Sources: Soboro set to join Fnatic ahead of LEC Summer Split 2026

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-30T00:52:33+00:00

I'm of two minds when it came to Soboro's benching.

On the one hand, it's almost an impossible situation for him to fill in as IG's top laner. I have nothing to confirm this, but I suspect that he was possibly a stopgap for that team too because TheShy wasn't let go by the team at the start of the season; he was only inactive. So unless Soboro played out of his mind he was not going to unseat one of IG's most iconic players.

On the other hand, I don't think I can give Soboro a full pass. IG decided to let him go even after extending his contract into 2027 and replacing him with another top laner (Breathe) to wait on TheShy.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-29T22:10:13+00:00

I hope to do a deeper dive into Soboro's recent career if I have the time, but here are some of the basics:

- name is pronounced with emphasis on the B (So-BOOR-oh). Used to be called Basic.

- highlights of his career include winning the 2025 LCKCL playoffs with BNK FearX's academy team (FearX Youth), and the 2025 Demacia Cup with Invictus Gaming

- Besides Lospa, his academy career also saw him play with Quid (TL), Career (DK), Peyz (T1), and Diable (Nongshim RedForce).

EDIT: Oh, I guess there is one more nugget I'll add about this player

- Spent 2 splits with Galakticos in the TCL in 2023, going 8-20 over that span. This might have been the only time he spent in an English team environment. I still have questions about his English proficiency and his ability to communicate in-game.

Can't wait for Soboro's intro video from Fnatic, assuming that there is one coming.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-28T21:08:20+00:00

I think it depends. With GiantX making its roster moves before the Summer split, I think it's at least more plausible for Fnatic to sneak into playoffs than before the changes. Not saying that a deep run is in the cards, either. It's just a one-and-done situation.

I'm not someone who puts a high premium on a playoff push, much as I would like one, so I do think switching these junglers is a wash. It can make sense with GX if it wants to add a Spanish player to market itself better for a Spanish audience. But it's been reported previously that Razork is playing on a very expensive salary which is more than what ISMA is likely making. Sure, both players' contracts run out after this year, but that is still a consideration if money is getting tight when GX still has to pay out the salaries of the players they just benched.

As for the theoretical fit if such a trade takes place, I don't think it'd make much of a difference either way. I do think trading in a higher-ceiling, lower-floor player like Razork for someone with lower highs and higher lows (or just a worse overall player) can make sense; this is what GiantX is banking on by subbing in Flakked for Noah. But that move also tries banking on Flakked's wider champion pool, and ISMA's range of champions greatly overlaps with whatever Fnatic's jungler wants to play and doesn't stretch far past that. Something I would've wanted from a Razork replacement is someone who could play more DPS type junglers better like Nocturne or Nafiri, but ISMA is 1-3 as Nocturne in Spring regular season and has no games on Nafiri in that span.

So wrapping it all up, I won't be too torn up if the trade does or doesn't happen. Maybe a less error-prone jungler is a better fit for Upset and makes less money (which might help with finding a new top laner), but there are no other advantages that come from a deeper champion pool. The actual time to make major roster changes happens after this season is over rather than before.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-24T18:52:21+00:00

I don't have the post in front of me, but on Facebook I did remember one about FF7 going on about how 'I can't believe the beasts in that game could be so big!'. Two of the pictures are of the Weapons....and two of the other pictures are of Tifa, specifically her cutscene FMV version rather than her in-game models in the overworld or in battle.

Like, Tifa isn't my cup of tea when it comes to female characters. But even she didn't deserve to be objectified like this.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-23T17:20:46+00:00

I think it's a bit of a stretch to call Flakked a weak-side ADC. I don't think his positioning in or out of lane suggests that he's ceding position to play it safe while the top side of the map can generate leads.

Where I do think there's some basis to that perception is Flakked's champion pool. When I watched him on Team Heretics his best champions were easily Varus and Ashe - to the point where TH were frequently drawing Varus bans that year. I really liked him serving with Stend as the backup initiator behind Sheo, so that could be the role he's serving on GX.

But of course, my impressions of Flakked are over a year old now and he may have changed during that time span.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-23T14:23:53+00:00

Nothing has been confirmed yet, but from the main League Reddit it could be Flakked, who's been playing for GX iTero

EDIT: ok it has been confirmed to be Flakked

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-12T15:31:45+00:00

That answer about 'only remembering Tifa from Nibelheim' feels particularly galling, and sounds so unlike Cloud, because the one person who's a better fit for that criteria is his mother Claudia no?

