All of the players on Fnatic’s LEC team tested negative for COVID-19 yesterday, according to sources close to Dot Esports. Therefore, the League of Legends squad will be able to play the 2021 Spring Split playoffs offline from the LEC studio in Berlin.
Dot Esports reported on March 15 that Fnatic recently had a COVID-19 outbreak in its Berlin offices that affected both support Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov and assistant coach Gary “Tolki” Mialaret. The team finished their quarantine yesterday, which concluded with the negative PCR test results that Fnatic received yesterday afternoon.
The coronavirus affected Fnatic’s performance on Summoner’s Rift, especially during the last LEC “superweek” when they finished with a disastrous 0-3 record. Hylissang also confirmed with Dot Esports when he got COVID-19 that “he couldn’t show up for the games that might have mattered.” The support was already playing from home during the last superweek while the rest of the team was still at the office, which also affected the squad’s performance.
Unless any of the players or staff experience symptoms compatible with the coronavirus in the next few hours, these negative results mean that Fnatic will be able to compete in the 2021 Spring Split playoffs from the LEC studio after more than a year of online competition due to the pandemic.
Fnatic finished the regular season of the 2021 LEC Spring Split with a 9-9 record, leaving them in fifth place in the standings. This fifth-place finish means they’ll start the playoffs directly from the losers bracket and they won’t have a second chance if they lose a single best-of-five series.
The 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs will kick off on Friday, March 26 with a losers bracket showdown between Fnatic and SK Gaming at 12pm CT. The current LEC champions, G2 Esports, will face Schalke 04 on Saturday, March 27, while the second-place team, Rogue, will play MAD Lions on Sunday, March 28.
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