BraveAF and Magnum Depart Fnatic Valorant
Today we announce some significant changes to our Valorant roster. The first of these is an update to Andrey ‘BraveAF’ Gorchakov’s role within the team. BraveAF joined on a trial basis back in January but as of May 1st, we will not be continuing his contract. This decision was based on a number of factors but we should stress, is not a direct result of BraveAF’s recent suspension. Team Director, Colin Johnson had this to say:
As we continued to evaluate how we could maintain BraveAF's place in the roster, we realized more and more that unfortunately, his position was untenable. This is due to a lack of clarity around being able to come to future boot camps, live events and even our ability to continue to pay him due to political restrictions. Therefore, we are saying goodbye to Brave on May 1st - although we have made the step as a team and an organization to give him a large extra chunk of the Challengers prize pool which we hope will help make sure he is taken care of in the near future. If there was a world where we could have reasonably kept him, we would have, but sadly it just wasn't possible.
Secondly, we have also made the decision to move Martin ‘Magnum’ Peňkov to the inactive roster. Magnum is a solid player that has helped us achieve some great things over the past year including a phenomenal debut at Masters 2 in 2021. He has one of the best lurker minds in the game, combined with unrivalled game sense. However, as we reviewed his recent performances it was clear that we need to add more consistent firepower to the team. To help support this, Boaster will be moving to a more support role while Mistic switches to flex role. We feel this will enable Mistic further and once combined with a more consistent sentinel, will help shape the future development of this team.
Trials for the open roster slots have already begun and we aim to have updates regarding the outcome of these in the coming weeks.
Magnum is without a doubt one of Valorant’s larger than life characters both on and off the server. He will be dearly missed both as a team member and friend. Our aim with these changes is to allow him to find a team he can really excel. We will never forget the huge impact he had on shaping the early days of Fnatic Valorant. Thank you, Martin. ALWAYSFNATIC.