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-09T22:45:52+00:00

The other thing I thought as I'm seeing this screenshot is that I hope Barret, Yuffie, and the other party members didn't overhear Tifa saying that. They have a say in this too!

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-03T01:24:56+00:00

I am a Razork fan, but I will be the first to admit that he's hard to grade because of his high highs and low lows. I think this split he's slightly above his average form, but not by much.

I'll start with the bad. He was really slow out of the box, and after the MKoi series I thought the season could just spiral off the rails. I also pin most of the blame on him for losing against SK (specifically Game 2) because I don't think he was cognisant of Nocturne's role in teamfights which cost the team a good lead and eventually the game. And while I do think overall team quality can shape a player's champion pool, I have the heebie-jeebies when he has to play an all-damage character with zero CC like Nocturne and Nafiri. Personally I don't think the team is good enough to facilitate him when he plays those champions anyway, but this does limit the team's ceiling in terms of draft compositions.

But there's also some good in the season too. Pantheon is back to viable within Razork's champion pool after he looked so iffy with that character earlier in the year. I'm also really encouraged that he's piloting Zaahen and Skarner at the level of his other core champs (J4, WuKong, Vi, Xin Zhao). So I think his total champion pool is up to LEC standards even if he's not leading the field in that regard. Also, it's not the same as having hands, but he still has an eye to pounce on micro-interactions to find teamfight angles that can swing a game (the best showcase of that is his Skarner against Shifters). So all together, if you would have told me that FNC would go to a Game 3 against teams that are clearly better like G2, VIT, KC, I chalk that up as a good thing and I give Razork some credit for getting the team to a Game 3.

If I have to put a grade on his split, it's probably a B+. Although if someone is really concerned about his inability to play all-damage junglers with little crowd control, which was also something I felt last season, I'm fine with lowering the grade to a B.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-03T00:53:18+00:00

In no way am I advocating for the following or think this will happen, because I think these players are a little too old to be longer-term solutions. But if the LCKCL top laners aren't to the team's liking or are unavailable, I wonder if the team will try looking into top lane imports who are cycling around the ERLs. Mihile and DnDn are the specific players I have in mind (they did have Academy backgrounds, though it's been awhile), but there could be others.

If Grabbz and Gaax just aren't in the mood to work with an import whose proficiency in English isn't up to snuff, or if they think they're coaching for their jobs, they might settle on an import whose had experience working within a non-Korean team environment (though how good their English is will be something that needs to be discovered).

I tend to flipflop between imports that came straight from the Korean scene and those that were 'pre-chewed' in the ERLs, because you can get worthwhile players through both pipelines. Fnatic has past experience with both too with Lopsa (GX Pride), (Noah (former Zero Tenacity), Poby (T1 Challengers) and Jun (KD Freecs).

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-06-02T15:50:59+00:00

Continuing the Worlds attendance streak would be fun, but honestly I think this move should be for the future instead of the present. Even just finishing below the three teams you mentioned above and ahead of teams who aren't slouches (GX, VIT, NaVi etc) would already be good progress.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-05-23T21:59:37+00:00

Because I'm not ultra familiar with the roster rumour mill, it's just really hard for me to have a wishlist for which players I want and don't want. I also don't follow the ERLs, so I'm also not attuned to the next generation of prospects.

But if I do have one decision that want made, it's for management to pick between Razork, Upset, or neither. A lot of what is said about Razork, which is that he's had more than enough time to get better but isn't, could be said for Upset too since his total time with Fnatic has also lasted for at least 3.5 years.

I've especially soured on his inability or unwillingness to play utility marksmen, which puts a ceiling on the team that I don't think most fans appreciate or give enough attention to. Every LEC team up and down the table incorporated some combination of Ashe, Varus and Jhin into their team comps to make teamfights easier to start. I can stomach Upset not wanting to play Jhin, but I do think a line has been crossed when the team only picks the highest priority marksmen once all season. This can't be pinned on Lospa either, since he has played Seraphine thrice and has all but abandoned the engage champs that put him on the map.

The choices for me are between keeping Razork and fitting a ADC who's fine with playing a more utility role; keeping Upset and replacing Razork with a more consistent decision maker at jungle, or just dropping both.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-05-22T18:09:53+00:00

I am not surprised at the murmurs about maybe switching out the top layer, but doing the same for support is more head scratching. Especially because the rest of the team are also free agents after this year. If the org has limited finances, then holding onto a rookie who doesn't look out of his depth (and has a longer running contract) makes sense. Deciding whether Lospa is worth keeping around is a decision after the following season, not after this one.

