UPDATE - Fnatic's long-time coach, Jayden "Dizzle" Saunders, will stand-in for Magnet at the Season 8 Finals this weekend.
Dizzle previously competed on Mindfreak at the Six Invitationals 2017 on XBOX where they fell in the very first round. Since then he has worked alongside MindFreak/Fnatic in a coaching role, aiding them to each the 2018 Six Invitationals, the Paris Major and both the Season 7 and 8 Finals.
He now steps in to replace Magnet as he fulfils the very particular ruleset needed for a stand-in of being a) from the ANZ region, b) not a current PL/CL player and c) able to get the relevant visa as he was attending the Finals regardless alongside his teammates.
Skip to 6:20 for confirmation.
---
Qualifying as the second-seeded team from the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian roster of Fnatic will attend the Pro League Season 8 Finals without Magnet due to health issues.
This announcement comes just two days after Magnet tweeted that he had been hospitalised due to suspected appendicitis putting ANZ’s prospects at these finals in serious doubt.
Previously Magnet has led his roster to a number of major events including the Six Invitational 2018, in which they made it out of the group stage before falling in the quarter-finals, the Season 7 Finals, falling to the eventual winners, Team Liquid, in the first round and the Paris Major in which they went out in the group stage after a close game against Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Most recently, Fnatic represented the ANZ region at the Season 8 APAC LAN in which they defeated the top-seeded South-East Asian and Japanese teams of Sengoku Gaming Extasy and Xavier Esports to guarantee themselves a spot at both these Finals and the upcoming Six Invitational 2019 before losing 6-1, 6-2 against Nora-Rengo in the seeding match. Fnatic also competed at the Six Masters APAC tournament at PAX AUS in which they then defeated Nora-Rengo in a much closer 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 scoreline to be crowned the first ever “Masters” of R6.
Fnatic’s statistics at the Season 8 APAC LAN.
While it is not known who will replace Magnet of yet, Fnatic will now travel to Rio de Janeiro as an undeniably weaker team without one of their star players. Their opening match against Evil Geniuses on Saturday will now be an even tougher one as the North American giants aim to take the first Pro League title home for North America in two years.
You can catch the remainder of the Fnatic roster - Acez, Lusty, RizRaz, NeophyteR and Dizzle (their coach) - play their quarter-finals from 16:00GMT-2 on Saturday on the usual rainbow6 Twitch account. The staff here at SiegeGG wish Magnet the best and hopes he gets well soon!