Fnatic placed just 9th-12th at the first Major of the season, which to some came more of an unfortunate result, as the team is regarded as one of the best coming from Southeast Asia.In preparation for DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major, Fnatic bootcamped in London for two weeks, and in between their training schedule, they’ve made a video to update their fans on how they are planning to move forward into the season and to explain a bit the poor form they showed at the Chengdu Major.“I thought it was a holiday, like we went there for fun. I was not prepared at all for it,” Daryl Koh “iceiceice” Pei Xiang bluntly said in Fnatic’s video. Eric Khor, Fnatic Team Director added that “basically there was no training at all and we just went there blind, we just wanted to have some fun. We didn’t do that well, obviously, for good reasons we didn’t do that well, but for the Leipzig Major- this is when we basically say that our season officially begins.”Fnatic entered the new season with two new players joining their ranks and a new coach to guide them towards The International 2020. For their new carry, Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon, the tournament in Chengdu was his first Major, and he says that despite the result, overall, the tournament was “a good experience.”
Perhaps, exactly because they wanted with the Chengdu Major to make a smooth transition from the post TI9 short vacation to the new season, Fnatic didn’t announce the former Team Secret coach, Lee “SunBhie” Jeong-jae, joining them until after the Major. Although he was with them in Chengdu. SunBhie is now fully installed in the coach position, and he shared a few of the goals he set for himself and for the team.“There is something that I want to do with the team and I think step by step, I’m trying to achieve that. I’m trying to build our team up and try to bring out the best of them and build confidence, try to build chemistry. I think, ultimately, I’m trying to bring perspective. I think the team is very skilled, but perhaps there is a perspective that is lacking and maybe I can fill in on that […] I have an expectation for the long term. I think it’s so shortsighted to have expectations per tournament. There can be realistic expectations, but I don’t like placement expectations. There are some milestones that I want to hit per tournament to move us forward to achieve the ultimate goal. If that can be met in this tournament, I’ll be very happy regardless of the placement, SunBhie explained.Fnatic’s video includes a lot more about their bootcamp experience ahead of the Leipzig Major. It gives an insight into each of their player’s mentality and perspective on the past and future events, and shades light on their day by day life. So, while waiting for the Major to kick off later today, go watch the full video on Fnatic’s Dota 2 team Facebook page.DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major groups stage matches will start at 13:30 CET/ 03:30 PST/19:30 SGT.
The first day will feature all the opening series of each of the four groups. On the second day it will be decided who will move onto the playoffs upper bracket and who will fight for their tournament lives from the lower bracket rounds.
