from the beginning and has been a decisive influence in bringing each player onto the same page, and defining the right goals for the squad going forward."

The announcement spoke about the difficulties the team faced and why these changes have been made.

Fnatic added: "Heading into Spring, we've also thoroughly examined the inner teams' structure, leadership, and cohesion to analyse what went wrong, and where we can build upon and improve.

"One thing was clear - we were not ready for Winter. Lack of preparation and few established routines meant increased pressure on stage, with a clash of each player's varying goals & profiles complicating meaningful improvement."

To close, they said: "Go give a huge warm welcome to our newest joiners, and as always: Once Fnatic, #ALWAYSFNATIC."