DJ leaves Fnatic roster for Fall Major team registration

Djardel Jicko “Dj” Mampusti has left the Fnatic roster only hours after the first phase of the new Fall Major team registration begins. Players and teams have until September 4th to leave or drop members in preparation for the official registration and addition of members between September 4-18th. Fnatic placed fourth at TI6 with an impressive run through the brackets.

Only hours after the Valve announcement of the new Fall Major team registration dates and changes to the process, Djardel Jicko “Dj” Mampusti has left the Fnatic roster.

His departure signals the beginnings of roster changes for Fnatic, however nothing has been confirmed. There is still a chance he could be added back to the roster during the second phase – adding team members.

Neither Fnatic nor DJ has provided any official information.

For the team registrations this year, there is a two step or phase registration period including drop phase and add phase.

Teams have 17 days (now until September 4th) to release players from their current rosters for the upcoming season. This is an active process unlike previous seasons where the entire team was automatically dropped. Therefore players must leave the team or the management needs to remove any players that will not continue competing with the team. Any players that are still remaining on the team after September 4th are automatically locked in to the team.

New players can then be added to the roster between September 4-18th (two weeks) – locking on September 18th at 12:00AM PDT. This includes re-adding players that left or were dropped in the first phase.

Djardel Jicko “Dj” Mampusti

DJ started playing professionally in 2013 – for EoT Hammer. He stayed there for six months before moving over to Rave. It was there that many fans worldwide became introduced to the support player’s superb skills. He was a part of Rave for just over one year, but after disappointing placements and lack of achievements, he parted ways with Team Rave in mid-June. Two days after the announcement, he was picked up by MSI-Evolution Gaming.

DJ’s time with MSI lasted only two months and he joined Fnatic in the post TI5 shuffle. Since then DJ has become one of the focal points and highlights of the team’s performances, demanding much support and fanfare, especially from those in the Philippines.

Fnatic

Fnatic at the Manila Major © PGL

Showing up to the Shanghai Major in a completely different form, Fnatic started to take on a new life. In the last few months, they secured multiple LAN spots through victories in the regional qualifiers: ESL One Manila, EPICENTER Moscow, ESL One Frankfurt 2016 and SL iLeague StarSeries s2. They won BTS Series 4 SEA and followed up with a championship title at the SEA Kappa Invitational Season 1.

In May, Fnatic announced an update to their roster, including the long awaited return of Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung to competitive play. His return stimulated a domino effect of changes in the Fnatic roster – including Adam Erwann Shah “343” bin Akhtar Hussein’s move into a primary role on the team and the departure of Wai Pern “Net” Lim.

Without missing a beat, The Summit 5 SEA qualifiers became the second consecutive LAN qualifier Fnatic seized in one week, shortly followed by securing their place in the SL iLeague StarSeries s2.

The Malaysian-based team finished the Manila Major with a commendable 5th-6th place, then placed 7th-8th at ESL One Frankfurt 2016, followed by a 5th-6th place at the Summit 5 and third at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2.

Fnatic took fourth place at TI6 after a spectacular run and showcase of talent.