Fnatic’s 2025 season has been hit and miss, spending periods looking like EU’s best side — unsurprising given the firepower on their roster — but so far failing to have turned that into a sustained playoff run and LEC title win. Now having touched down in Madrid for the LEC Summer Finals, Fnatic have one last chance at making things right, and require an opening win against Karmine Corp (KC) to at least make it to this year’s World Championship. Ahead of that opening series, Hotspawn spoke to head coach Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann for an interview.

Lee: Let’s start with your opening matchup against Karmine Corp, who have had some difficulties recently and still have the option of subbing in Nisqy.

What are your thoughts on KC?

GrabbZ: For now, we just assume they’re going to play with Vladi, and, while it’s impossible not to see that they had the issues the last weeks, we are preparing for the best of Karmine Corp. We’re not going to go into the game believing that this will have an impact in the game.

They also had two weeks to prepare for this specific best-of-five, so we’re going to assume they’re going to come at us with their best. So we don’t really concern ourselves with the drama or if Nisqy plays. If he does, cool — I think he’s a worse player than Vladi. So good for us, I guess. But we don’t assume it’s happening.

Lee: Fnatic had a decent following in Madrid during the Spring roadshow, and there’s been a strong France vs Spain rivalry since KC joined the league.

Do you feel Fnatic could have the home advantage facing KC in Spain?

GrabbZ: For sure, we’re going to have a lot of fans cheering for Oscar and Razork specifically, and Gaax is also Spanish. So we’re going to have a bit more support, I’d say.

I don’t concern myself with that. I just want to go on stage and make sure my players do the best they can. But it would be a lie to say they’re not excited, especially Razork [who] comes from Madrid, so it’s really a hometown for him and he takes big pride in that. So the fans will for sure give him a lift and I think it will show in his performance.

Lee: Given that this first match is the decider for Worlds,

Does it feel like the most important game of the LEC Summer Finals weekend for Fnatic?

GrabbZ: I think for the org itself, it’s hugely important. We made sure not to make it bigger than it is. I think everybody’s hugely aware of the importance of this game, but it’s only more important because that’s the game we can prepare for.

We can only prepare for KOI after beating KC. We can only prepare for G2 after beating the other two. So why spend time there if we have the first opponent in front of us, prepared with all seriousness we have? But again, we make sure to also not put too much stress on it. We’re all aware that’s really important and that’s about it.

Fnatic GrabbZ intervew - LEC Summer 2025
Image credit: Riot Games

Lee: Expectations for Fnatic, from the start of this year, were clearly to be winning titles, but that has not happened yet.

What would Fnatic need to do for the rest of this season for you to see the year as a success?

GrabbZ: I think for the org, of course, winning the split or qualifying to Worlds is the minimum. For me personally, I think that ship has sailed because ultimately, when I came in, I wanted to have the team become a team that can dominate. The players were there for it, and for whatever reason, we didn’t get there. So I think in that regard, it was a fail.

You can also argue that in itself, the league, the top four, got more competitive than in the last years. So by nature, it’s harder.

And I have this feeling that other teams have similar feelings that they’re not where they should have been. I think obviously, if you talk to KC, KOI, or G2, they’re gonna have similar views on their development. So personally, I’m a bit disappointed in whatever happens in a way. But obviously, Worlds is the bare minimum that this org wants to reach. We still believe we can beat every team. I think the top four are hugely competitive.

I think G2 sure might be, as of today, like 1% or 2% ahead of the rest. But on a given day, each team can beat everybody. And we’re going to come into this weekend with that in mind and with the belief that we can win everything, and then whatever happens, happens. We are making sure that we don’t have any regrets in terms of preparation.

Lee: As a result of the group format, you haven’t faced Karmine Corp in an official game since Spring.

Does that change the nature of the matchup?

GrabbZ: It doesn’t really matter because I think KC was the team we scrimmed the most in practice. So we know them really well, and they know us really well. Obviously, let’s just say certain players from both camps have a bit more aggressive tendencies in scrims. I think a bit of ego is involved and I don’t know if that will translate to stage, but I think both teams have a good idea of each other.

But it’s sad, right? We are a top four team, both teams, and we haven’t played in what feels like half a year. And I don’t think that’s what should be happening. I think, for example, the Korean system of the Legends group makes more sense to me than what we did. But Riot tried it and hopefully they will learn for next year.

Lee: Canna is generally considered KC’s strongest player, while Oscarinin has done well for Fnatic — MVP against GX — despite being up for a potential benching during the off season.

How do you see the matchup going?

GrabbZ: It’s going to be important for sure. I don’t necessarily think, though, the way KC plays — they’re not playing for Canna. Canna’s just individually a very strong player. I think Oscar is more than good enough to at least contain him, and I think if he does that, then we’re already in a good spot. He doesn’t even need to win this lane. I think our bot has a big advantage.

I think currently, there’s no secret, KC plays a bit disconnected from Vladi. It feels like he gets less support than in previous splits, while I was thinking he’s the next star player next to Canna.

So obviously it’s always hard to say. I think both teams recently on stage haven’t played the best macro either. But I know both teams can play much better from scrims, so it’s just more about which team can, on that day, play sidelane better, I would say. And I think if we show what we have done recently in practice, I’m very, very confident. And I don’t think Canna is going to be a special factor. Not saying that he’s not really good, but it’s more that I think about how the teams interact with each other and I don’t think he will have much room to have an impact, hopefully.