blameF defeats former Astralis teammates in Pro League opener

The Danish rifler got one over his former team at the first time of asking.

fnatic defeated Astralis in their ESL Pro League S20 opening match in a three-map series (Vertigo 13-10, Inferno 8-13, Ancient 13-7) to give Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer a sweet victory over his previous team.

The Great Dane was removed from Astralis in February after they failed to qualify for the PGL Copenhagen Major and was in large part held responsible for the loss by the organization.

"We have to acknowledge that we haven't succeeded with him in the role of IGL," the team's Sports Director, Kasper Straube, said at the time. "There is a mismatch in profiles and roles [...] and we need to utilize players where they individually feel most comfortable so they can perform optimally."

The team then brought on Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro to ease role clashes, which blameF often had with Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund, and star AWPer Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz took on in-game leadership.

Read more

Astralis bench blameF after RMR fiasco

blameF then sat on the sidelines for three months before returning to action with fnatic — giving up the reins of leadership in favor of Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro's shot-calling —, in what was perceived as a step down. So far, his output has remained impressive, with a 1.29 rating across 86 maps, although team success has been hard to come by.

fnatic attended YaLLa Compass 2024, where they went out in groups, and FiReLEAGUE 2024 Global Finals, where they made the final and lost to hometown favorites 9z, and are yet to break into the top 20 in the world ranking.

This victory over Astralis in the Dane's first encounter against his former team marks a positive start for fnatic in their ESL Pro League run, which will continue against the winner of Complexity vs. M80.

The 27-year-old can also take pride in finishing the series on top of the scoreboard after an incredibly impactful display on the Ancient decider, where he put up 116 ADR, 21 kills, and a 1.80 rating.