By Rush B Podcast

Credit: HLTV

Recently, Flickshot announced that Maikil “Golden” Selim would be replaced by Richard “Xizt” Landström in a move that shocked the community. The most inexperienced player of the current Fnatic roster, Maikil “Golden” Selim had been the in-game leader since his arrival in August 21, 2017 alongside Jonas “Lekr0" Olofsson following the departure of Dennis “dennis” Edman and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer to Godsent and FaZe Clan, respectively.

The current roster has seen some success with each other, finishing 1st during regular season play in both EPL S6 and ECS S4, semi-final finishes in the EPL S6 and ECS S4 Finals. Their more notable recent achievements of securing Legend status at the ELEAGUE Boston Major 2018 and a victory over FaZe Clan at IEM Katowice 2018 were encouraging for the Swedish side.

However, not all was as spectacular as appeared as internal problems have forced the Swedish roster to elect a change. The Rush B Podcast has recently learned that Fnatic had decided to replace Maikil “Golden” Selim with Richard “Xizt” Landström a week prior to StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4. The team had tried to remedy the out-of-game issues for some time, however once the former Ninjas in Pyjamas IGL became available, they found their solution.

Sources suggest that the team chemistry inside of server was manageable, however personality differences is what ultimately led the Swedish side to look at a roster change. Following the Swedes’ early 0–3 exit in the group stage of StarLadder & i-League Season 4, the team did not speak to one other until they arrived for IEM Katowice 2018.

The decision to replace the Fnatic IGL has come under increased scrutiny following the Swedes’ victory over FaZe Clan in the Grand Finals at IEM Katowice 2018. The recent success of the team under Maikil “Golden” Selim’s leadership has muddied the decision to remove the former Fnatic Academy player from the active roster and bring in Richard “Xizt” Landström. However, we are told that the move is still likely to move ahead and can be announced as soon as March 19th, once the WESG World Finals comes to a close.