Adam Joins Fnatic as Their New Top Laner

The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) team Fnatic announced the signing of a 19-year-old top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane, on Tuesday, May 25. The French star will replace Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau as Fnatic’s new top laner, while Bwipo role swaps to jungle.

Adam’s Arrival Confirms Rumours

The rumors about Fnatic changing their top laner and placing Bwipo in the jungle first surfaced earlier in April, however, not many people thought much of that. That’s because many LoL esports off-season rumors end up proving false.

It, however, didn’t help that the players and Fnatic’s staff continued to tease the community, which made it seem like the rumors might actually be true. That is despite them suggesting we might see one of the most significant roster changes since the pre-season.

It wasn’t until Tuesday, May 25, when Fnatic confirmed the signing of Adam, who has officially joined the team as their new starting top laner. In an interview, Adam also unveiled that Bwipo will, in fact, role swap to jungle.

“I think that he [Bwipo] can probably help me a lot in the top lane because he has a lot of experience,” said Adam in an interview with Laure “Bulii” Valée.
“I’m really lucky that he’s staying on the team even if he’s role swapping because he can still help me improve. Bwipo has started practicing the jungle role over the past few months, and he’s already had some duos with Hylissang.”

A Massive Addition to The Team

Adam joins Fnatic from a French esports organization Karmine Corp, which he led to the title of domestic and LoL European Masters champions. Not only has he won everything he could have with the team – he has done so in just five months.

Adam began his esports career in November 2019 when he joined an amateur team Olympe eSports. He later played for Initial Esports before joining his first proper team, Kameto Corp, in March 2020.

After spending six months with Kameto Corp, Adam got called up to play for the organizations’ primary team Karmine Corp, which he joined in November 2020.

Since joining the team, Adam quickly proved his worth as one of the best players in the French LoL league. He helped Karmine Corp win La Ligue Française (LFL) 2021 Spring Season and earned them a spot at the prestigious LoL European Masters (EUM).

There he continued to impress, leading the French side to the organization’s first EUM title. Adam ended the tournament as one of the best top laners in the field and quickly caught the attention of Fnatic and other prominent European teams.

As reported earlier in May, Fnatic agreed to buyout the rising star for roughly $300,000. That’s a small price to pay to acquire a player who went from his pro debut to EUM title in just under six months.

What’s next for Fnatic?

With the signing of Adam and Bwipo’s role swap to jungle, the legendary European esports team will likely part ways with their current jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek. The Polish jungler has been linked with Team Vitality, however, the transfer has yet to be officially announced.

Although there’s no confirmation of Selfmade leaving, the Polish jungler has made it very clear that he is exiting the team. Under Fnatic’s announcement of Adam joining, Selfmade stated, “yo announce me leaving”, suggesting he is, in fact, parting ways with Fnatic.

As it stands, Fnatic’s roster for the 2021 LEC Summer Split fields only two players who have been with the team for longer than half a split. It also raises a lot of questions about how will Fnatic perform.

Will Adam continue to develop as Europe’s next star top laner and how well will Bwipo fare in the jungle are two big questions without a clear answer. That said, it won’t take long before we see the revamped Fnatic’s roster in action.

The 2021 LEC Summer Split kicks off on Tuesday, June 11. The esports bookmakers have yet to release betting odds for the second split of the season.

Fnatic 2021 LEC Summer Split roster

• Adam “Adam” Maanane – Top
• Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau – Jungle
• Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer – Mid
• Elias “Upset” Lipp – ADC
• Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev – Support