It's been a rollercoaster first year on Fnatic for Rasmus 'Caps' Winther. He joined the European giants at the end of last year as part of a fresh, new roster that showed promise. Fans began to regain their faith but Fnatic had a poor Spring Split in the EU LCS and swapped out their coaching staff and jungler.

Fast forward to the Summer Split and they destroyed their competitors and topped their group. They looked set to qualify for the World Championships and reclaim their EU LCS crown for the first time since 2015.

Yet once again, they were stopped in their tracks as Misfits upset Fnatic and made it look easy in the process. A season of highs and lows, Caps has had a lot to reflect on but says that was the team's lowest point: 'The most difficult stage of this season was definitely the loss to Misfits.

Caps' first year on Fnatic has been a rollercoaster but he hopes his team can end it on a high

'I think the whole split was really good up until that point. I was pretty sad because I really feel like we weren't us when we played that series, we were focussed on worlds and other things.

'We weren't excited for the Misfits game and took it for granted. We ended up playing really poorly and if I have any regrets, it's definitely the weeks before that match and how we practised. I just wish we could do it over.'

After the disappointing game, Caps regrouped with his teammates to push on for their last shot at reaching Worlds: 'We had some meetings together where we all talked.

'I think everyone had some thoughts, everyone was thinking about themselves and what they personally could have done better. We talked about how it felt and how we wanted to move forward from that point. We decided to try and make the best of it and we managed to win the gauntlet.'

Fnatic survived that trauma and look strong as a team again. They have a good chance of making the group stages but will have to go through the Play-In first agaist Vitenamese team Young Generation and Latin team Kaos Latin Gamers.

Fnatic regrouped after their shock playoffs exit to Misfits and are now in the Worlds Play-In

The wildcard teams can be very unpredictable which is epitomised by the fact that Caps knows nothing about them: 'I'm not really sure what I was hoping for, I didn't really have any thoughts on who I wanted to play against. I've heard the names of the teams we're playing against but I don't really know the players, I don't even know how they play.'

If Fnatic do make it through the Play-Ins, they will find themselves in either Group A with reigning world champions SK Telecom T1 and Chinese champions EDward Gaming or in Group B with Korean champions Longzhu.

Both are tricky groups but Caps feels confident about them: 'Both Group A and B look kinda nice. I'd probably prefer Group B but I'd be happy with either.

'But we made an agreement as a team that we will only focus on Play-Ins first because before the Misfits match we really got ahead of ourselves and started looking towards Worlds. We won't talk much about groups until after Play-Ins if we do actually make it.'

Fnatic have clearly learnt their lesson and are only focussing on whats in front of them. They will be keen to train hard and improve before the tournament begins but Caps will have to play catch up.

He has been stuck in Berlin for the past few days with VISA issues while the rest of his team have been practising in South Korea, the country with the best LoL players in the world. Caps is chomping at the bit to join them: 'It's been two days since the rest of the team left for Korea:

Caps has been stuck in Berlin with VISA issues while the rest of Fnatic practise in South Korea

'I really want to go as soon as possible and I'm also a little bit annoyed we had to play in the gauntlet while other teams already got to go out there and start bootcamping. I will just have to catch up when I get there.'

Caps' only international experience is against North America in the Rift Rivals tournament where European teams were caught out: 'We were kinda stuck on the old patch and old style at Rift Rivals and only focussed on ganking side lanes. We were stuck and got abused a lot by the NA teams. We've changed a lot of things up but it's difficult to say how we compare with them now.'

It's another lesson learned for Fnatic that could serve them well at Worlds according to Caps: 'We probably won't find the effective champions on the new patch before the tournament starts but there are so many different regions and teams that there will be many ways of playing the game.

'It's about being able to adapt halfway through and learning what teams are doing successfully and if we can implement that style. It's about taking what we can learn from ourselves and from other teams.'

Fnatic have learnt some harsh lessons this season. It's been a difficult year for the team but they continue to fight through, their battle wounds are merely proof of their journey as they try to return to their former glory.