Fnatic added Australian in-game leader Christopher “dexter” Nong and French sniper Aurélien “afro” Drapier to its CS:GO lineup today ahead of CS2’s release this summer.
The signing of dexter caught the community by surprise since it wasn’t clear Fnatic wanted to free star rifler William “mezii” Merriman from the in-game leadership duties. The Australian became available on the market during the offseason after MOUZ replaced him with Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek.
As for afro, he was in the race to join Fnatic but was likely not the primary candidate due to his lack of experience. The French AWPer has been playing professionally since 2020 and will play in the tier-one circuit for the first time in his career. Fnatic was also reportedly pursuing a deal for star sniper degster, who has already proved his worth against tier-one teams.
Fnatic made these roster changes after the team had lackluster results in the first semester of 2023 with Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi in charge of the AWP duties and Dion “FASHR” Derksen playing rifling roles. They failed to build upon the success of their semifinal run at the IEM Rio Major in November 2022 and haven’t accomplished any significant results thus far in 2023. Nicoodoz was benched on April 4, while FASHR joined OG on June 30.
Related: Live Counter-Strike 2023 roster tracker: CS:GO signings and rumors ahead of CS2 release
Dexter has been a dedicated IGL since he burst into the high echelons of CS:GO with Grayhound between 2017 and 2019 and most notably led MOUZ during the past two years. The Australian guided them to win Flashpoint Season Three Europe in May 2021 and to a top-four finish at the IEM Rio Major.
The new Fnatic lineup will debut at the IEM Cologne play-in stage, which will run from July 26 to 28.
