FPX return to defend their throne

After a season riddled with adversity, FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks finally lifted a trophy and became a Masters winner in Copenhagen.

Now the defending champions, they return to the international stage to cement themselves in the top echelon of Valorant and to prove they should've been there a long time ago.

“Inside the team and anyone in Europe who practices against us knows we are one of the best,” ardiis said. “We won EMEA the first time, we got second the second time, and we won Copenhagen. Second-place is the worst finish we've had, people have just not rated us highly because we haven't played much internationally. I think the expectation for our team should be top four at every event. It's just a matter of time before fans start to realize and understand that.”

(Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

At the start of 2021, FPX were kings without a crown. Both in the pre-VCT third-party tournaments and the first half of 2021's VCT season, they found consistent top-four results, but they were never able to clear the final hurdle and actually win one of the Riot-ran tournaments.

By the second half of the season, they were slowly phased out of the highly competitive EMEA field, and a string of mediocre results meant they dropped out of the top eight and fell short of securing a spot in LCQ. With their season now drawn to a close, roster changes were in order to inject new life into the project.

Over the winter, the addition of SUYGETSU and ardiis ushered in a new era for FPX. Their first result together – getting grouped in Red Bull Home Ground #2 – might have fooled the casual observer into thinking FPX were continuing on their path of decline, but behind the scenes, something special was brewing.

FPX kicked off their 2022 season by qualifying to EMEA Challengers in the first CIS qualifier, beating Natus Vincere to the title in a reverse sweep. They sent ripples through the scene when they defeated M3 Champions M3 Champions Inactive Jady Yaroslav Nikolaev purp0 Semyon Borchev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Redgar Igor Vlasov – EMEA's flagship team in 2021 – in the second week of group play.

Midway through the group stage, the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian war put the league on hold for two weeks. Even when competition resumed, FPX were forced to play without their Ukrainian in-game leader ANGE1 . Enlisting baddyG as a substitute, the team trundled through their remaining group stage matches, and despite a hiccup in the penultimate week against LDN UTD LDN UTD Inactive feqew Lukas Petrauskas Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius Destrian Tomas Linikas MOLSI Michał Łącki , secured the top spot in their group.

In the playoffs, FPX were walking on water, and they dispatched Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Unranked paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak to secure a spot at their first international event. ANGE1 made his return to the team in the second match, taking over Jett duties for ardiis, as the Latvian was unable to play with COVID. Nevertheless, they decimated FNATIC FNATIC Europe Unranked crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder in the upper final, which included a perfect 13-0 on the first map. After taking down G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive in the grand final 3-1, FPX could call themselves European champions.

However, with the various outside circumstances going on, there was a looming feeling that even when they qualified, FPX would not be able to attend Masters. Riot confirmed this fact the day after Challengers concluded, when they announced Team Liquid would be heading to Reykjavik in FPX's stead.

“There was a lot of things going on at that time,” ardiis said. “We had ANGE1 having war in Ukraine and being in the middle of bombings, we had Shao and SUYGETSU being Russian citizens, so that meant they had massive restrictions on what they could do, and I got COVID as well, like a week before travel. I think we would have been able to go, had I not got COVID the week before we needed to leave. It felt like everything was going against us. It was just a bad feeling.”

And so, FPX were forced to watch from the sidelines as a weakened EMEA floundered on the international stage at Reykjavik. “I don't know how we would have done, to be honest, because we didn't have our full team,” ardiis said. “Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, because we might have done really bad.”

ANGE1 could not take the stage in Iceland, but he would return to Masters with a vengeance. (Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

As Stage 2 began, FPX sought redemption for the way the previous stage ended. Sailing wasn't as smooth this time, and a 3-2 record saw them qualify as the third seed from their group. Nevertheless, they battled their way through the bracket, beating Team Liquid, Acend Acend Inactive ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi pyrolll Artur Minin cullumx Nikolaj Cullum Andersen chiwa Egor Stepanyuk , M3 Champions and Guild Esports on the way to another Masters appearance.

