Fnatic have, as they seemingly always does, come out of the winter break with guns blazing.
This past weekend the team once again ended up with a tournament victory as they won over Astralis, a team they will face once again this Thursday in Aftonbladet Esports Fight Night.
– With the obvious exception that we want to have a better 2016 than 2015, which in and of it self will be very difficult, we also want to be able to say that we can beat any team on any map, Fnatic coach, Viktor ”vuggo” Jendeby says to Aftonbladet Esport.

Fnatic are on what can only be described as an incredible run. The last five LAN-tournaments the Swedish side have attended have ended with Fnatic on top of the podium. The latest came as the orange team beat the Danish rivals, Astralis, in Barcelona.

Ever since Dennis ”dennis” Edman joined the side after Markus ”pronax” Wallsten left the team, Fnatic have been dominating the CS:GO scene in the same way we have grown accustomed to during the years.

”We always make sure that we change the way we play”

According to the teams coach, Viktor ”vuggo” Jendeby, it all boils down to the team having fun during both practices and official games.
– It feels like I’ve been reiterating this fact in several interviews, but when you have fun and love what you do everything becomes much easier, he says to Aftonbladet Esport ahead of Fnatics game against Astralis this Thursday as the two world class teams duke it out in a BO5:
– We always make sure that we change the way we play, mostly to make sure that our opponents never know what we are doing – but also to make sure that we never grow tired and always have to face new challenges.

Whenever a team gets asked this question they obviously always say that the main goal is to win everything. But besides the fact that you guys want to retain your position as the best team in the world, what goals do you have for upcoming year?
– Since dennis joined, we have slowly started to play more tactical and tried to put in more maps in our arsenal. With the obvious exception that we want to have a better 2016 than 2015, which in and of it self will be very difficult, we also want to be able to say that we can beat any team on any map. Traditionally, every team have had at least one map they’ve avoided to practice but we want to feel secure and have a strong tactical foundation on all the maps in all map pools through the year and we are well on our way to build something big around that.

”A new era in CS”

No one can have missed that new trend in CS:GO is to employ a coach who also serves as IGL. Amongst many, Fnatics Swedish rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas will go that route during 2016, but as things stand – that is an option that Fnatic is not currently looking into.
– Flusha are one of the best players in the world on an individual level and he does a fantastic job as IGL. I help out by preparing stuff ahead of events and fill in with minor things during the games. It have worked wonders for us but I can also understand if teams are ”forced” to make the transition. Na’Vi have had Sergey ”starix” Ischuk as IGL for a long time, FaZe have picked up Robert ”RobbaN” Dahlström and NiP recruited Björn ”THREAT” Pers so it might become a new era in CS, but as I stated, things are working very well for us with our current roles.

The CS:GO fans will this Thursday once more see a hard fought clash between the two sides who just this weekend face each other in the finals of ESL Barcelona. In a unique BO5, the two world class teams will battle it out for thousands of Euros in Aftonbladet Esports Fight Night. Though they have been duking it out in several finals through especially last year, Viktor ”vuggo” Jendeby still states that they are not their main rivals and instead gives props to what was once seen as a up-and-coming team that have in the last few months established them selfs as a difficult roster to defeat.
– Luminosity have only become better and better every time we have faced them. They are a fantastic side with good players who play with a lot of creativity and are hard to predict. Besides them, EnvyUs will always give us close and fun games.

Watch Fight Night between Fnatic and Astralis February 25th on Aftonbladet Esports Twitch-channel. Fight Night is presented by Betway who also are supplying odds for the upcoming game between the two juggernauts.