Fnatic have just wrapped up a fairly successful
opening week of the LEC in terms of results, securing two wins against
Los Ratones and
Natus Vincere for only one loss to
SK Gaming. A positive record that nonetheless comes with some reservations, as the level of play shown by the British organization was more inconsistent than the scoreboard might suggest.
Fnatic’s offseason in the LEC was marked by several notable additions: Panagiotis “
Empyros” Tantis in the toplane, Park “
Lospa” Joon-hyeong at support,
and most importantly Vladimiros “Vladi” Kourtidis in the midlane. The latter sat down for an interview with
Sheep Esports after Fnatic’s chaotic victory over NAVI, discussing the series itself, his move to Fnatic, as well as his offseason and eventual 2025 Summer Split with
Karmine Corp.
You finished 2-1, which is a solid start. What do you take away from those games?
Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis: "I take away that we are not who we think we are. We are not a good team right now. We are not playing well, because, in my opinion,
we haven't faced very strong opponents yet, and I don't think we've shown a lot of good stuff, especially today. I think we were 8k gold down, and we were losing the entire game until we made a comeback. All I take away is that we need to be humble and scale.
You made a comeback against NAVI. What was it like on voice chat? How was the mood in the team?
Vladi: There were not many windows because we were losing a lot, and I think we were not doing what we should do. We were AFK on the map the entire game, so there was not much to say. But after the comeback, when the game was even, and we were ahead, the communications are much better. You have a lot of options to do and create, so it gets better afterwards.
You were wanted by many teams during the offseason. Why did you join Fnatic?
Vladi: I chose Fnatic mostly because of the roster. I played with Upset (Elias Lipp) before and he's a great player. I also wanted to play with Razork (Iván Martín) because every time we played against him, I thought he was pretty good. Since I had him quite high in the jungle options, I wanted to play with him.
In an interview for Sheep Esports, Fabian "GrabbZ" Lohmann said that you were able to clearly identify your past mistakes. What were those mistakes?
Vladi: I didn't have the best schedule, in terms of sleep. I was going to bed quite late because I was taking a lot of time to play solo queue. Overall it was a very weird and complex situation, because there was a lot of things going inside with some players and the management, so it was not the easiest for me. The mood of myself and the team wasn't the best because there was a lot of tensions between some players and some staff, mostly staff. We fell apart compared to Winter split.
Was it your desire to play together again with Elias "Upset" Lipp?
Vladi: I wouldn't have it as my desire. It's just that I had some options and this was the best. I like Upset as a player and as a person. Compared to the other options, I think this was the best one for me.
How would you describe your relationship with Grabbz?
Vladi: It's pretty professional and also it can be pretty chill and fun sometimes. You need to have quite both in a team environment. You are with him every day for a lot of hours, so it can't only be professional. It's going pretty well for now. He's a very experienced coach, he knows how to handle a lot of things. And, as of now, there are not any issues.
Iván "Razork" Martín said that you talk a lot on voice chat and that he's happy to play with you. How is it going with your jungler?
Vladi: It's going pretty well, both outside of the game and in scrims. We didn't really show it yet on stage, today we played pretty bad, yesterday as well, so we just need to step it up more on stage. In scrims we're going pretty well, we just need some time.
Park "Lospa" Joon-hyeong and Panagiotis "Empyros" Tantis were recruited after you joined Fnatic. What do you think of them? How is it going?
Vladi: Both of them need some time, people saw it in the games today. We all need some time as a team because we are not playing well. But I'm confident in them. They showed good things in scrims. I think Empyros is playing well most of the times. Today and yesterday didn't go well, he got solo killed both games but it's a slow scaling project. Performing better in spring and summer matters more than winter split.
Talking about last year's end, what didn't work between you and KC?
Vladi: What didn't work? I mean, I'm not sure. The situation after the spring where they brought up Nisqy (Yasin Dinçer), there were some moments where he would play some scrims because they thought he can be a better player. I think you need to ask them, they probably know better.
What happened between you and Rehareha "Reha" Ramanana and Wadi "Wadi" Benarbia?
Vladi: Nothing really happened personal or anything. I think it was just a situation going, for example, with the six-man roster, it wasn't easy for me. There was not any issues with the staff, I was completely fine with them.
Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert said on stream that things weren’t working anymore and that he tried to fix the situation, without success. What do you have to say about it?
Vladi: He has just his own point of view. I wouldn't agree with him. I can't share my POV, because it's not good to share what's happening in the team. And I think it's wrong what he did. He said that he tried everything and it didn't work. I don't think he did something himself. And I don't think he could do something. It's not on him to be able to fix some situations. Everyone has their own opinions. For some, it's good to just keep them for themselves.
If you have a word for the Fnatic fans or for people who support you?
Vladi: I want to say thanks to the Fnatic fans, they had a few heart attacks today and yesterday as well with that defeat. I know our showing is very, very poor, and we are not playing very well right now. But everyone is motivated, and we are trying a lot in scrims, and we need some time. The roster is new. It's been one month since we've been playing together, so we just need time since we have two rookies."
LEC Versus Week 1 Results
January 17:
- Los Ratones 0-1 Fnatic
- Shifters 0-1 GIANTX
- Team Heretics 0-1 Natus Vincere
- Team Vitality 1-0 SK Gaming
- Karmine Corp Blue 0-1 Karmine Corp
- Movistar KOI 1-0 G2 Esports
January 18:
- Team Heretics 0-1 Shifters
- Los Ratones 0-1 Karmine Corp Blue
- Team Vitality 0-1 Natus Vincere
- SK Gaming 1-0 Fnatic
- G2 Esports 0-1 GIANTX
- Movistar KOI 1-0 Karmine Corp
January 19:
- Natus Vincere 0-1 Fnatic
- Team Vitality 1-0 Karmine Corp Blue
- Team Heretics 1-0 GIANTX
- Shifters 1-0 Movistar KOI
- Los Ratones 0-1 Karmine Corp
- SK Gaming 0-1 G2 Esports
