One of the biggest teams in the world, Fnatic, is finally joining the Valorant train after signing one of the most popular underdogs in the EU, SUMN FC.
SUMN FC stunned the world by making it to the grand finals of Valorant First Strike EU, despite being an unsigned team. Even more interesting is that the team, which was formed only months before the First Strike tournament, didn’t exactly get the training time that most professional teams do. Some of their teammates were full-time students and had day jobs during the First Strike.
Led by IGL Jake “Boaster” Howlett, the team is composed of James “Mistic” Orfila, Muhammed “Moe40” Hariff, Domagoj “Doma” Fancev, Kostas “tsack” Theodoropoulos, and their coach Jacob “mini” Harris.
They impressed the scene with their unusual but well-coordinated strategies, and are particularly memorable for their Viper play on Bind.
Their trademark Viper strategy has been praised by analysts, shoutcasters, and other teams and players.
Brought together by their IGL Jake “Boaster” Howlett, the team has also branded itself as one of the friendliest, funniest, and most authentic teams out there. Who wouldn’t want a team that has strategies called the “Crunchy Nut Split” and the “Justin Bieber Mid” to succeed?
(Seriously, we recommend following their socials for laughs.)
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Fans who have followed the team have also seen their struggle from the beginning, like failing to qualify for some of the first Valorant tournaments.
As they earned themselves a seat with the bigwigs of Europe during First Strike, like G2 and Liquid, people often wondered why this team went for so long without being signed. The team were very vocal about their dream of being signed, even quitting their jobs and pausing studies to dedicate themselves to Valorant, which made this announcement quite a heart-warming one.
Fnatic has signed all members of SUMN FC, and fans are thrilled that the team will finally get the support they need to perform at their best. The journey of SUMN FC is a relatable one for many aspiring players and is a testament to hard work translating to success.
Fnatic Valorant team director Colin Johnson says, “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 organization. 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.”
Having already established themselves as a threat in the EU scene while they were orgless, we can only expect better things for the former SUMN FC now that they’ve got all the support they need.
As a bonus, Boaster has promised that he would reveal what SUMN FC stands for the moment they get signed, and we finally got the answer.
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