Introduction

Fnatic as an e-sports organization has been established for 15 years now, and we have covered some of their products in the past, especially mice that their e-sports teams tend to use. My familiarity with the Fnatic brand came about via Dota 2, and pure curiosity had me acquaint myself with their League of Legends and CS:GO teams, and others. It was also interesting to find out that the organization is widely regarded the largest and most successful e-sports company outside of the US. Branded swag and gear goes hand-in-hand with such success, and Fnatic originally worked with existing peripheral companies for Fnatic-branded keyboards, mice, and headsets. They then realized they have a market for their own original gear, and thus Fnatic Gear was born. Today, we take a look at one of their newer keyboards, and thanks again to the company for sending along a review sample.


Keyboards under the Fnatic brand include the full-size STREAK and the TKL miniSTREAK as of this article, the latter of which is the subject of this review. When we met company representatives at Computex 2019, they made it clear that the miniSTREAK especially was designed based on feedback from their competitive e-sport gamers, who had certain specific requirements that were incorporated in the keyboard. A lot of this is seen in the relatively smaller footprint for even a TKL form factor keyboard, an included PU leather wrist rest, and a few extra keys that toggle between the so-called normal and competition modes. We will explore all this and more in the review that begins with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging for the Fnatic miniSTREAK keyboard is fairly typical, if you have competitive e-sport players on the box, that is. The cardboard box has a plastic wrap all around, and a large render of the keyboard on the front to go with the company and product name. On the back is more about the company and keyboard, including features and another render, and we get the e-sports connection on the sides as seen above.


There are no flaps or seals here, which is why the box was shrink-wrapped to begin with. The box is in two pieces, with the top simply lifting upwards and away to reveal the contents inside. We see the keyboard immediately displayed prominently, with all other accessories found underneath or in the compartment above, consisting of the detachable keyboard cable, a pamphlet with documentation inside, and the included wrist rest.


Fnatic includes a quick start guide in several different languages to appease their fans around the world, and three brand stickers. The USB cable is the typical 6' in length and goes from a male USB Type A connector to a male USB Type-C connector, which hints towards Type C connectivity on the keyboard itself. There are some orange accents on the cable for more color, but it is otherwise mostly black to match the keyboard. The wrist rest has two separate pieces held together by magnets, with a PU leather padded top and an anodized aluminium base with three separate levels the top can slot into. The base also has rubber pads on the bottom to prevent scratches and add friction against the resting surface.