Fnatic have announced the decision to bench their team's IGL, Leon "LeonGids" Giddens. The news comes a fortnight after the team parted ways with the Six Invitational 2019 champion Juhani "Kantoraketti" Toivonen.
The British player has been competing in Europe's top flight since joining Rogue in June 2020 after parting ways with Team Secret, back when the German-majority roster finished in fifth place in the Challenger League Season 11.
After competing for KOI in the Europe League 2023, the European roster was picked up by Fnatic. However, the results weren't the expected ones as the team missed out on the BLAST R6 Major Manchester, the BLAST R6 Major Montreal, and the Esports World Cup 2024.
Although LeonGids has been benched, Fnatic hasn't completely parted ways with the Six Berlin Major champion. Here's what the British player had to say regarding the team's decision in his personal X profile:
This isn't a change that came surprising to me. I think after a few failed years of qualifying for events, not getting any good placements as well, I think a change was needed systematically stylistically as well. I think the main way that by, you know, moving the main vocal voice and captain of the team.
Despite Fnatic's decision to bench LeonGids, the player is not retiring. He has made it clear, he wants to continue playing. However, he will be focused now on streaming and creating content. Meanwhile, the player will "be talking with Fnatic" for more content creation opportunities.
With Europe's Six Invitational 2025 open qualifiers being just around the corner, Fnatic is making roster changes in a final attempt to qualify for Boston, Massachusetts. It's also the team's first chance to start shaping a roster for the next season, as Fnatic was unveiled as one of the twenty organizations to join the R6 Share 2025 program.
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