Fnatic have been eliminated from the LEC Winter group stage and playoffs after going 2-7 in the three-week regular season. The organization picked up European legend Carl Martin Erik ‘Rekkles’ Larsson in the offseason and had high hopes going into 2023.
Fnatic came into the 2023 season with high hopes after a decent 2022 campaign that saw them make the League of Legends World Championships and place third in the LEC in the summer and spring.
The team also picked up fan-favorite bot laner Rekkles who spent the entirety of 2022 in the French national league. Rekkles played 13 splits for Fnatic before joining rival G2 in 2021 for one year.
Unfortunately, the reunion has not been a happy one so far, as Fnatic did not advance beyond the Winter Split group stage.
Fnatic will miss out on the rest of the LEC Winter Split
Fnatic have failed to qualify for the LEC Winter group stage, meaning that the team will not play another official League of Legends match until the Spring Season begins in March. The team went 2-7 over the course of the three-week regular season, only notching wins against Excel Esports and KOI.
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Excel, another team with high expectations and a star-studded roster entering the Winter Split, also failed to qualify for the playoff stage.
In a statement after the loss, Fnatic said the “outcome is not acceptable” and “is not a reflection of the level of performance our fans deserve to see from us in the LEC.” The organization also said there will be further updates about the team in the future.
Our Winter run ends there. Thank you for all the support as always. We'll be back, bet on it. pic.twitter.com/I2IBXmO940
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) February 6, 2023
The LEC changed its format for 2023 to winter, spring and summer seasons with three stages within each. The first stage is a condensed regular season with a single round-robin of best-of-one matches, followed by a group stage that will see eight teams battle in two groups. The group stage features a best-of-three series format with a double-elimination bracket.
The top four teams from that stage will then compete in another double-elimination playoff bracket to decide the season’s champion.