With the Boston Major Qualifiers in full swing for Fnatic, it’s time to look back at what happened to the team since The International 2015.
2015: Gathering a new squad
After not managing to make it to the top 10 during TI5, Fnatic saw KyXy, Kecik and JoHnNy leave the original Team Malaysia lineup to look for other teams to join. This left Mushi and Ohaiyo to rebuild the team. Shortly after, Black^, net and DJ joined them in preparation of ESL One New York.
Fnatic would fight their way through the SEA qualifiers after sweeping both Execration and Mineski, and defeating MVP Phoenix 3-2 in the finals, securing the only SEA spot for the tournament. Unfortunately for them, a single best-of three would determine their fate at the main event and they lost theirs against Team Secret with a 2-1 scoreline.
After a similarly disappointing Frankfurt Major, the squad decided to work on building additional synergy within the team and for this reason it was decided to replace Black^ with MidOne in what would be the first step towards a great season.
2016: Preparing for TI6
A revived Fnatic managed to once again qualify for another Major, winning their group during the Shanghai Major SEA Qualifier and ending in first place after an undefeated run through the bracket. They would then finish 5th-6th in the main tournament, a step up from their previous 13-16th result in Frankfurt.
In the months after, Fnatic had 343 join as a sub. The team needed an extra player while DJ sorted out visa issues and again while Mushi recovered from health problems after that. The team stated incredible hard work and dedication from 343 and decided to make the hard call to have him permanently replace Net with the best interest of the team in mind.
The Fnatic line-up for The International 2016 was now complete but the team had yet some hurdles to overcome before they got to travel to Seattle. They would compete in the Manila Major and ESL One Frankfurt but did not live up to the hopes of a top spot finish, instead they ended 5-6th in Manila and 7-8th in Frankfurt. Next to these results the team suffered another blow as the news came that they would not be receiving a direct invite to The International 2016 and would have to earn their spot through the SEA Qualifier instead.
As mentioned by the players and staff at a later date, this really tested their will to keep playing the game and performing but it was also said to be Mushi who would put on his captain’s hat and steer the mindsets of the players back in the right direction.
This proved to be successful, as the team qualified and eventually finished 4th at The International 6, taking home almost 1.5 million dollars in prizemoney. It definitely could have gone the other way when they lost several of their games at the start of the tournament but they valiantly fought their way through the lower bracket and secured the best ever TI finish for Fnatic’s Dota 2 squad.
So what’s next for the squad? It’s hard to say right now as the team is in a similar spot as they were last year around this time. Three members have left the team and have been replace by three new ones. With Raven, Demon and Eyyou on the team in addition to Mushi and Ohaiyo it is back to square 1 for Fnatic in a way and it’s up to them to build up their synergy as quickly as possible. Next up is the Boston Major in December and the team is currently participating in the qualifiers for the event. Individually, all players are equally skilled, meaning that if Fnatic can find their way as a unit, they will also find their way to The International 2017.
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