FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder had a dreamy start to 2022.

After exiting Champions in the top eight, braveaf 's addition quickly elevated them to new heights. FNATIC entered the year with a six-match win streak that was only interrupted by FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks , in the upper final of Stage 1: EMEA Challengers.

But that loss didn't matter. Neither did the following one against G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive , in the lower bracket final. FNATIC had already qualified for Masters Reykjavik. However, travel issues and COVID forbade braveaf and Derke from attending the event.

With two stand-ins, the team flunked out of the event by failing to make it out of an international group stage for the first — and so far only — time in their history. But in the face of despair, FNATIC saw the opportunity and room for improvement.

They signed Enzo , one of their stand-ins at Reykjavik this year, and Alfajer . While Enzo had previously made a name for himself at Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas Inactive dimasick Dmitriy Matvienko chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Jady Yaroslav Nikolaev rhyme Emir Muminovic and Alliance Alliance Inactive , Alfajer's highlights were under the Surreal Esports Surreal Esports Inactive Rosé Eren Erzan VenTT Emre Bozkurt vittoria macRue Arda Yıldız Crewen Ali Eren Sargin banner, alongside whom he was nearly promoted to the VCT earlier this year.

Boaster onstage in Copenhagen Hi Istanbul! (Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

The move quickly proved itself successful, as FNATIC again went undefeated in the regional group stage. But unlike in Stage 1, the team kept the ball rolling and defeated every regional contender after they had qualified to LAN — this time in Copenhagen. Ultimately, after attending many international events and playing in all but two regional VCT events, FNATIC had finally secured a title.

As EMEA Champions and the region's best seed, FNATIC got a free pass into Masters Copenhagen's playoffs. And since the world hadn't seen enough matches between them and FPX, those two played each other in the opening round of the playoffs. Unlike in previous matches, FNATIC were clearly superior in Copenhagen, something they themselves attributed to SUYGETSU 's absence. After 2-0'ing FPX, FNATIC expressed their excitement to play Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov for the first time ever.

That excitement soon died out, as the APAC reps took a close win that kept their best run ever rolling. For FNATIC, not only did the loss send them to the lower bracket but it also broke the win-streak that they had carried over from the regional VCT. Despite that, in a way, they were excited for the second chance and for the lower bracket run.

“We love a lower bracket run. I do like an upper bracket run more, you know, but at least there is a lower bracket, at least we're not out today. There's always that positive side to losing and we'll learn from it,” Boaster said back then.

To keep themselves alive and reach the final playoffs matchdays, FNATIC had to pry a match from LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee 's hands. It included several overtimes and a 1v3 from Enzo in overtime that shouldn't even have been possible, but it enabled them a 17-15 win that took FNATIC to the Forum Copenhagen.

FNATIC and FPX's fifth match (in Stage 2 alone) was the first one the former lost. While FNATIC did win the first map, Split, FPX turned it around with two solid wins on Bind and Fracture that eliminated their opponents from the competition.

“I hate to be salty and give one of those answers where it's about ourselves but I really think it was ourselves today. I don't know, they played a good game and had some good little things they changed up that seemed quite good,” Mini said after the loss. “We took too long to react to some of those things, but generally speaking I think it was our bad today and not so much them just coming out guns blazing. But, obviously still, they played well and respect to them. But we were off today — we've been off all tournament, we haven't felt like ourselves this tournament.”

FNATIC pose at Masters Copenhagen Bring it on. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

FNATIC have had two long months to ponder on that defeat and overall that tournament: to practice, to work out new strategies, to build and improve upon those they already had, and to study up on the competition.

There are no free passes this time around. All 16 attending teams will have to play in the group stages.

FNATIC are placed in Group D, one of the toughest groups in Istanbul. They will open against 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #7 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk , whose name is returning to the international stage a year after its debut. They will then play against DRX DRX Korea Rank #5 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) — who they beat in Champions last year — or FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #6 mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt nzr Agustin Ibarra , who they are yet to play.