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The Fnatic LEC roster for 2025 has been announced, as the London-based esports organisation say hello to a new bot lane and see their team director step back.
They’ve announced that German ADC League of Legends player Upset has returned, after almost two years away with Vitality in 2023 and Karmine Corp in 2024.
Another bot lane player has returned to Fnatic: Slovenian support player Mikyx, who recently left G2 after they exited Worlds 2024.
Mikyx was also a sub player with Fnatic back in 2016, during the early days of his career.
They replace South Korean ADC player Noah and support player Jun, who left Fnatic last month.
G2 have since replaced Mikyx with Labrov, in the G2 2025 LoL roster announcement.
Upset said: “I was sadly sick for the video shoot but I am very happy to be back. It’s been a lot of fun scrimming with the team and we are going to do our best to make the fans happy. Feels great to be back.”
Upset and Mikyx join Spanish players Oscarinin (top-laner) and Razork (jungler), and Czechia mid-laner Humanoid to complete the Fnatic LEC roster for Spring 2025.
Other changes announced as Fnatic LEC roster is formed for Spring 2025
The news comes a few weeks after GrabbZ joined as head coach, with Hidon still positional coach and Gaaz assistant coach.
GrabbZ replaces Nightshare, who left in late October.
GrabbZ said: “I think with my expertise and experience I can help the team a lot. I think the way they approached last year, the team played a bit naively and I want to make it more stable.”
Streamer Caedrel also left Fnatic earlier this month, to focus on his own org, Los Ratones. Excel Esports co-founder Kieran Holmes-Darby also recently reunited with Caedrel as GM of Los Ratones.
Another major move involves Dardo. He will step down as team director at the end of January 2025, before taking a sabbatical and transitioning to a different role at Fnatic.
Dardo spoke about the Fnatic move in this blog post, and how he is focusing on family and striking a better work/life balance.
“About a year and a half ago, I started a conversation with Fnatic about transitioning my responsibilities to find a healthier balance between my professional and personal life,” Dardo said. “At almost 36 years old and after almost a decade away from home, I’ve been reflecting more on the future and thinking about important milestones, like building a family.
“I also want to say how deeply sorry I am for not being able to bring home an LEC trophy during my time as team director,” Dardo added. “Despite the tireless efforts of our players, coaches, and staff, and my unwavering commitment to Fnatic’s success we came incredibly close – reaching 7 LEC finals – but it ultimately wasn’t enough.
“However, there is one regret that stands out above the rest. After a challenging start to 2023, despite my full commitment to turning things around, I withdrew from the public eye. I stopped engaging with fans and sharing my perspective on the challenges we faced. In hindsight, I realise this was a mistake.
“This decision wasn’t driven by arrogance but by a need to protect my mental health and focus all my energy on supporting the team, players, and coaches. However, I now recognise that I should probably have been more transparent – sharing the realities and challenges we faced, while continuing to shed light on my role and showing the human side of my journey.
“I want to be clear: I understand the frustration and I have nothing but respect and appreciation for Fnatic fans. While some criticism felt deeply personal, quite disproportionate, and lacking important context – often placing me as the sole focal point – I understand that it came from a place of passion for Fnatic, a passion I deeply share.”
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
