British Valorant star Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett has taken on more of a support role within Fnatic’s Valorant team, as the organisation announced they had dropped two other players from the team.
Fnatic said they will not be renewing the contract of Russian player Andrey ‘BraveAF’ Gorchakov, and they have also moved Czech player Martin ‘Magnum’ Peňkov to the bench.
Fnatic benched BraveAF a few weeks ago after comments he made about Russia’s war in Ukraine, though Fnatic did state that the latest decision was ‘not a direct result of BraveAF’s recent suspension’, but was instead based on ‘a number of factors’.
Team director Colin Johnson said: “As we continued to evaluate how we could maintain BraveAF’s place in the roster, we realised 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.”
“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.”
Fnatic
On Magnum, Fnatic added in this announcement post on their website: “Magnum 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.”
Boaster has been the enigmatic IGL (in-game leader) for Fnatic’s Valorant team since day one, and has become one of the biggest personalities both in the game, and as an esports player from the UK in general.
Fnatic said that trials for the two open roster slots are already underway. The team’s Valorant coach, mini, added in these tweets:
Fnatic recently had a disappointing showing at the Stage 1 Masters 2022 LAN in Iceland, finishing bottom of Group A with two losses.
Another org with UK talent, Team Liquid, went out in the quarter finals, losing to Loud in the upper bracket then Zeta Division in the lower bracket.
The Valorant Masters 2022 LAN final between Loud and Optic will take place this evening (April 24th 2022) from 6pm BST.
Last year, Fnatic reached the Stage 2 Masters LAN final.
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.
