FunPlus Phoenix could add a trio of stand-ins to their team to attend VCT Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen, sources have told Dexerto.
FPX qualified for the LAN event after finishing the VCT EMEA Challengers in second place, joining Fnatic and Guild as the region’s representatives in Denmark.
This is the second international LAN that FPX have qualified for in 2022 after they booked a spot at VCT Masters Reykjavík earlier in the year. However, the team ended up skipping the event due to travel restrictions in Ukraine and Russia, which prevented Russian duo Andrey ‘Shao’ Kiprsky and Dmitry ‘SUYGETSU’ Ilyushin, and Ukrainian captain Kyrylo ‘ANGE1’ Karasov from traveling to Iceland. FPX’s spot was filled by Team Liquid, the fourth-placed team from the Challengers tournament.
The same issues could keep the trio out of the VCT Masters Copenhagen, but this time around FPX will be able to attend the event with stand-ins.
Sources have told Dexerto that FPX are targeting Danish duo Mathias ‘SEIDER’ Seider and Mikkel ‘Masked’ Fuglsang, and Polish player Przemysław ‘KEREME’ Bogdanowicz as potential stand-ins for the tournament if their players run into visa issues again. SEIDER, who plays for Alliance, is the only of the three under a contract.
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If confirmed, the trio will join Pontus ‘Zyppan’ Eek and Ardis ‘ardiis’ Svarenieks in FPX’s starting lineup for VCT Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen, which begins on July 10.
FPX are currently first in the VCT EMEA Circuit Point Standings with 350 points. Despite not attending Masters 1, they were awarded 200 points and $25,000 in prize money — the equivalent of an eighth-place finish at the Icelandic event.
Arran Spake contributed to this story.