Changes in the Fnatic CS:GO line-up, Schneider and Devilwalk to make room for Olofm and KRiMZ

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After having managed to defeat the to-date best CS:GO team in the world, Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), at Dreamhack Winter last year, the triumphant group of five will part ways with Andreas 'Schneider' Lindberg and Jonathan 'Devilwalk' Lundberg. Even though they became the first CS:GO team in the world to cash in a check for $100,000, these past six months following their success have been meager in terms of results, as they only reached a top 8 finish at IEM Katowice and were eliminated from their group stage at the recent Dreamhack Summer event. Even though they won the corresponding ESPORT-SM at the same event, it still seemed like too little too late in the grand scheme of things.

Lundberg released a lengthy statement in association with the announcement, and has also revealed that he will transition into a coaching role for the team.

I have decided to step down from my role as a player and also release a good friend of mine from the team (Andreas) whom I have played with my entire career. We have been together from the first team I ever had to this team that I love and cherish every moment, but at the same time I don’t think we can hold hands forever and therefore this was the best solution I could think of.

Having that said I am also very excited for this new chapter for me as a coach/manager for the team and I want to give the team the best possible chance to become one of the best teams in the world, something I think few teams have in CS:GO today. - Jonathan 'Devilwalk' Lundberg

The roster came together after a second place finish at Dreamhack Bucharest when Andreas 'MODDII' Fridh was replaced with Fnatic's current in-game leader Markus 'pronax' Wallsten. A mere month after the decision to replace Fridh, Fnatic managed to win the Dreamhack Winter SteelSeries CS:GO Invitational, subsequently earning them $100,000.

I want to thank the Fnatic organisation for always being so helpful and kind in every single way, it certainly is one of the greatest if not the greatest organization. I also want to thank all my fans for all the support I received in both bad and good times.

I would have wish to continued in the team as I think I have a lot to bring to the table, but still I want to wish them the best of luck in the future. - Andreas 'Schneider' Lindberg

Their replacements will be Olof 'olofm' Kajbjer and Freddy 'KRiMZ' Johansson of TEAMGLOBAL (former LGB eSports) fame, and their statements on joining Fnatic can be found below:

I am very happy to be given the opportunity to play for one of the most respectable organisations in the world. We all know each other from before so it was a really easy decision to team up. I will try my best to help the team take the next step to the absolute top and I'm looking forward to the first event with the team. - Olof 'olofm' Kajbjer

I'm very happy for this opportunity to represent Fnatic and to be part of a team that has the potential of becoming one of the best teams in CS:GO, I will work my hardest to make this a reality. - Freddy 'KRiMZ' Johansson

TEAMGLOBAL was one of the eight invited teams for the upcoming ESL One Frankfurt, which will also be featuring a $250,000 prize pool. Whether or not the team will attend is now uncertain as the Swedish line-up was unable to field a full five-man roster for Dreamhack a few weeks ago.

To read Fnatic's own statement, please visit the official Fnatic website.

Photo Credit: Dreamhack

Image Credit: Fnatic