A quarterfinalist at a Major. Numerous on-stage playoff appearances in front of some of the largest esports crowds ever. Almost $200,000 USD in total prize winnings. To most in the Counter-Strike world, particularly in Europe, a player like this is a dime a dozen.
But for an in-game leader from Australia to accomplish such achievements? Outside of the great Aaron “AZR” Ward at Renegades and 100 Thieves, it was unheard of—but that’s exactly where Fnatic’s Christopher “dexter” Nong finds himself now.
Dexter is in his third year abroad after breaking new ground with European outfit MOUZ in 2021. But, despite modest achievements in 2022 and following a 2023 season that left fans wanting more, changes were made and dexter found himself out. He wouldn’t be gone for long.
“There were a lot of talks with multiple different teams [during the player break],” dexter said to Dot Esports on his signing to Fnatic. “[The move] was in the works for a couple of weeks after IEM Dallas. I bribed everyone a lot of money to get into this team so that’s how we ended up here,” he laughed.
Related: Fnatic overhauls CS:GO roster with surprising IGL pickup and inexperienced AWPer
Dexter is already sounding settled into his new home at Fnatic, with the team meeting up and bootcamping at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London in early July ahead of a busy CS:GO season to close 2023. Like MOUZ, Fnatic have had a rocky start to the calendar year, to say the least. Outside of a surprise Legends Stage run at the BLAST Paris Major, the legendary organization has struggled to post consistent results throughout 2023.
As such, Fnatic has undergone an almost complete reconstruction of its own. Dion “FASHR” Derksen is gone and Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi has been benched, while William “mezii” Merriman will be giving up in-game duties and switching to a starring role. The org has turned to French sniper Aurélien “afro” Drapier as nicoodoz’s replacement and has handed the keys to the castle to dexter.
“Our goal right now is just to think as a team and get used to each other,” dexter said on where he wants Fnatic to be in the short term. “[We] just want to be clear on how we want to approach the season and to make sure it’s a smooth experience for everyone.”
While outside elements between Fnatic and MOUZ were similar, such as bootcamping opportunities and performance coaching, Dexter noted it was already a stark difference to his time spent with MOUZ, particularly given each player’s relative experience in CS:GO. The average age of the MOUZ lineup when dexter departed was a touch over 22 years old. At Fnatic, it’s 26.
“There’s a lot of experience in the way [the Fnatic players] want to play and a lot of identity, so I don’t have to go in as the IGL and solve that for anyone,” dexter said, adding that he doesn’t feel as pressured to micromanage his new squad as much as he did at MOUZ. At the same time, this change presents its own challenges: Dexter can’t just copy and paste what worked before and knows these things take some time.
“It’s a different type of work for me. I can’t really put my own footprint from MOUZ straight into this team because it wouldn’t make sense. It’s a kind of a go-with-the-flow for things now and get a better grasp on how everyone likes to play.”
It’s even tougher to enter a team who had their own captain who has rotated into a new role. Mezii has been the star of the Fnatic lineup, posting a chart-topping 1.11 rating over the past three months, according to stats site HLTV, despite also managing IGL duties. This too has been an additional challenge of dexter’s, finding the right moment to interject in the middle of the moment.
In the interim, however, it’s all about freeing up Mezii’s talents. “[Mezii] will have a lot less pressure and a lot more time to focus on himself and relax,” dexter said. “I’m trying to find the right timing at the moment to step in and to know when it’s necessary to, and when it’s not. For Mezii, he better be 40-bombing or it’s back to calling and I’ll take the reins.”
Dexter is also keen to get to work with team coach Jamie “Keita” Hall. Keita has coached CS:GO for the better part of seven years and has held stints at Epsilon, Chaos Esports Club, and Complexity. Keita brings about a different approach to coaching for dexter, who noted his past coaches were well-versed in the mental side of the game, whereas Keita’s tactical prowess and focus will give him time to sharpen his individual game.
“[Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen] and I were tight at MOUZ but I think we did some things wrong. He would say the same thing,” dexter added. “Having more of a tactical focus from a coach is going to be very cool and puts a lot less strain on me.”
Looking back on his time at MOUZ, and beyond to his first international event with The Chiefs at IEM Taipei in 2016, dexter remains in disbelief as to how far he’s come. Originally stating he just wanted to travel the world and “eat good food back then,” the Australian has traveled to five continents and 19 countries just for esports alone. His goals have since widened; while a tier one trophy would no doubt be the next stellar accomplishment, dexter just wants to do it for the love of the game.
“I just want to enjoy the game a lot more, no matter what,” dexter said. “I’ve made it to a couple of playoffs now, that was probably my first goal back in the day. Now that I’ve kind of achieved that I really want to just go further and take some trophies.”
His and Fnatic’s first task won’t be easy. The new squad will need to navigate the IEM Cologne Play-In, beginning July 26. Fnatic will take on Complexity first up, who have already begun seeing success following the addition of EliGE and have maps under their belt from BLAST Premier Fall last week. Fnatic come in fresh, without a single official to their name since rebuilding. But let dexter cook in his laboratory for too long, and all of a sudden you’ll be seeing Fnatic back on top sooner rather than later.
IEM Cologne’s play-in stage begins at 7:30am CT later today.
