Fnatic replaces Amazingx with Broxah after early season struggles

After years atop the European League of Legends hierarchy, former world champions Fnatic had a very rough 2016, with back-to-back middling regular season results followed by early playoff exits. The organization made sweeping roster changes after the season, holding onto just one returning starter (long time AD Carry Martin “Rekkles” Larsen) and unveiling a new all-European lineup.

Three weeks in, and Fnatic is 2-2, with a disappointing 5-6 game record. The team is in third place in Group A, behind newcomer Misfits, and only boasts narrow 2-1 wins over 0-4 ROCCAT and 1-3 Giants.

There are many places to point blame, but veteran jungler Maurice "Amazingx" Stückenschneider is the first to get benched. After ranking at or near the bottom of nearly every jungling statistic, he will be replaced by Fnatic Academy jungler Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen for the next two weeks (pending Riot approval), the team announced Monday.

Fnatic Academy swept Paris Saint-Germain in its first Challenger Series match of the season, with two strong Ivern performances from Broxah (a combined 0/7/14 in the two games). Ivern has become an increasingly important pick in Europe, especially as a counter to the hyper-aggressive junglers like Kha’Zix ever-present in the current meta. Amazingx went 2-1 on Ivern last weekend against Roccat, with a combined scoreline of 5/3/22.

During Broxah’s scheduled two-week stint with Fnatic’s LCS squad, Amazingx will be taking a break from competitive play. Fnatic Academy will temporarily replace Broxah with Daniel “Dan” Hockley.