As per the usual post-TI shuffle trend, many major organisations choose to adopt a new lineup for the upcoming season as many players transfer from one team to another. After a disappointing TI9 performance, it wasn't surprising to see Fnatic as one of the teams undergoing change in their roster, with the team announcing its new roster for the 2019/2020 season.
Fnatic Dota 2 roster
Fnatic's new Dota 2 roster:
- Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon
- Kam "Moon" Boon Seng
- Daryl "iceiceice" Koh Pei Xiang
- Djardel "DJ" Jicko Mampusti
- (Captain) Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong
23savage & Moon in, Abed out
Fnatic acquiring 23savage was something that was expected for quite some time now, as rumors regarding this have been circulating around Reddit for a while. The promising young Thai carry was renowned in the scene mostly as a pubstar, until he finally launched his name by joining the makeshift Korean team Team Jinesbrus going into the TI9 SEA qualifiers. There, his stellar performance dominated the group stage and almost punched his team a ticket to TI, before falling short 3-2 in the finals to a resurged Mineski, one win away from qualifying.
The acquirement of the midlaner that prevented Jinesbrus from going to TI, however, was a bit more unexpected. It was foreseeable that, with the dissolvement of Mineski's current Dota 2 squad, Moon would join another team, but joining Fnatic might caught some people off-guard as the status of Abed "Abed" Azel Yusop in the team wasn't clear yet prior the announcement (It's rumored that Abed will be playing for EG).
The Malaysian midlaner might be just the fitting replacement to the PH prodigy however, following an amazing performance at TI9 with the highlight being their renowned Lower Bracket match against Secret. Even after winning a Major in 2018, Moon is still somehow arguably underrated, and 23savage still have lots of things to show, so Fnatic should be just the perfect place for the two to cement their name on the scene even further.
Thus, with former coach-turned-into-captain Kim "DuBu" Doo-young announcing his departure from the organization weeks before the announcement was made, and DJ choosing to stay with the team, Jabz, who is previously known as a position 2 and position 4, moves again into the position 5 and captain role, a role he inherited earlier in the previous season to mixed success, before moving to position 1 just before TI.
What to expect from the new roster
Fnatic is always a team of players with huge amount of skill and potential, worthy of the organization's name. The addition of 23savage and Moon definitely bolstered this aspect of the SEA supersquad. There's also future possibility of Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung joining as coach, knowing his collaboration history with Moon and Fnatic, especially after showing a good knack at it with Mineski at TI9.
However, the team is also marked by their regular struggles and constant mixed results, past their incredible SEA debut roster back in 2016. The decision to keep Jabz instead of looking for a true position 5/captain is another thing to take note of, since Fnatic took this approach last season to mixed results. Jabz still delivered a commendable individual performance, but the team still lacked the cohesion that they truly need.
Teams like LGD/VG has shown that a team of talents without a true captain could still constantly obtain success, so could they finally do it? Will they deliver? They have the tools to do so. But, looking back at last year, where Fnatic announced a similarly-spectacular new roster but fell short off the spectacular results they wanted, lessons should be learned that things shouldn't be too hasty when it comes to assessing this team. So, the best answer right now might be just to wait and see.
Picture: ESL
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