Wunder returns to Fnatic for LEC 2023 Season Finals

After being on the bench for two entire splits, Wunder will be coming back to the Fnatic starting roster in the LEC 2023 Season Finals.

Fnatic Wunder will be subbing in for Oscarinin

On August 28, the day after Fnatic beat XL Esports to secure themselves a chance to fight for Worlds 2023, the organization publicly announced a shocking update. According to the official Fnatic Twitter, Oscarinin had been dealing with a hand injury prior to the series against XL.

While he was able to deliver a decent performance, the Spanish top laner will be undergoing surgery this week to fix the issue. This, however, means he won’t be able to take part in the upcoming series against Team BDS, which is crucial for Worlds qualification: whoever wins the series will lock a spot for the biggest tournament of the year. The loser will have to face Golden Guardians in the Worlds Qualifying Series to determine which region between NA and EU gets a fourth seed in South Korea.

As a consequence, Fnatic has made an emergency substitution and will be fielding Wunder in the upcoming series. This marks the top laner’s return to the LEC stage after he was benched at the end of the winter split. The Danish player left the organization in May and he will be rejoining now in one of the most important matches for the 2023 season.

Read more: All LoL teams qualified for Worlds 2023

What does this mean for the team?

Wunder is one of the most experienced veterans in the LEC, with several years of experience at the top level. When it comes to dealing with pressure, he’s probably one of the best ones out there. That being said, Fnatic is surely going to be affected by this change, especially considering how different Oscarinin and Wunder are as players.

The Spanish player is known to have more flexibility in draft, with the ability of playing both tanks and damage-oriented top laners. Wunder, on the other hand, has been playing weakside in recent times, and he already had that role when he played for Fnatic in winter. This might hurt Fnatic’s drafting as a whole and considering Adam has a couple of picks to win on the 1v1, things are not looking good for the British organization.

Wunder gave his own statement on Twitter:

“I didn’t expect to play competitively this year until just a few days ago when Fnatic contacted me about their unfortunate situation. I have agreed to help them out to give them a fighting chance and will use this week trying my hardest to get ready for this playoff meta.”

That being said, if there is one player who can manage the laning phase, it’s probably going to be Wunder. We shouldn’t expect him to carry Fnatic to the victory, but he will be that consistent and solid player to hold the pressure, hoping his teammates can win on the other sides of the map.

While we wish Oscarinin a speedy recovery, this will be a great opportunity for Wunder to showcase his level of play and potentially help him find a destination next season.

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