Fnatic’s lineup at the start of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship will be changed even more. The LEC team is adding academy player Rúben “Rhuckz” Barbosa to the lineup as its replacement support player in an emergency situation. Rhuckz will stand in for Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov, Fnatic’s starting support player and longest-standing team member, as he is bed-bound with COVID-19.
Riot Games commented on the emergency substitution saying, “Riot Games has permitted FNATIC an emergency roster addition due to two players contracting COVID. The player Rhuckz, from Fnatic’s ERL team “Fnatic TQ”, has been added as a seventh player to the FNC roster.
Bean is back
The other Fnatic player who tested positive for COVID-19, bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp, will be replaced by Louis “BEAN” Schmitz. BEAN also stepped in for Upset during Worlds 2021, when Upset had to leave the tournament to attend to urgent personal matters.
While Fnatic is now eligible to compete with its adjusted roster, they still hope that Upset and Hylissang recover swiftly and can join the team in Mexico soon. The team is playing in the Worlds 2022 Play-In Stage, which kicks off on Sept. 29. Since there are five teams from major regions in the Play-In Stage and only four tickets to the Group Stage, each team wants to be in the best shape possible. Fnatic’s first opponent is Evil Geniuses.
Should Fnatic advance to the Group Stage as one of the four Play-In teams to make it through, the team has a little more time to get Upset and Hylissang to join the lineup. The Group Stage begins on Oct. 7.
You can find the schedule for Worlds 2022 here.
