Former star Fnatic support and team captain Bora "YellowStar" Kim will be returning to the squad after spending the 2016 Spring Split with Team SoloMid, the team announced in a video and press release Wednesday. This was an expected move, ever since TSM announced he would be returning to Europe.
Without YellowStar, Fnatic missed the European LCS finals for the first time in team history, finishing in third place. AD Carry Rekkles was forced to take on the shotcalling duties; as Fnatic put it in the release, "this burden of responsibility was heavy for someone who'd only recently celebrated their nineteenth birthday."
In the release, Fnatic head coach Deilor praised the former team captain.
When first starting as a coach last year, I learnt an incredible amount from him and I wouldn't be the same coach I am today without him.
Bora has incredible work ethic, an immense amount of competitive experience and game knowledge combined with an extremely valuable ability of shotcalling and guiding the team. On top of that he already has a built-in synergy with Rekkles, knows the organization, the coaching staff and the fans. He is the perfect fit for the team.
Originally an AD Carry, YellowStar first joined Fnatic in January 2013 after time spent with Millenium and SK Gaming. He switched to support before Season 4, quickly becoming one of the best in Europe. His Fnatic teams were all incredibly successful: in six splits with the team, Fnatic won five EU LCS titles, finished second once, and made it to the World semifinals twice.
YellowStar has played 268 games with Fnatic, which was most among any player with one single time until SK Telecom T1's Faker played his 269th game with the team at MSI this month.
With Team SoloMid this split, YellowStar struggled with a new roster: as the team put it, "his playstyle as a support was something that did not mesh properly with the team." TSM was able to put it together towards the end of the split, beating No. 1 seed Immortals (and former Fnatic teammates Huni and Reignover) in the playoffs before losing to Counter Logic Gaming in a tough five-game series in the finals.