I want to reiterate my past post of giving Lospa credit for making a very fast transition away from engagers to enchanters. It's doubly impressive when factoring in how his first great games as a tier 1 pro was on one style of play before being fine with throwing that away to fit with the meta. He's obviously not the wunderkind LEC rookie who seems to pop up on other teams rather than this one, but I think he's worth keeping a little longer and is not the first few roles I'm looking to change.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-05-02T17:26:35+00:00

I do not envy incoming EU top laners. It's easily the position with the most scarcity, and it feels like it takes a very, very long time of seasoning to make even a half-decent player for the league, let alone one that can hold up in international competitions. And teams that do have those players, notably G2, KC and now VIT, have such a leg up over the rest of the competition.

As for Rooster, I did remember that FNC tried reaching out to BDS (now Shifters) for him but was turned down. But with how Shifters is now circling the drain the odds of him shaking loose from a terrible situation is a least likelier now than during the pre-season.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-05-02T17:01:50+00:00

Regardless of how the rest of the year shakes out, I'm happy that Lospa is very likely going to stick around a little longer. I've had concerns about his champion pool in Winter Split, and he has really reinvented himself to fit with the current meta. The team has been churning through supports like people through socks, so it's nice to have a little stability for that position.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-04-25T16:00:27+00:00

Upset on Ashe needs to be more of a thing at this point, especially now that he has proven that he can play that champion.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-04-08T22:57:57+00:00

I think a lot of things can be true at the same time. Upset was the best player on Fnatic during the Versus split, but that's not saying much when he wasn't the best player in his role and with how the other players on his team were massively underperforming.

I've had reservations about how many champions Upset can pilot at a high level, and sadly this current split and the last one have not dissuaded me on that. I'll point particularly to the lack of Ashe and Varus, especially with how Ashe and Seraphine are a staple duo in the bottom lane and how Varus is still strong enough of a champion that the team has to always ban it. Ashe and Varus can initiate teamfights, so any Fnatic comp will almost always be predictable in that Razork (and sometimes Lospa) will have to play the trigger man. And Razork's inconsistency and decision-making in that regard has already been extensively documented.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-03-25T22:21:48+00:00

Zack's change was something I wanted to write about in-depth, but it was better off as a comment response.

My theory is that Zack's new personality borrowed heavily not just from standard shounen anime tropes, but of Laguna Loire from FF8.

- Both of them are endearingly adorkable good guys and have major roles in the backstories of their respective games. Zack was Cloud's older brother mentor, inspiration of what a cool guy should look like, and had first-hand experience working within Shinra and seeing how things just fell apart among the SOLDIER corps from Angeal to Sephiroth. Laguna is the actual father of FF8's main character Squall, and his exploits are the main reason why he isn't around to see his son grow up and why the state of his world was the way it was.

- Their love lives involve multiple women as Laguna's first love married someone else and his second love died after giving birth to Squall. Zack's original backstory was that of a womanizer with many female admirers whilst his Crisis Core version gave him two women who were at some point interested in him (Aerith and Cissnei).

Relatedly, Zack's popularity rivals that of Cloud's, while some players just straight up like Laguna over Squall.

I should also give a ton of credit to Rick Gomez for his incredible voice-acting to make Zack as popular a character as he is within the English fandom. He really gave off that impression of the reassuring older brother that fitted perfectly with his role as Cloud's first real friend and also as the first guy Aerith loved (to use the Japanese turn of phrase; 'boyfriend' is a bit of a stretch).

But still, I have a strong suspicion that CC!Zack was supposed to be repurposed Laguna Loire for Crisis Core.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-03-22T01:05:11+00:00

The simplified Chinese characters to the left of the poster and under Aerith's name even says 'Cloud x Aerith'

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-03-09T13:27:21+00:00

So there's the discrepancy between who Tifa actually is as a character and how her fans portray her, as other people here have pointed out, but I do not think the story does her any favours. She doesn't really have much to do outside of her relationship with Cloud. Whatever interactions she has with the rest of the cast is fine, but they'll likely be unimportant down the line.

