cArn: "There's a lot of exciting talent out there, so hopefully fnatic can build something stronger"

fnatic's Chief Gaming Officer has said changes are on the horizon.

fnatic's CGO Patrik "⁠cArn⁠" Sättermon has given his thoughts on the organization's CS2 roster in an interview posted to their social media accounts.

The Counter-Strike veteran gave his assessment of the team's performance in the Shanghai Major cycle, and provided insight on the organization's plans for the roster moving into next year.

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cArn began by reflecting on fnatic's RMR campaign, admitting it was hard to be "too celebratory" about the team's performance. "We got out of it, that is always a positive, but questioning obviously what level of consistency and level of play we had," he stated.

"A lot of hype, a lot of stress relief winning that double overtime 2-2 match against ECLOT, but it's hard to be too celebratory of that with the Major result we eventually had. It was great for the organization and the team to be back at the Major after failing to qualify for Copenhagen, but obviously we want more. We don't just want to participate, we want to win as well."

The 39-year-old went on to summarize his team's journey at the Major itself, which ended in underwhelming 0-3 fashion in the Opening Stage. "The summary would be disappointing of course," cArn admitted.

"I think a lot will come out of the post-Major review, but losing some of these games was probably more surprising than others. I don't think it's a massive shocker, at the same time, that we aren't as competitive as we want to be."

fnatic's CGO gave a little bit of insight into said post-Major review, and how it would impact the team moving forward. "We use a lot of data, we do a lot of outreach, we talk a lot internally," he began.

"We are doing interviews with all our players and staff members, letting them reflect on what has been and how they feel about the current state, and their own futures. So a lot of time on the calls, a lot of working spreadsheets, and a lot outreach and discussion with other teams, trying to map out where the ship is sailing towards. And which members will be on that ship down the road."

cArn then firmly opined that fnatic's roster would look different heading into next year. "I'm sure I speak for everyone, not only management but also coaching and players, that we will need to conduct some changes.

"There's a lot of exciting talent out there, so hopefully we can build something stronger, and something that scales over time. I think we are coming to a bit of an end station now in the current shape and form of our structure, as well as the group of players we have right now.

"We need to address some of the core fundamental issues in the team: how we come together on the server, the strategic vision, how to raise our consistency, perhaps firepower. So there's a lot of things to think about and discuss, and in terms of timelines, I think we would love to enter the Christmas break with clarity on that."

He concluded by saying that whilst the changes to the 2025 circuit were "scary" for teams like fnatic who previously had partner spots locked down, they also represented an opportunity.

"Now everything is open, it's back to basics in a way. It's scary for teams that have been partner teams, because now we don't have those Pro League spots that we had, but nevertheless if we do our homework correctly and fix some of the core issues we have, then I think we won't get a better opportunity in the coming years to take the fnatic brand back in Counter-Strike. That's on us now."