HLTV.org sat down with fnatic captain Patrik "cArn" Sättermon and discussed with him the recent roster changes which affected his team.

The Swedish team recently witnessed the departures of Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg, Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl, with the first two migrating to SK Gaming, while the last one is still trying to find a solution.

To replace these players, fnatic went for Richard "Xizt" Landström and Faruk "pita" Pita, from Lions and RAGE, respectively, and free agent Marcus "Delpan" Larsson.

In this very interesting interview, Sättermon addresses the problems fnatic faced in these recent weeks, the reason Ståhl and Andreas "moddii" Fridh are not part of the new roster, and also the changes the new players will bring with them. He also pinponts Natus Vincere as one of the two reasons fnatic found success very hard to come by in 2010. 

When did you learn that three of your team-mates were considering creating a team you and Harley "dsn" Orwall would not be part of?

We had planned to have a meeting right after Dreamhack despite which result we would have there. During this meeting we were informed that our ex-team mates had already contacted the SK players to form a new squad in 2011.

How did you react?

The players that left FnaticMSI had come to me after WEM and informed me that they wished to replace dsn, something I first found ridiculous after us doing bad in one single tournament, and also because I believed he wasn't responsible for the internal problems we had in the team. This was also an opinion that was shared among the Fnatic management, so we all decided to talk things over and focus on the upcoming DreamHack.

That being said, after losing to Na'Vi in the quarter-finals, I knew we were going into a meeting with different meanings on how to solve the current problems, but I was still surprised that I was informed that they gave Fnatic an ultimatum that they would leave the team if dsn and I weren't replaced with RobbaN and allen.

Besides the surprise I felt, I also found it slightly amusing that me and Harley should be replaced with players who barely haven´t won anything in a very long time. It would have been much easier to grasp the situation if they would suggest upcoming talents to tag up with Fnatic, not players of the same age as me and Harley, but with much less impressive CV.

How were these last months at fnatic? Were there any problems, did you notice some of the players were not as committed as they used to be?

I always thought we had the best team on the paper, incredible rifle players combined with a sniper who could turn matches around in seconds. What I think we lacked in the end was team play, we played as only our own performance matter and our communication in-game wasn't working at all with few initiative being taken by the players.

Do you think the team could have survived the way it was, or were roster changes a necessity?

I think a roster change was needed after DreamHack, for sure, but it makes no sense at this point to reveal what I thought would be the best for the previous team. What happened, happened.

What do you think that went wrong and prevented fnatic from having the success it used to have, this year?

Ourselves and Na'Vi. There are only two things I regret this year though but I will only go public with one here. The only reason why we lost to Na'Vi in the IEM4 finals was that we underrated them. And why did we do that? Well, no one saw them as a threat as they hadn't accomplished anything particular at that time, so we just practiced against them everyday before Hannover without saving any strategies. When we then eventually found ourselves facing them in the grand-finals we were just read completely as we had done all our stuff days before, during practice. I personally think that the game we did play at IEM4, if you exclude the grand-final, was one of the best CS we ever played in Fnatic, with a great balance of team play and aim.

I'm not a guy who goes around and regrets stuff, but if I could turn back time we should not have practiced as much against Na'Vi, and what makes this story even more interesting is that these days Na'Vi never want to practice against us, so I guess I have to say hope you enjoyed the lesson and thanks for not giving anything in return, hugs guys!

As the captain of the team, did you ever feel that after losing the support of three of your players, it was time to step down?

Losing the support as a leader is not a good sign and that makes you analyze yourself in many different ways. I think my strength (and weakness) as a leader is that I listen to the players and adapt to them, if they really like to do something I'm not gonna sit there and say "-No" even if I think it's against my tactical mindset because in my world a happy aimer is better than an uncomfortable aimer.

As I stated earlier, I think our biggest weakness as a team weren't tactics and skill but team play. Team play is every player´s responsibility to contribute to and it was here we failed. We did also experiment to swap in-game leader on some maps and let´s say that didn´t work either. To answer if I considered to step down I can honestly say no, I believe I´m great on what I´m doing but as any other I can have bad days/tournaments.

What was the reason for fnatic to prefer your project over the one which was being orchestrated by these three players?

I think they went by the "blood is thicker than water"-mentality. Also they are aware that CS might only have 1-1.5 years left as the main e-sport title it is today, so it wouldn´t be right to hand over the legacy, which took years to create, to ex-SK players. I personally believe their decision to reject my ex-team members´ project was proven to be the right thing as they never actually were that loyal to each other, as they stated. This was proven last week when two of them joined up with SK, only to leave Gux behind.

How did it feel to lose two important pieces such as GeT_RiGhT and f0rest to SK, whom your team have been battling so hard over the years?

It´s not really as hard to imagine as if Osama bin Laden were to have dinner in the White House with the American president, but I still find it pretty odd, as both Gux and GeT_RiGhT were treated bad by them when they played for them. But I guess it was the only choice for f0rest and GTR.

How is your relationship with them, right now?

I respect the efforts and hard work they did for Fnatic. We will most likely catch up for chats during upcoming tournaments, but that´s probably it.

Gux left fnatic, but ended up not joining SK, and is currently without a team. Is there any reason you did not take him back?

He is a great player and would fit in any team when it comes to skill, but we (dsn and I) were obviously not good enough for him, so I hope he finds better team-mates in a different team.

Many people have been commenting on fnatic’s new line-up by saying you should have gone for Andreas "moddii" Fridh. Why didn’t you?

If we were to listen to what everyone is thinking in terms of suitable players we would end up with a team of 25 players. People need to understand that when you create a team, you are not only looking for aim, but also, and more important, social and dedicated players who are easy to work with. It might sound like I´m excluding moddii for those reasons, but that´s not the case, as I don't know him personally. I´m just listening to what people around me say, and there should be a reason why Moddii was kicked from MYM and never got a contract from SK, as he has loads of skill.

niko said that he turned down the chance to join your team. Did his decision hurt your plans?

He was in our early plans, yes, but as he goes back a long time with his players he thought he should stay with them and I understand him why. For us, it was a small problem as we had other candidates for the spot. As you know, Pita is stepping in and I think he will do as much impact as Niko would, at least.

Fnatic has been the foundation for the Swedish talent to grow rapidly from and many of our previous additions became world-class players within a few months, as the only things they were lacking were support and qualified team-mates. I believe we in Fnatic can offer Delpan, Xizt and Pita the right circumstances to grow as players and persons and I wouldn´t be surprised if they will deliver their best CS in 2011.

How would you compare your new team with the old one?

We will be less experienced but way more motivated and also more difficult to predict, as we are now forced to create a new tactical arsenal based on new individuals that come in with new opinions.

Looking at SK’s and fnatic’s roster, which would you say that looks stronger?

They are stronger in some aspects and we in other.

Do you think you are more motivated to beat SK now?

Obviously.

The IEM5 European Championship Finals will be your team’s first big test. How will you prepare for this event and what are your goals for the tournament?

As soon as the Christmas is celebrated with family and nice food, we will go into practice season, where I estimate us playing around 8 hours daily. Our goal is of course to win it, but I know that´s a lot to wish for in a new team, just look at Fnatic 2009 and NaVi 2010, it did take time to feel comfortable with each other before the successes started to rake in.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I would like to use this opportunity to send my biggest thanks to all our fans out there that has been supportive during these rough time, we will make it up for you!
Also love to Fnatic and our sponsors: MSI,SteelSeries, Bigfoot networks, Slappa and Ugame.net for being there for us! Finally, feel free to visit www.fnatic.com for more information about the most successful gaming team out there!