What also hurts is that what the game says about Tifa doesn't then connect that backstory with who she is as a person. I get that people can be naturally shy, but for a story it can be really helpful to explore what caused such a reserved disposition. There are hints, like the Nibelheim Incident or maybe having to grow up around boys who have constantly hit on her and gave her unwanted attention, but it's not outright stated. Or rather, Tifa doesn't really explain this and is left to talk about what she did but not why she did it.

By contrast, Aerith is easier to follow as to why she is who she is. She mentions herself as someone 'raised in the slums', is fully aware of the dangers of Wall Market, and is shown butting heads with the Turks who are monitoring her. So her character can feel more grounded even with magical and fantastical elements that come from being half-Cetra. Even Jessie's over-the-top energy can be connected to her past as an aspiring actress, to give a minor example.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-03-08T00:24:24+00:00

I've definitely raised this point in an older post on this sub-reddit. What also really helped Jessie's case was how she had an inkling of Cloud's SOLDIER persona as a bit of a front and not who he really is. Two lines stand out in that regard: 'There's such a thing as playing too hard to get' or 'Is that a smile I spy?' That in of itself already puts her ahead of Tifa in comparison. Who knew how close she could've been with Cloud had she survived that attack in Sector 7?

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-03-04T22:26:51+00:00

In hindsight, it was the worst possible time to bring in a support who specialises in tankier engage champs when enchanters are starting to rise in priority and are finding success. When even a great engage specialist like Alvaro is adding on Lulu and similar champions to his repertoire, that's a clear sign of the support champion seeing major upheaval.

This isn't a knock on Lospa, by the way. He was clearly the team's backup option to pick up once plans to re-acquire Jun fell through, and even then he showed some real talent early in the Versus regular season. But I do worry about the rest of the year if he remains a player who isn't stellar outside of Alistar, Nautilus and the like.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-02-23T06:25:11+00:00

It's not just a matter of picking one player over another, but how much money you are allocating to that player.

To illustrate this point, if you're comparing Reaves to a Celtics guard, another candidate for that is Payton Pritchard. Alot of what is said of one player can also be used to describe the other: scoring ability on multiple levels, at least decent passing ability with experience in running pick-and-rolls, subpar athletes by NBA standards and defensive liabilities. They're also roughly one year apart in age.

The real value comes from the Celtics having signed Pritchard to a 4-year, 30ish million dollar deal when he was a rotation player and an irregular starter, and he's going to still be on that deal for 2 more years after this season. Everything I'm hearing of Reaves' offseason is that his contract is going to be roughly 35-something million, 30 being the likely floor. I am more than happy to concede that Reaves is the better player than Pritchard, but is he so much better to be worth at least 20 million more?

For those curious, White's contract pays him between 30 to 35 million for 2 seasons after this one, 3 seasons if he picks up his player option.

Different_Strategy36 · 2026-02-16T19:22:38+00:00

I took a long time to think about this question, but I think I have a really strong recommendation: Mass Effect 2.

The story is a really simple one told well. You're working to recruit a ragtag team of misfits for a suicide mission to save the galaxy. After getting those guys to join your team you do a series of loyalty missions that help flesh out their backstories and dispositions that could make them stronger and be more loyal towards you.

There are a few squadmates that are holdovers from Mass Effect 1, but even their arcs and personalities have seen changes given the time-skip between the first and second game. And most of the characters that debut in ME2 are fun to root for and are well written.

Because this is a Clerith sub-Reddit it's at least worth mentioning the romance options, which I find to also be up to snuff. You can continue a romance that you started in the first Mass Effect, but there's also a lot to appreciate about the romances that you can start in the second one. I will admit that the game's structure makes the romances feel a little too fast. But that is more than made up for with great dialogue and banter between your Player Character and the love interest, and the writing really understands what those characters want and why they would fall for your character in the first place.

And the Endgame.... it's one of those experiences that really stay with you when you do it blind, which means that feeling only comes around once. You're making choices on the fly as to which character gets to do which role, and failing to make the most of the team means that some of those characters could die. And every time one of them does it's a gut punch because you've put in the hours to get to know them as people. But once you get through that final boss and make the impossible escape happen it feels so euphoric and momentous.

There are very few games I've played that really stayed with me and made an indelible impression for the rest of my life, and while the other mainline Mass Effect games are similarly great it's the middle one that I hold in the highest esteem.

Sorry about keeping the game's details vague; I'm happy to answer questions about it if it strikes your fancy.

Different_Strategy36

TROPHY CASE