Cover-Credits:
- Fnatic has just parted ways with their Thai support Jabz. He will be replaced by former TNC Predator captain eyyou.
- eyyou previously played in Fnatic in 2016 alongside Raven.
- Jabz is a free agent at the moment.
In a surprising move, Fnatic has just parted ways with their Thai support Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong. The player will be replaced by Filipino support Nico "eyyou" Barcelon. The organization announced these roster changes on their social media profiles earlier today.
Jabz Parts Ways With Fnatic
Earlier today, Jabz announced that he was leaving Fnatic stating that he was now a free agent as a result.
Shortly after Fnatic made the official announcement on their social media profiles and also revealed why exactly they decided to part ways with Jabz. They cite the lack of leadership following iceiceice’s departure from the team as the primary reason behind this roster change.
RELATED: IceIceIce Will Not Play For Fnatic Until DPC Restarts
"Looking back at our ESL Thailand run, we realized that there is a severe lack in commanding without Daryl "iceiceice" Koh who was on break during the tournament. After our loss to Motivade.Trust, we talked things over and deemed some changes are to be made. Initially assigned to Jabz, he thought it will be better to assign leadership to someone else. We chose DJ to assume leadership roles and he agrees under the condition that he plays position 5, hence we switched him with Jabz.
This move gave us decent results, as we finished third at the tournament despite a poor start during the group stage.
Post-tournament, we discussed how should we move forward. It became clear to us that both Jabz and DJ perform better as position 4. Jabz also mentioned that he prefers playing position 4, therefore what we lack in our team is a true position 5.
After thorough deliberation, Jabz and the management both decided that it is the best interest for us to mutually part ways and take this opportunity to work with a player that excels at position 5."
eyyou joins Fnatic
Following Jabz’s departure, Fnatic welcomed yet another familiar face to their lineup. eyyou, who had previously played for the Fnatic lineup alongside Raven in 2016 has rejoined the team.
Fnatic believes that eyyou is an experienced captain and a premiere support in the SEA region and that Dj, Raven and their coach Sunbhie believe that he is the right fit for the team. eyyou's resume speaks for himself. He has lead multiple top tier SEA teams to victory in multiple international tournaments. His previous stint with TNC Predator was perhaps his most successful one yet. This stint with Fnatic is the player's first opportunity since he was removed from TNC earlier last year.
So eyyou has a lot of responsibility on his shoulder, having to lead a star-studded team. Will he be able to deliver?
RELATED: Raven Joins Fnatic Replacing 23savage
Fnatic’s roster after these roster changes is:
- Marc Polo Luis "Raven" Fausto
- Kam "Moon" Boon Seng
- Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang (inactive until DPC resumes)
- Djardel Jicko B. "DJ" Mampusti
- Nico "eyyou" Barcelon
What do you think about this lineup? Will they be able to compete against the best SEA teams like TNC Predator or BOOM Esports? Let us know in the comments below.
