fnatic confirm mezii departure

The British player is poised to join Vitality and will make his debut for the team later this month.

fnatic have confirmed the departure of William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman from their Counter-Strike team. The British player is on the brink of completing a move to Vitality and is part of the lineup submitted by the reigning Major champions for the BLAST Premier Fall Final.

mezii will fill the slot that Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif will vacate as he prepares to move to Falcons. The four-time Major champion has already reached an agreement to join the Saudi organisation, HLTV.org reported on October 27, where he will reunite with Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen.

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"This was a really tough decision on my part after spending the best part of two years with the Fnatic organization," mezii said in a video posted by Fnatic.

“I gained invaluable experience and created so many great memories. I enjoyed every single day working alongside all the team and all the staff that work at Fnatic behind the scenes.

“I achieved many personal goals in my time with Fnatic, including making my first-ever Major, the Major playoffs, winning my first LAN event, and also just consistently competing at tier-one events. It has been a great time for me, to be able to represent an iconic organisation like fnatic.”

mezii ends a two-year association with fnatic, who recruited him from Endpoint in August 2021. In 2022, the team notably reached the playoffs of the IEM Rio Major and won Elisa Masters Espoo, but success has been hard to come by this year, with fnatic hovering around the 15th spot in the world ranking since April.

fnatic have not yet announced a replacement for mezii, with the team slated to compete in the closed qualifier for BetBoom Dacha 2023 from November 11-21. In the statement announcing mezii's departure, fnatic underlined their goal to build "a world-class roster that can reach the absolute top".

"We will not rest in this mission, and know this will require investment, which we’re prepared and ready to make," the British organisation said.

"We are working with the central teams who work across our top Valorant and League rosters, to support in these efforts as we seek a replacement and begin the path of upgrading our roster in the coming months."

mezii's departure means that fnatic will no longer have the core of the lineup that attended the BLAST Paris Major after Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi and Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen left in the summer. This will cost the team an automatic berth in the European RMRs, forcing it to go through the online qualifiers.

With this change, fnatic now have:

Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson
Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen
Aurélien "⁠afro⁠" Drapier
Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong

Jamie "⁠keita⁠" Hall (coach)