LoL World Champion FunPlus Phoenix signs Valorant roster
Reigning League of Legends world champion FunPlus Phoenix has announced the signing of its first professional Valorant roster.
The FPX Valorant roster is composed of players from Sweden's FABRIKEN and Russia's Party Parrots. Both squads were held among Europe’s best Valorant teams.
The roster was due to compete in the Allied Esports Odyssey tournament under the name Team ZypanGoKill, but a Twitter post from Allied Esports revealed the team would now play under the FunPlus Phoenix banner.
Congrats to Team ZypanGoKill on being picked up by @FPX_Esports! They take on @TeamLiquid today at 9pmCET!
— Allied Esports - $AESE (@AlliedEsports) August 11, 2020
Match 1, Day 1 gets underway at the top of the hour in the @PlayVALORANT Ignition Series: #AlliedEsportsOdyssey! pic.twitter.com/x6P6hOOWZE
With this deal, the Chinese organization joins an ever-increasing number of teams, including Team SoloMid, Cloud9, G2 Esports and FaZe Clan who have invested in Riot Games’ new first-person shooter.
It might come as a surprise to see FunPlus Phoenix picking up a European team. The organization is based in China and has limited operations outside its League of Legends squad. The brand’s biggest foray outside of LoL came with its ill-fated journey into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that saw the team effectively rent multiple squads in order to compete in Flashpoint Season 1.
Evidently, that bad experience wasn’t enough to scare the team away from competing in other esports titles.
FunPlus Phoenix’s roster stands as follows:
- Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow
- Pontus "Zyppan" Eek
- Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky
- Johan "Meddo" Renbjörk
- Tobias "shadow" Flodström
Four of the players on the roster have a background in CSGO. The sole exception to this is Zyppan, who competed in Fortnite.
ANGE1 is by far the most experienced of the bunch, with a Counter-Strike career stretching back to 2005. Best known for his numerous CS 1.6 and CSGO tenures with Ukrainian organization Hellraisers, he is one of the most experienced to make the transition into Valorant.
FunPlus Phoenix is off to a solid start in the Allied Esports Odyssey tournament with a win over G2 Esports and a draw against Team Liquid. Although star-studded on paper, it remains to be seen if communication proves to be an issue with the mixed Swedish and CIS team.
Giants Gaming signs Prodigy Orgless and former FPX player Meddo
Ninjas in Pyjamas reportedly adds Ex6TenZ to Valorant roster
Ranked Valorant leaderboards revealed by Riot Games
Cloud9 continues building Valorant roster by signing mitch
G2 Esports Invitational Valorant event features Ex6tenZ, mixwell
Washington Justice VP speaks on amateur Overwatch scene challenges
These are the best Valorant agents to counter Killjoy
Secretlab reveals slick new League of Legends chairs
Sneaky says he wants to join an LCS team next year
CLG drops coaches SSONG and Weldon after poor LCS Summer Split
SK Gaming Trick will reportedly be ineligible for Worlds 2020
New tool shows alleges TF Blade, others share smurf accounts
BLAST announces end of partnership with NEOM after criticism
shroud streams Valorant to 500K viewers in Twitch return
Decay joins Washington Justice ahead of Overwatch League playoffs
You might already have these three expensive CSGO skins
URF vs. Nexus Blitz: Which game mode is better?
Shroud returns to Twitch streaming after Mixer's demise
Team Liquid launches Liquid+ program to reward fans