Fnatic announce BraveAF as fifth member of their Challengers 1 league
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Fnatic before they signed braveaf at VALORANT Champions.
Fnatic before they signed braveaf at VALORANT Champions.
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Fnatic announce BraveAF as fifth member of their Challengers 1 league

Fnatic were one of the four teams invited to EMEA Challengers 1
Image of Declan McLaughlin
Declan McLaughlin
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Published: Jan 21, 2022 12:51 pm

Fnatic announced their replacement for Domagoj “Doma” Fancev ahead of the VALORANT Champions Tour Europe, Middle East and Africa Challengers 1 league: Andrew “BraveAF” Gorchakov. The new Russian recruit has been competing in VALORANT since 2020 on teams in the Commonwealth of Independent States region, including One Breath Gaming and Team Empire.

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According to the announcement, the new addition will play Sova and take over Jake “Boaster” Howlett’s role on the agent, and potentially others. In the last 60 days, BraveAF has played mainly Initiators, but he has a history of breaking out Duelists as well.

Fnatic were one of the four teams to get a direct invite to the VCT EMEA Stage 1 Challengers event. Unlike other European squads competing in the open qualifier system, Fnatic had time to trail the player and can watch as other teams battle for a chance to face them in the league. Joining Fnatic as invited teams are Team Liquid, Gambit Esports and Acend.

Fans last saw Fnatic at VALORANT Champions, where they placed just outside the top four after losing to KRÜ Esports 2-1 in the quarterfinals. Back then, the roster was almost exactly the same, with Doma slotting in on the Initiator and flex role. Doma has since joined TENSTAR, who are currently fighting for a spot in the EMEA Challengers league through the open qualifier.

In Fnatic’s announcement, the team said that BraveAF displays what they want out of a player in and out of the server.

“Looking for a confident Sova player, Brave represented the things we value in-game: great aim and intelligent utility usage, as well as the things we value out of game: a hunger to improve and being a positive teammate,” Fnatic coach Jacob “Mini” Harris said in the announcement. “Like our previous pickups, we feel we have found another highly skilled player with huge potential.”

Fans can see BraveAF compete in a Fnatic jersey for the first time on Feb. 11, at the start of the league’s first round-robin.

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Image of Declan McLaughlin
Declan McLaughlin
Declan is an esports journalist and part-time editor for Upcomer. He is an avid gamer and League of Legends player. You can find him at the bottom of the leaderboard in most games or on Twitter.
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