Unfortunately, FPX were not out of the woods yet. War raged on in Ukraine, which meant the same issues that prevented them from attending Reykjavik plagued them again in the run-up to Copenhagen, and the travel situation was up in the air until the last minute.

“We were still practicing with SEIDER and Masked at that time, we were already in Copenhagen and we didn't know what our roster was going to be. Then all of the sudden, Shao phoned us saying ‘Listen, I've got my visa, I'm good to go.' After that, we knew that SUYGETSU was gonna get a visa, it was just a matter of time, because they both moved to Serbia around the same time. It was just a waiting game basically.”

With SEIDER standing in for SUYGETSU, FPX narrowly escaped their group. After a close opening match against XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Asia-Pacific Unranked , they met their match against DRX DRX Korea Unranked Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) in the winner's match. In the elimination match, a win over Japan's NORTHEPTION NORTHEPTION Japan Unranked secured FPX a slot in the playoffs.

In the opening quarterfinals match, FPX encountered a familiar face, their European rivals in FNATIC. Throughout Stage 2, FPX had lost a total of four series, three of which were at the hands of FNATIC. Unfortunately, SUYGETSU was only due to arrive the following day, which meant that without FPX at their full strength, FNATIC got the better of them yet again and sent ANGE1 & co. down to the lower bracket.

“I think we knew we were individually good enough,” ardiis said. “We should've beat DRX with SEIDER to be honest, and even FNATIC. We were confident in our abilities, we just lost a few silly games with SEIDER. But as soon as [SUYGETSU] came, we felt that we were just better. We felt like a team again.”

With SUYGETSU finally joining the ranks in the lower bracket, all the puzzle pieces fell into place, and FunPlus Phoenix rose from the ashes to complete a full lower bracket run and become champions of Masters Copenhagen. On the way, they finally bested their nemeses FNATIC, sent NA's last hope home, and ultimately defeated APAC's Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Unranked mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in a nail-biting grand final that went all the way to the final map.

“It was exhausting. I think we played the most games that you can possibly play in a Valorant event, and we didn't have a day off. We didn't get to see the city of Copenhagen, it was literally just wake up, practice, go play, then we'd get back to our hotel at like 11 or 12 o'clock and we'd have to eat fast food, whatever was open at that time. It was a rollercoaster, it was really rare that we'd have our own time off.”

After overcoming adversity of all kinds, FPX finally prevailed to lift an international trophy. Their Stage 1 heartbreak, the narrow group stage escape with a sub, and the lower bracket run with SUYGETSU's last-minute addition makes their Masters Copenhagen win one of the most memorable esports stories in recent memory.

A remarkable stat shows just how much each individual member of FPX stepped up in the grand final against Paper Rex. Whereas Jinggg was his team's top fragger on all five maps in the final, FPX had all five players top the scoreboard on one of the maps.

In the past month, FPX have enjoyed a well-deserved break, while they sat back and watched the various Last Chance Qualifiers unfold around the world. However, Champions approached fast, and there was no time to waste. A lot has changed between the Copenhagen patch and the current patch, not least of which was the addition of a new map, Pearl.

“[Pearl] is unique. That's what I like about when the new map comes out, everyone tries out their own ideas on the map,” ardiis said. “We have our own philosophy, although I won't share too much, but you can see a lot of people have copied from each other already, and a lot of people are just making their own stuff and seeing what works. There's a few metas right now on the map, but I think after Champions there'll be a more defined and strict meta.”

“So far I like the map, because it's new and fresh, so it's not been worn down because you play it so much, but I can see it getting a bit dry in the future. I think B needs a bit of a reshake. For now it's okay, but in the future definitely B needs some more cover I think.”

Aside from a new map to explore, the patch also introduced a variety of changes to the agent balance. Most notably, Chamber – the staple agent of many star players at Copenhagen, which includes ardiis – has received a batch of nerfs aimed at decreasing his grip on the competitive meta.

