League of Legends World Champions FunPlus Phoenix Name First Valorant Roster

League of Legends world champions FunPlus Phoenix has named their first ever professional Valorant roster, which is made up of players from both Sweden and Russia. With Valorant attracting an increasing number of teams, FunPlus Phoenix has joined the likes of Cloud9, G2 Esports, FaZe Clan and Team SoloMid in investing in the new first person shooter from Riot Games.

The Valorant roster for FunPlus Phoenix is comprised of players from Sweden’s FABRIKEN and Russia’s Party Parrots, both of whom are widely regarded as being among the best in the business, certainly in terms of what Europe has to offer. Having initially been due to compete at the Allied Esports Odyssey Tournament under the banner of Team ZypanGoKill, a social media post confirmed that the team would represent FunPlus Phoenix instead.

We are very excited to announce that FPX has officially formed our Valorant team with the roster:

Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow @OfficialANGE1
Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky @Shaolele
Tobias “shadow” Flodström @Shadowlolzcs
Johan “Meddo” Renbjörk @MeddoVAL
Pontus “Zyppan” Eek @Zyppaan#FPX pic.twitter.com/0t9T7decap

— FunPlus PhoeniX (@FPX_Esports) August 12, 2020

Why are So Many Teams Looking to Break Into Valorant?

Leading Chinese organisation FunPlus Phoenix has joined a long list of teams looking to break into the world of Valorant, with the game from Riot Games having made major waves since its launch in June. While the fact that FunPlus Phoenix have chosen to select a European team may come as a surprise to some, however they may be trying to show that they can compete away from League of Legends, especially following their disappointing stint in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

This experience, in which they effectively hired different squads in the hope of being competitive at Flashpoint Season 1, has apparently not put FunPlus Phoenix off however, with Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow, Pontus “Zyppan” Eek, Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky, Johan “Meddo” Renbjork and Tobias “shadow” Flodstrom set to make up their Valorant roster.

Can FunPlus Phoenix Make an Impact in Valorant?

Four of the players featuring on the roster actually have a background in CS:GO, with Swede Zyppan being the exception, with the 18-year-old having previously competed in Fortnite. Perhaps the pick of the bunch is AGNE1, with the Russian’s CS:GO history dating way back to 2005. AGNE1 represented Ukrainian team Hellraisers for a number of years and is one of the most experienced players to switch to Valorant to date.

Some have already eluded to potential communication issues within the team due to their diversity, however FunPlus Phoenix did make a positive start to the Allied Esports Odyssey tournament, where they defeated G2 Esports and recorded a hard-fought draw against Team Liquid.