The captain of UK-heavy Valorant team SUMN FC, Boaster, told Esports News UK recently that SUMN must be looking like ‘a delicious dish’ to orgs.
Well, London-based organisation Fnatic must have really liked the look of said dish as this evening they’ve announced the signing of SUMN FC, marking their official move into Valorant esports.
This means Fnatic’s Valorant roster consists of UK players Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett, James ‘Mistic’ Orfila and Muhammad ‘Moe40’ Hariff, plus Croatian player Domagoj ‘Doma’ Fancev and Greek player Kostas ‘tsack’ Theodoropoulos.
The team have also been aided by esports journalist and host, Yinsu Collins, who has been helping out with management and promoting the organisation. She will remain as Boaster’s manager, but Fnatic will take on overall team management duties going forward.
SUMN FC have made a big impact on the Valorant esports stage since forming, having won epic.LAN, finished runner-up in First Strike Europe and reaching the playoffs of Red Bull Home Ground last weekend.
“With our record of success in FPS games such as Counter-Strike, we’re looking forward to writing this new chapter in Fnatic’s history, and building our legacy in a new title.”
Patrik ‘cArn’ Sättermon, Fnatic
Esports News UK understands a number of organisations were interested in picking up the SUMN roster, but it looks like patience has paid off for the boys, who will now be wearing the famous black and orange colours of Fnatic.
It’s the first move into a new game for Fnatic since they entered PUBG Mobile back in 2019.
Fnatic chief gaming officer Patrik ‘cArn’ Sättermon said: “We’re so excited to finally join Valorant. It’s been the number one thing fans have been asking for since the game launched, and we’ve taken our time to identify a roster that fits our vision of competing for the top titles in every game we enter.
“With our record of success in FPS games such as Counter-Strike, we’re looking forward to writing this new chapter in Fnatic’s history, and building our legacy in a new title.”
Valorant team director Colin Johnson added: “This group of players have more than proven their talent in recent months, holding their own against the European elite in every tournament they compete in, without the support of a salary or organisation.
“With the help of Fnatic and our High Performance Unit, we want to push them to reach that next level and win every tournament they compete in.”
The team will compete for the first time in the Valorant Champions Tour Challengers, which starts tomorrow (Thursday February 4th 2021).
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
