Poby officially joins Fnatic in the LEC

This Monday, Fnatic officially announced the arrival of Yun “Poby” Sung-won to their LEC team. The Korean player will replace Marek “Humanoid” Brázda from the Summer Split. The contract of the former Black and Orange midlaner runs until the end of the year, meaning he will join the inactive roster for the remainder of 2025.

Poby’s arrival on the Old Continent was unexpected, to say the least. The Korean player was established at T1 Academy since 2021. He had also made quite a name for himself in 2023, when he had to replace the legend Faker — who was suffering from a wrist injury at the time — in the main roster. Although the team’s results were catastrophic (4-14), Poby then regained his place in the LCK CL, finishing 4th at Summer 2024 and runner-up at Kickoff 2025.

There’s no doubt that the 19-year-old is on the rise, but his ability to turn things around at Fnatic is more questionable. As a reminder, FNC struggled the most when it came to mid game and communication this year. For a role as central as midlane in a team environment, the language barrier and lack of experience might be too big an obstacle for Poby to overcome on his first split. The staff’s ambitions in this recruitment were half-explained in Poby’s introduction video: they want a player who is more aware of sidelane threats — the biggest flaw of their former midlaner. But I’m afraid the solution they’ve come up with will only displace the problem.

We’re excited to announce that Sungwon “Poby” Yun will be joining us as the new midlaner for our League of Legends team. We sat down with @Poby0207 and @GrabbZ_ to discuss joining Fnatic and their thoughts on the upcoming Summer Split. pic.twitter.com/Ns5IgAMAta

— FNATIC (@FNATIC) July 21, 2025

A recent history tinged with failures

Nevertheless, it’s clear that a change was needed at Fnatic after the Spring 2025 meltdown. It followed six years without a title for one of League of Legends’ most historic organisations, the first to win Worlds in 2011. Since 2022 — with the team’s overhaul around Razork/Humanoid — the Black and Orange seem to have stagnated, accumulating 3rd (4) and 2nd (4) places in the LEC. Not enough for a team looking to return to its former glory, made of multiple trophies. The final blow came this year when Fnatic was eliminated by Karmine Corp twice — first 3-2 in the Winter lower bracket final, then 3-0 in the Spring lower semi final — even though their longtime rivals G2 Esports were no longer looking as dominant.

Fnatic’s attempt to recycle stars in the hope that the project would eventually work out was undone by the successful KC and MKOI models. The fourth place in Spring, synonymous with regression, was one time too many and head coach GrabbZ ended up addressing the die-hard FNC fans on his stream. He explained that Elias “Upset” Lipp was the only player “who consistently came in with the will to practice”, that the org was open to roster changes ahead of Summer and that only the botlane was untouchable. According to Sheep Esports, Rhilech was considered for jungle and Wunder for toplane. In the end, it’s only Humanoid who pays the price for his team’s poor results. The midlaner joined Fnatic in 2022 after an almost perfect year with MAD Lions. His competitive future is still uncertain, but given his previous salary claims (top 5 of the league’s best-paid players) and his supposed lack of motivation, he will no doubt have to make an effort in at least one of these areas if he is to join an LEC team from 2026.