Talking to the winners of the Fantasy Spring Season 2023

Plenty of prizes were doled out by HLTV in conjunction with Roobet across the season, with a few skilful Fantasy players taking home the best of the bunch.

With the end of the current season of tier one play and the tournament break now upon us, it is time to reflect on the Spring season of Fantasy, brought to you by Roobet, and catch up with the winners who masterminded their way to big prizes with their top finishes on the leaderboard.

Not only did the Spring season leaderboard take place throughout the first part of the year, pitting HLTV users against one another for a top prize of $5,000, but also the Celebrity leaderboard, where top broadcast talent, streamers, ex-players and some of HLTV’s own battled for a $1,000 prize. Check out the Fantasy page here to see the full rankings.

Vicente "asensi995" Marí, 1st place

In the Spring season, it was Spaniard Vicente "asensi995" Marí from Valencia who bagged himself first place and the $5,000 prize. The 27-year-old Fantasy expert currently works part-time as a postman whilst completing his studies in Physiotherapy.

"When the Heroic vs Vitality match ended and I saw that I had won, I felt great joy," said asensi995 of his victory. "Everyone in PituHerranz's chat was congratulating me non-stop."

The Spaniard also revealed that "from the beginning, I didn’t think about winning," and that it wasn’t until Brazy Party ended that he "truly believed" he could finish in first place.

Jan "pootwooor", 2nd place

Jan "pootwooor" from Zielonka, Poland secured the runners-up finish, earning himself a $2,000 prize. The office worker informed HLTV that although he had dabbled in Fantasy games since last year, this Spring season was the first he participated in from start to finish.

"It has been very stressful since Katowice!" said the Pole of this season’s Fantasy competition, adding that he was actually in the arena as a spectator during the IEM Katowice playoffs. "I was not supporting any particular team but rather players from my fantasy team, and after the final I realized that I am in top 1%.

"I tried to keep my expectations low as it was still very early in the season and every event would create a big shuffle in the top ranked players. I was just enjoying being among top players, even if it was just for a moment."

maccycor, 3rd place

Rounding out the top three was HLTV user maccycor, an economist who lives in London, UK. The economist’s finish secured him a $1,000 prize.

"I didn't ever feel really nervous watching the games which surprised me," maccycor stated to HLTV. "I was very happy to find out I came third - right before the final event I was tied for third with another person and #1 and #2 were very far ahead so it was really a battle for third place going into it."

Lucy "LucyLuce" Eastwood, Celebrity league winner

In the Celebrity league, it was Lucy "LucyLuce" Eastwood who secured the top prize, $1,000, and of course bragging rights. It was a close battle at the top between LucyLuce and Mathieu "⁠Maniac⁠" Quiquerez that went right to the wire, with the former eventually securing victory in the final Fantasy game of the season.

"I’m very happy to have taken the win!" LucyLuce said to HLTV. "I obviously came in with the intent on topping the board, and had some confidence from previous fantasy games. But once Maniac scored a 1% place early on I really began to push for the win.

"There was definitely pressure towards the end. I had a really good run where I scored 80 points across 4 games and had a good lead, which I started to choke with risky drafts. Thankfully I was able to stick the landing in the final game!"

Other notable finishes in the Celebrity league included Conner "⁠Scrawny⁠" Girvan achieving his goal of top five, something he mentioned in his Fantasy Land series on his YouTube channel. HLTV’s own Zvonimir "⁠Professeur⁠" Burazin and Milan "⁠Striker⁠" Švejda both managed to secure top-ten finishes, No. 6 and No. 10 respectively, whilst HLTV’s Danish "⁠Nohte⁠" Allana came in at No. 15.

Stay tuned for another season of Fantasy!

Both the regular and celebrity Fantasy leagues are here to stay, so look out for their return next season. There is also some exciting news to come for the next season, so all Fantasy players should stay tuned to find out more!