The fnatic organization has announced a roster change in their coaching staff: head coach Peter “casle” Ardenskjold has been moved to the inactive roster, while assistant coach Miks “Independent” Siliņš will temporarily take over. The news was confirmed via the team’s official press release.
fnatic’s results under casle
After a successful stint with ECSTATIC, where his team reached the Legends Stage at the Copenhagen Major, and a promising run with Astralis Talent and the main roster — highlighted by a semi-final finish at IEM Cologne 2023 — expectations were high for casle’s arrival at fnatic. However, those expectations ultimately fell short.
During his time in charge, fnatic consistently failed to progress past group stages at events and missed out on qualifying for all three of the year’s most important tournaments: PGL Major Bucharest 2025, PGL Major Astana 2025, and BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Due to these shortcomings, the organization decided to shift its coaching direction.
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A test for Independent: a new chapter with fnatic
Miks “Independent” Siliņš is a Latvian Counter-Strike 2 coach with a diverse background in the previous version of the game, having worked as a player, manager, and coach in CS:GO. In 2014, he received a VAC ban, which made him ineligible to compete in Valve-sponsored tournaments. However, he was later unbanned following the announcement of Valve’s updated “New RMR Eligibility Guidelines.”
Since then, Independent has coached teams such as The Prodigies and GUILD fe, though he did not achieve significant results with them. Despite this, he was brought into fnatic as an assistant coach and has now been given a chance to lead the squad on an interim basis.
A Change of Course: Can the New Coach Bring Stability to fnatic?
casle brings far more experience at the top level of competition. He has coached both academy and tier-one teams, including Astralis — with whom he reached the IEM Cologne 2023 semi-finals — and helped ECSTATIC surprise the scene by making the Legends Stage at a Major. His move to fnatic was seen as a logical next step, but the team’s performance issues ultimately questioned his fit with the international lineup.
On the other hand, Independent has less experience and no notable achievements yet, but he does offer potential and an in-depth understanding of fnatic’s inner workings, having served as an assistant for some time. His advantage lies in his familiarity with the players and the team dynamic, though he has yet to prove himself on the big stage.
This change may be a short-term solution aimed at stabilizing the team, but if Independent manages to impress at Tipsport Conquest of Prague 2025, he could be given the opportunity to continue as fnatic’s head coach beyond the event.
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