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It is the end of the road for Fnatic as they make their exit from the European Regional Major Rankings (RMR), owing to the defeat they sustained from their Turkish counterpart, Eternal Fire.
Their loss to the Eternal Fire and eventual exit from the event has cost them the opportunity of making the PGL Major. They have missed out of the CS:GO Major in three consecutive seasons.
In 2021, Fnatic missed the CS:GO PGL Stockholm Major owing to an abysmal display at the IEM Fall Europe tournament. The United Kingdom based franchise finished last place at the IEM Fall Europe due to losses suffered at the hands of FaZe Clan on Mirage, Double Poney (Nuke), Team Fiend (Inferno), Ninjas in Pyjamas (Nuke) and a Mirage loss to SKADE.
Reacting to their exit, Fnatic took to their Twitter page to express their regret and apologize to their fans. While they acknowledged the pain attached to not qualifying for the Major, they promised to ‘get back to the top.’
“CS:GO is one of the core pillars of Fnatic.
Not qualifying for #PGLMajor stings for all of us. It stings as players, as fans and as an organisation.
For those still cheering on the sidelines… we hear you.
We’re all gonna get back to the top. The work starts here.”
They also wished the teams that qualified all the best, especially GG and Eternal Fire. They took the opportunity to interface on a much deeper level with their fans via an AMA session scheduled to hold in the future.
“GG to Eternal Fire and best of luck to all the teams at this year’s PGL Major in Antwerp.
And to the fans…make sure you’re in our official Fnatic discord. We’ll be dropping details on an upcoming CS:GO AMA session soon.”
CS:GO is one of the core pillars of Fnatic.
Not qualifying for #PGLMajor stings for all of us. It stings as players, as fans and as an organisation.
For those still cheering on the sidelines… we hear you.
We're all gonna get back to the top. The work starts here. pic.twitter.com/JTnh8QUrM9— FNATIC (@FNATIC) April 19, 2022
Their run at the RMR started off with a win over Gamer Legion in a best of one matchup. Afterwhich they suffered two consecutive losses to Heroic and SAW. In order to make it through to PGL Antwerp, they needed to win two straight series.
The opening maps against Eternal Fire were split between both teams, as Fnatic hoped for a win in the third map. Eternal Fire’s İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, who was a former player for BIG had a superb performance in the third map on Overpass. He led Eternal Fire to seven straight victory rounds, winning the third map 16-13 over Fnatic.
Going by their poor performances in the past years, Fnatic has become a shadow of itself. Once perceived as one of the biggest CS:GO team, having won three Major trophies: the DreamHack Winter 2013, ESL One: Katowice 2015, and ESL One: Cologne 2015.
They have attempted to rebuild with the signing of new players. Asides from Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Fnatic roster consisting of Alexander “ALEX” McMeekin, William “mezii” Merriman, Valentin “poizon” Vasilev, Peppe “Peppzor” Borak and Jamie “keita” Hall, were all acquired in less than a year. But a lot seems amiss with the group.
