Today the worst kept secret in competitive Overwatch has been revealed to the masses as Fnatic announce their return to the scene with the signing of nubris to their storied organisation. Currently ranked #5 in North America and #9 in the World by GosuGamers, nubris are a team in the ascendency with today's news coming on the wake of back to back wins in the GosuGamers North America Weeklies and qualification for the ESL Atlantic Showdown Qualifiers.
It has been nearly two months since events were set in motion that led to the piecing together of this roster, starting with the release of iddqd by Rogue and Team Liquid's missed opportunity to sign Vonethil. A bit of a switcheroo occurred at some point when id_ and Minstrel vacated the nubris roster, ending up in some kind of limbo with Liquid and making way for iddqd and Vonethil to swear the oath of allegiance to nubris and North America.
Europe wept. The rest, as they say, is history.
Early supporters of the scene during the Closed Beta, Fnatic's last foray in Overwatch ended when REUNITED decided to strike out on their own at the start of 2016. When asked why they had taken so long to return, the team's Operation Manger, Florian "DRUNKKZ3" Le Bihan, said "We have been super careful and picky with our players" adding "I myself am super invested in the Overwatch community so I know most of the players" and he also confirmed that the Swedish contingent will "move to NA at a later point".
The official press release is packed with quotes from the players, but perhaps one of the more interesting that didn't make the cut for the announcement post was from iddqd, spelling out his desire to compete again at the elite level - an opportunity that was taken away from him when dropped by Rogue:
"After the departure of my former team, it became clear to me that I had to set up a new team of the highest caliber to compete at the level I wanted to. With fnatic backing us, we have the support of an organization equal to the skill of the players involved. I'm very excited for what the future has in store for us."
You can gain more insight to the team's plans later today at 3PM EDT / 21:00 CEST on the Fnatic Twitch stream where they will be hosting a live Q&A event.
The new Fnatic Overwatch roster is:
- André "iddqd" Dahlström (DPS)
- Scott "custa" Kennedy (Support)
- Oliver "Vonethil" Lager (Support)
- Casey "buds" McIlwaine (DPS)
- Warsi Faraaz "Stoop" Waris (Tank)
- Matthew "coolmatt69" Iorio (Flex)
- Robert "Roflgator" Malecki (Coach)
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