For the first time in their history,
Fnatic will miss the
VALORANT Champions, which will begin later this month. Eliminated a few weeks ago in the
VCT EMEA Stage 2 Play-Ins, the team has already begun its offseason as it looks to prepare for next year and close out a chaotic season in which the organization failed to attend a single international event.
To answer the many questions from fans about how the season unfolded and the issues the team faced, Team Director Colin "CoJo" Johnson hosted an X Space on Wednesday to go over the team's journey throughout the season and reflect on the mistakes that were made.
An offseason that was not profitable enough
CoJo first looked back on the offseason that followed the team's run to the 2025 Champions final. The team's main objective was to keep everyone together, but despite their efforts, Benjamin "Scuttt" Hutchinson and Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov left to join Team Vitality. On top of that, the 2025 season had been extremely long, leading to a significant accumulation of fatigue, and the players did not have enough time to properly rest. CoJo explained that several players fell ill and that, with four offseason tournaments on the schedule, the overall experience was not as productive as it should have been.
On top of this, the team's read on the meta at Kickoff was not the right one, and it took them some time to adapt. The players felt that they lacked a clear identity in their playstyle, and after they started practicing Yoru, the agent was heavily nerfed, forcing them to start over from scratch.
Ineffective changes?
While Fnatic appeared to be in better form at the beginning of Stage 1, Sylvain "Veqaj" Pattyn was forced to step back due to ongoing health issues. Despite struggling to find an available player during the season, Fnatic eventually turned to Clément "CyvOph" Millard. However, despite the confidence placed in him, the team fell in the playoffs, with CoJo explaining that there was a lot of pressure on the organization, which had planned a large amount of content and activities in London.
Before the start of Stage 2, Fnatic brought in Andrey "Engh" Sholokhov as Head Coach. CoJo explained that he felt Engh was somewhat frustrated by a role that was not that of a traditional Head Coach, as he was not given full control over the team. He had primarily been brought in with the task of addressing some of the team's issues.
Fnatic also signed Kirill "Cloud" Nekhozhin, whom CoJo considers versatile and talented enough to adapt to the team even in the event of role issues. The players were also positive about his arrival, while Fnatic knew that he could eventually take on an important role within the team if Jake "Boaster" Howlett or Austin "crashies" Roberts were to leave in the future.
A difficult conclusion
Fnatic were eventually eliminated in Stage 2 despite role changes and attempts to experiment with new approaches. The team was losing a lot of scrims, while their official results were sometimes particularly difficult. The loss to Enterprise Esports hit the team hard. Despite that, they managed to regain some confidence, but it collapsed again after the fateful match against Joblife.
CoJo also believes that Tier 2 teams had an advantage when it came to fielding 16- to 17-year-old players, as Tier 1 organizations could not afford to invest in them, especially when those players would not even have been eligible to participate in Champions due to China's strict regulations.
Fnatic have now already begun their offseason and started running trials. Although three of their players are out of contract — crashies, Boaster and Emir "Alfajer" Beder — Fnatic are in discussions with each of them while allowing them to explore their options. CoJo made it clear that despite Boaster's LFT announcement, nothing has been decided yet. Fnatic will also participate in two offseason tournaments: Red Bull Home Ground and another tournament in Asia, which will be announced soon.
Finally, in a tweet following his Space, CoJo addressed a misconception people may have about Fnatic's financial situation. According to him, this narrative is completely false, with Fnatic having been the highest-paying organization in EMEA since 2023 and ranking among the top five worldwide. He concluded by adding that Fnatic "will continue to be aggressive on the best talents."
