Resources

Esports News

Luci Kelemen
Written By: Luci Kelemen

Telling tales of esports, one word at a time, six years and counting

January 17th, 2020

The Swedish veteran player, who was benched by Fnatic in August, has departed the organization with immediate effect. He has previously played for Fnatic in the pre-CS:GO days but most fans today will know him for the five and a half years spent on the NiP side which famously went 87-0 at one point. His tenure as Fnatic's in-game leader was a mixed bag at best, especially in light of Golden's performances both before and after his arrival, with back-to-back LAN finals serving as high points alongside historic lows like crashing out of the Major for the first time in the org's history and losing 16-0 to AGO Esports at WESG 2018.

A Swedish legend

After a long and fruitful tenure as NiP's in-game leader, Xizt eventually found himself as a stand-in for FaZe Clan before joining forces with Fnatic, replacing Golden as the in-game leader of the side in May 2018 just after they'd won back-to-back tournaments (IEM Katowice Season XII and WESG 2017). The high points of his stint were a win at PLG Grand Slam and back-to-back grand finals at StarSeries i-League Season 7 and IEM Sydney 2019, events which were followed by a massive downturn in form, forcing the org to act.

first csgo major finalists
CS:GO
On this day six years ago, Fnatic won the first CS:GO major
swedish csgo superteam fnatic nip
CS:GO
Why are Fnatic so maddeningly inconsistent?
CS:GO
Is pronax an underrated genius or a man who was at the right place at the right time?

In terms of results, Xizt's return to Fnatic didn't produce the kind of results fans would have hoped for. By the end of his tenure, Fnatic fell to 15th place in the world rankings, falling out of the top ten twice under his watch, something which only happened once before in the summer of 2016 due to inactivity. His last event with the side as the Europe Minor where they failed to make it to the main stage of the StarLadder Berlin Major for the first time in their history.

Xizt and twist were both benched after that result: the latter is currently plying his trade on NiP while Xizt is rumored to return as part of the planned Dignitas lineup which would reunite most of the infamous NiP core. Whether that project comes to fruition remains to be seen.

Photo credit: HLTV