FunPlus Phoenix IGL Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov revealed after his team’s win against XERXIA that the FPX roster only had one full day of practice before the match.
FPX has had to deal with multiple roster issues since the start of the year due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Coming into Masters Copenhagen, FPX had three substitute players in place in case the entire team could not travel for the Stage 2 tournament.
On July 11, FPX put out a statement confirming that Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin would not be able to travel in time to make the group stage of the event and that Mathias “SEIDER” Seider would play in his place.
“Two days ago, we thought we were gonna play with two stand-ins,” ANGE1 said. “We were still practicing with [Mikkel “Masked” Fuglsang]. So basically, we practiced for five days with those stand-ins and we played yesterday with [Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky and SEIDER].”
Shao himself was a surprise addition to the squad as the FPX member managed to get his visa approved just in time to make the tournament.
— NAVI Shao (@Shaolele) July 8, 2022
With the shuffling of players in and out of the roster ahead of their match, ANGE1 said that the team has not prepared any specific strategies against their upcoming opponents. The team has been focused on getting their players up to speed and solidifying their own strategies.
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The FPX roster has gone through a lot to make it Masters
FPX were not able to attend Stage 1 Masters due to their inability to field most of the roster due to traveling restrictions as the European conflict was in its early stages.
The team had to use a substitute player during some of their Stage 1 matches due to conditions in ANGE1’s home country of Ukraine.
Map and match point for @FPX_Esports! #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/fYJSPk7nBU
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) July 11, 2022
“I’m happy for the chance of being here,” the FPX IGL said. “Obviously, war changes your life and at some points I was like, am I able at all to travel? But I’m super excited [to be here].”
FPX now have a chance to qualify for the playoff stage, and potentially play with SUYGETSU in the lineup, with their upcoming match against DRX on July 12.