FunPlus Phoenix has been one of the more successful Valorant teams in the European region for all three stages of the Valorant Champions Tour. Their lineup worked like a charm and the team didn’t feel the need to make any significant roster changes until now.
The devastating defeat FPX experienced during VCT Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs made them rethink their decisions. ShadoW and dimasick were benched in late August, and menegh left prior to that. The organisation is now bringing in fresh talent by signing Dmitry “Suygetsu” Ilyushin, an ex-forZe professional player who ended up without a team after forZe disbanded several days ago.
Suygetsu Finds a New Home
On October 5th, Suygetsu became a free agent. ForZe, a Russian gaming organisation, suddenly decided to take a step back from Valorant and released the entire roster.
This might have been a blessing in disguise for Suygetsu, who has now found a new home with one of Europe’s finest Valorant squads. FunPlus Phoenix might have hit a bump on the road, but make no mistakes – they’re still as deadly as ever.
Suygetsu will be the fourth member of the current FPX roster. ANGE1 remained as the team’s in-game leader, along with Shao and Zyppan.
It’s not clear yet what Suygetsu’s role in the team will be. He’ll most likely play an Initiator with his Skye and Killjoy, or will be assigned on Sentinel duty with Cypher. Either way, he opens up a lot of room for PFX to work around. He’s playing 3 key agents that are current meta picks, so he’ll definitely be a vital piece of the FPX puzzle.
What’s Next for PunPlus Phoenix?
Like we mentioned earlier, FPX hit a roadblock during Valorant Champions Tour: EMEA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs. That cost them the VCT Masters in Berlin, but more importantly, it prevented them from even having a shot at VCT Champions.
Right now, there’s 8 teams competing in the VCT: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier and FPX is not among them. FPX could sit around and analyze all that went wrong, but that would get them nowhere. They must plan for the future and think ahead.
Currently, there’s just the Last Chance Qualifiers and then the VCT Champions. After that, the season is over. Since FPX won’t be attending either of those two, their best bet is just waiting for 2022 or jumping into some smaller Valorant esports events just to stay in shape.
A different alternative would be to sign a women’s Valorant squad and continue competing in VCT Game Changers. Many other Valorant organisations took this approach and it has worked out well for them.
In any case, FunPlus Phoenix will recover. With no esports tournaments tying them down, they have all the time in the world to figure out their next steps. And once they do, they’ll climb back to the top in no time.