“I think the change is perfect,” ardiis said about his most picked agent at Copenhagen. “A lot of people say that Chamber is dead and that you can't play him anymore, but I think Chamber is still viable, he's just not as broken as he was before. I think the change is exactly what he needed, it didn't kill him where no one can play him, but now you just need to be more skillful and a lot more aware of your surroundings. A lot of the benefit of Chamber was how big his TP range was, but there's certain maps where Chamber won't be as good anymore, and I'll have to flex to other agents.”

ardiis was the most successful Chamber player in the entire group stage. (Photo: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Earlier this month, coach Erik tweeted out that FPX was looking for a substitute smokes player for Champions, suggesting that the visa issues that plagued the team at the last two events might come back to bite them again. However, as ardiis explained, this was just a precaution, as he is confident that all five players will be able to attend the event.

“The visas should be fine. I think ANGE1 might turn up late to the event, about five days later than we do, but he still has his visa. In terms of the sub, I think we've narrowed it down to rhyme from a shortlist of about 50 people. There's a chance that the sub doesn't play, so we had to make sure it's fair on the person as well, and that they're good for the team. In a perfect scenario we'd be getting someone like shroud , someone nice like that, but we don't want to make a guy travel from NA or some other super far distance when they might not even play.”

FPX have found themselves in group C, alongside KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Unranked keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro , XSET XSET Inactive and XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Asia-Pacific Unranked . While the group doesn't have the heaviest hitters, no team is to be underestimated in the most stacked tournament of the year.

“I think all the groups are even, to be honest,” ardiis said. “Before, there were other groups where I thought they were so easy, but I think the way they've done Champions this time, every group is super close, there's no standout one.”

FPX faces KRÜ Esports in their opening match. The Latin American powerhouse remains the only team to attend all six international events, and they have taken down many unsuspecting top teams in the past. Their best result came at last year's Champions, when they made it to the semifinals, ending the tournaments of powerhouses like Sentinels Sentinels North America Unranked N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid and FNATIC on the way.

On the other side of the bracket, North America's XSET faces off against Thailand's XERXIA. XERXIA found their best success at Champions in Berlin, where they took down Envy Envy Inactive Marved Jimmy Nguyen Victor Victor Wong crashies Austin Roberts FiNESSE Pujan Mehta yay Jaccob Whiteaker (now OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive ) in a big upset to secure a spot in the playoffs. XSET's best result was also at the expense of OpTic, when they took down the North American giants to win Stage 2's Challengers. Both of these teams have a lot to prove in Istanbul, and they will be hungry for blood.

“I'm looking forward to playing [XSET], because I've never played them before. We've played XERXIA before, so we kind of know what to expect, but with KRÜ and XSET we don't really know because we're playing them for the first time. I just don't want to play any more EU teams, I want to play a good mix of teams that I haven't played before. Last Stage we played FNATIC like six times in one month, something ridiculous like that.”

Watch the throne. (Photo: Sebastian Stigsby/Riot Games)

In a field of teams as talented as Champions, where does FPX rank? Simple. “Top one. We won the last event, so we should be first automatically. After we played the most games out of everyone and beat every single team, I don't see how anyone could not have us top one.”

However, in life and in Valorant, staying on top is harder than getting there. Even before Copenhagen, FPX were frequent innovators of the meta. With a Masters title now under their belt, FPX will have much more of a target on their back. “I see a lot of people take the stuff we have, we see it in prac and we see it in officials,” ardiis said. “I think that's the way it is though, whoever wins, a lot of people will copy their stuff, and right now, that's us.”

“If I have the chance, I want to play better in the playoffs,” ardiis said about his personal goals. “Last time I think I was one of the best in the groups, but in playoffs I just shit the bed. I don't know what it was — maybe it was the desk — something felt off from group stage to playoffs.”

The goal for the team overall is simple: FPX want to repeat.

“A lot of it depends on the bracket, sometimes you just get shafted and there's nothing you can do. For me, my minimum is top four, but obviously, we want to win.”