Oscarinin’s Revenge: From Being Benched by Fnatic to Ending Their Worlds Qualification Streak

It is one of the stories of this League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Summer Split. and GIANTX defeated Fnatic at the very end of the regular season, ending their hopes of reaching the Playoffs just a few months after the team decided to part ways with him. Oscarinin is now qualified as one of the league’s top four teams and will travel to Madrid. And just took his revenge.

At the end of the 2025 season, the Spanish toplaner still had one year left on his contract with the Black and Orange, but the British organization had decided to sign Panagiotis "Empyros" Tantis. Oscarinin was therefore left without a team for two splits before being picked up by GIANTX, who had decided to bench Eren "Lot" Yıldız.

Following the victory over Fnatic, Oscarinin posted on his X account, ironically referring to the fact that he had just eliminated Fnatic from the playoff race. He also mentioned securing a top-four finish in the regular season, which guarantees a spot on the road trip to Madrid, as well as saving Movistar KOI, whose playoff hopes depended on the outcome of this series.

Fnatic will not qualify for Worlds for the first time in ten years and will miss the Summer Playoffs for the first time in their history. This is also only the fourth time in the organization’s history that Fnatic have missed the LEC Playoffs, the second time this year, and this one, it was at the hands of Oscarinin, the player they let go.

In a recent interview, Oscarinin said: “I don’t really mind right now how the public perceives me, after all that happened. I just want to show myself that I’m f****** good and that I can do it [go to Worlds].” Fnatic, meanwhile, have never really managed to find a toplaner who lived up to expectations, benching Empyros in favor of Lim “Soboro” Seong-min for the Summer Split.

While GIANTX managed to eliminate Fnatic and secure a top-four finish in the regular season, this is something the team has now managed to achieve across several splits. The real question is whether the Spanish organization can finally break through the glass ceiling hanging over them and, this time, secure a third-place finish, enough to qualify for Worlds.

The organization has never competed at an international event and could very well make its debut at the biggest one of them all this year in the United States. Standing in their way first is Karmine Corp, who selected them as their opponents. The two teams will face off in Madrid on September 5 for a spot in the Upper Bracket Final, but also for a ticket to Worlds.

Since joining the Tier 1 scene with Fnatic in 2023, Oscarinin has never missed Worlds, but he has never truly made an impact there either. He said: “I would feel pretty special to be on a big stage again after not competing for a while and to see myself actually competing and being good and just reminding myself that I can be at that level again.”

GIANTX made two changes heading into the Summer Split, including the arrival of Víctor “Flakked” Lirola Tortosa at AD Carry to replace Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek. The question now is whether these two changes will pay off for GIANTX. There is only one way to find out: a Worlds qualification is the bare minimum for the Spanish team, which has already secured two top-four finishes this year and will be looking to shed its image as the gatekeeper of the top three.