Upset: “Hopefully I will be in Fnatic at the end of my career”

An explosive start to 2025 saw Fnatic and its superteam top the standings in the Winter split’s regular season, but a narrow 3-2 defeat to Karmine Corp in playoffs ultimately saw them finish in third place. With Spring now underway, Fnatic have again started well and will now aim to finally claim another LEC title after a 6.5-year wait since their last trophy. We spoke to bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp for an interview, facilitated as a result of the organization’s recent partnership with energy drinks brand Red Bull.

Lee Jones: The Red Bull partnership means that there’s a solid chance that Fnatic will appear in the next League of Its Own event.

Do you welcome having more third-party events like this and being able to compete in different venues?

Upset: Yeah, I think it’s amazing. I think it’s really a great opportunity for the players to get to experience this environment. Last year when I was in KC, who’s also sponsored with Red Bull, they also did these events and it was just an amazing experience to be in a big arena and play for the fans.

Lee Jones: There are also the LEC roadshows coming up where Fnatic will be playing in Madrid.

Are you looking forward to having an official game in a different arena too? Will it add to the weight of those games?

Upset: As a player, it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword I guess, because obviously you have to travel, you lose time to practise, it’s more risk of getting sick when you travel, and it’s a new environment. So it’s definitely more stress on you overall, I think.

But at the same time, getting to play in front of the people that watch you and support you, it’s always an amazing feeling. So that’s a huge upside, and I think it just makes the games more exciting too when you can see that there’s so much energy behind them and there’s so many people watching and cheering for either side. And yeah, for the fans, I think it’s also what they definitely deserve, the opportunity to get to these events and meet together and have that experience.

Lee Jones: On Fnatic’s current direction, you’re back amongst the top of the standings so far in Spring like you were in Winter, though in that previous split you guys were narrowly beaten in playoffs by eventual champions KC.

What could be the thing in Spring that gets you that 5% improvement that could be the difference in winning a title?

Upset: I think the biggest advantage for us is that we added Duffman to our coaching staff. I think he’s been very, very helpful working with the team, improving our macro because as individuals we are very strong. But the way we tend to take risks in games and play the map is not a very consistent way of playing.

I think it led to us, even if you take the KC example, which was very close in that series, we managed to throw the game with a really big early game lead after killing them 2v2 with the Kalista. So these kind of things we have to iron out if we want to really be the best team in the region and represent Europe well internationally. So I think that has been really good overall. 

Time as well — just more time together with the bot and top side. Obviously gelling as a team and getting more on the same page, that has also been very helpful for us. So I see a lot of good things right now happening in the team. I’m very happy with the direction we’re going in. 

Lee Jones: Going back to Fnatic this year was the first time you returned to a previous organisation, and you spoke last year on the Sack Down about feeling that the split last time was amicable between those involved.

What has it been like returning now and seeing old faces? What has the fan response been like?

Upset: The fan reception has been amazing. I think I see mostly very positive support for me. I really appreciate it.

I didn’t have any bad blood with any of the players at the time. I think overall it was just a pretty difficult part in my life, like on a personal level. So I think it was not as easy for me to find a really good solution for the way Fnatic was doing things back then. I see a lot of changes honestly in the way they approach practise and also just in general. The support has been really great here.

And bviously I never had any problems with Razork or Humanoid and I think they have grown in the time since I was gone. So that has been really great to see and to reconnect with them. It feels very familiar for me. And also it’s the same office, the same space. I’m very happy to be back and be in a very familiar environment, I’d say. So yeah, I’m really happy how things work out and hopefully I will be in Fnatic at the end of my career.

Lee Jones: Last year there was a lot of talk about the overall quality of LEC teams being really low.

How do you see it this year? It seems like, at least at the top, there’s much better competition with yourselves and KC fighting with G2 now.

Upset: Yeah, I would say the level has gone up. I think last year it would have been very interesting to see if we had the KC roster with Vladi and Canna from earlier. I would have really loved to see how we could have developed back then as well because obviously we just had one kind of short split where we barely missed out on top three, and it was only six weeks. 

So I think that new development for KC to bring in Caliste and Yike and still having Canna and Vladi and Targa, having more time to develop, I think it’s been really nice to see that there’s a new really strong team.

I think obviously Fnatic with me and Miky are also very strong team and G2 is still doing their thing. KOI has upgraded their roster and then there’s a lot of other teams that have also been making interesting roster moves. But I think just the top four alone has been showing a pretty good level overall.

And yeah, it would be great to see if other teams like BDS or Vitality find the groove and also manage to improve, or a GIANTX who’s not doing so well right now. Hopefully they can also find their ways and the league could get very interesting.

Lee Jones: You mentioned coming back to Razork and Humanoid, who still haven’t shrugged off the narrative about having weak synergy.

What do you think of that narrative, particularly having played with them twice now a number of years apart?

Upset: The problem is just that they didn’t win the league together they have basically done everything else to a pretty decent way, at least the second best in Europe. Obviously the fans and them also want to be the champion in the end and do a little bit better internationally as well, of course, but they have been not an unsuccessful pairing in any stretch of the imagination. It is just not the best result yet.

But they obviously were second many times and they managed to qualify to maybe even every international tournament. They’ve missed out on one, I guess. So I would say they have a decent synergy. I’m not even sure exactly what is meant by synergy exactly when it comes to the mid jungle.

I guess overall they have improved together, I would say, since the time I was gone. I think they work better together. I think they’re more on the same page. Obviously League is such a complex game and there’s so many different things you can improve on, so nothing is perfect yet and it probably never will be. But I’m pretty happy having them as my mid jungle and I can’t complain in any way.

You’ll help win them a title to end the narrative then?

Upset: Yeah, I think if they — instead of being second — would have been first a couple of times, they would be seen very differently. But that’s obviously the nature of competition. And that’s also up to them if they can get over there or not in the end. And that’s how they’re gonna be seen.