Although Fnatic went 0-2 in week three of the League of Legends European Championship spring split, the team is a feared opponent. They’re in a shared second spot and have picked up where they left off last year by contesting for the title, even though the roster added three new players. Martin “Wunder” Hansen, one of the new players, sees great progress being made.
Wunder praises his team's maturity and sees them making a lot of progress. (Photos courtesy of Michal Konkol for Riot Games)
Wunder sat down for an interview after his team’s game against Rogue, on Friday 29. He discussed the team atmosphere in Fnatic and how the squad of veterans is working together to find common ground. Wunder also reflected on his performance in 2021, and shared how he aims to be more successful in 2022.
Hotspawn: Welcome, Wunder! An unfortunate loss against Rogue, but overall the team has had a strong start to the split. How are you feeling about the team’s first weeks?
Wunder: I think our start has been good. Usually, in the beginning, you have this ‘honeymoon’ period and all that stuff, right? I think it can be both a good and a bad thing. Of course, for camaraderie et cetera it’s always nice that no one is getting on each other’s nerves and all of that.
But I think we have a healthy balance. We have already gone through discussions and disagreements, so we can actually focus on what’s important to all of us. We don’t just sugar coat things and move on, hoping for better things. I think it’s actually good that we can all have fun together, but we can also focus on what we are here for.
All in all, I’d say we have a pretty healthy balance, a pretty good start to everything. Right now, we are not as good as we can be. But I think we all see what we can do to get there.
“We’ve all had our fair share of issues when it comes to figuring out how we can make the same play together”
Hotspawn: In this team, you’re bringing together a lot of people who already have distinct playstyles and ways they want to approach the game. You mention those discussions the team had—how has it been to find common ground?
Wunder: Of course, when we come from so many different backgrounds, there are a lot of people with different ideas of how they should be playing the game, or how they used to play the game on their team. I’d say we’ve all had our fair share of issues when it comes to figuring out how we can make the same play together and how to communicate so we all understand what’s actually going on.
I think it’s always hard in the beginning. Even when you’ve been a team together for a long time, I think getting in the group again is also hard when you come from a long offseason. But I think we are all kind of beginning to understand each other, more or less.
There will always be people who are more knowledgeable in the beginning. And there are some who have to catch up. I think that changes a lot and also changes depending on what kind of situation it is. Right now there are people who have played Worlds, for example. I didn’t play Worlds, so maybe they understand something that the Eastern teams did there. Usually, it’s the Eastern teams that you’re looking for, right? But I’ve also played for a long time, so maybe I know some things.
I think, right now, we all kind of lack getting together. But things are looking better than in week one, when we started practicing, so that’s always good. You can see some kind of progression.
Hotspawn: What we heard a few times of the ‘old G2’ you were on, is that GrabbZ had to juggle keeping everyone satisfied with their lanes while still finding a coherent composition. Fnatic has some strong personalities, carry-hungry players too—how is Yamato managing the bunch?
Wunder: I think it’s different for each coach. I had worked with GrabbZ since 2018, so of course his coaching changed throughout the years. We got to know what to expect from each other. You get to learn how everyone works and it gets… I wouldn’t say easier, but he knows what to expect from every single person when he walks into the room.
And Yamato, I’ve also worked with him, but it’s been a while. To your point of there being carry-hungry players: I’ve played for long enough. I’ve played through enough metas. Even on G2, in some years, I’ve been the one who just wanted to win the game. I don’t really care how we do it. Of course, I like to play fun champions that can do fun things—
Hotspawn: I remember your Ivern top from last year, yes. [Laughs]
Wunder: Yeah. But I mean, if I’m playing Gragas eighteen games in a row, then I’m playing Gragas eighteen games in a row. If that is the best situation for Gragas, you can expect me locking it in. Unless we are number one, no matter what, and we want to practice something else in case Gragas gets banned.
It’s maybe a weird case, but my point is that all of our players want to win enough that there is no ego involved. There is bad ego and there is healthy ego. Of course, it’s healthy to be confident that you feel like you can pick a matchup and smash the guy you’re laning against, or that you can carry 1v9 in the jungle. But it shouldn’t negatively hinder your own team. I think we’re all experienced or mature enough to not let ego be a big factor.
“I don’t really care about what some people in the community think. I’m showing what I stand for to my team.”
Hotspawn: Talking about your own performance: Last year was quite disappointing for G2 and for you as well, I assume. I don’t know if you pay any attention to community noise, but they were pretty harsh as well. How do you reflect on that, and how did you head into this year?
Wunder: There is a long answer to this, but I’d say that, overall, not making Worlds and not winning a split is not what I strive for, of course. [Laughs] I want to win everything. Part of it is my performance, part of it was team-based stuff. I think everyone plays a part in it.
About the community noise: there are a lot of memes that became truths to them. I don’t really mind it too much. In my opinion, as long as I have a team that doesn’t believe in narratives about each other and we just put our money where our mouths are, I don’t really care about what some people in the community think. I’m showing what I stand for to my team. Going into the offseason, it did cross my mind that all this negative community feedback play a part in me being able to join certain teams.
But besides that, now that I’m on Fnatic, people can say what they want. I’m gonna work towards winning. It gets bad if someone from my team starts believing, starts thinking things that are negative about me. That’s something we’d have to tackle within the team. But as long as it’s some guy on Reddit or Twitter or whatever platform, I don’t really mind.
So, what the community says et cetera doesn’t really influence you. But do last year’s results give you any particular drive to do better this year? I know GrabbZ said that you were one of the hardest-working players last year, so I’m not sure how much more you can realistically do, of course.
Wunder: It’s always hard to say. Every single day that passes, you hopefully learn something new. I would assume that I learned new things in a whole year. Of course, I’m gonna take whatever I learned and apply it to the new year in the best way. In turn, that means that will either work more efficiently, or harder, or better.
I think you are right in calling last year a failure. I’m gonna try to do things better compared to last year, in order for me to win and make Worlds, which I didn’t do last year. That just comes from learning from your failures, I think.
Fnatic plays its next LEC match on Friday, February 4th, at 10 PM CET. You can watch the game live on the official LoL Esports site.
