Fnatic Finalize Valorant Roster With Enzo and Alfajer

Fnatic finalized its Valorant roster on Monday, May 9, with the addition of Enzo “Enzo” Mestari and Emir Ali “Alfajer” Beder. The duo join Black & Orange ahead of EMEA VCT Challengers Two, slated to kick off on May 13.

Fnatic’s roster for EMEA VCT Challengers Two is officially sealed with the addition of Enzo and Alfajer, who joined the team on Monday. Although exciting additions, they’re hardly surprising.

Enzo joined Fnatic at the end of March as a stand-in for Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov during the Valorant Champions Tour Masters Reykjavík, where the team failed to achieve much. As one of Europe’s top teams, Fnatic struggled to live up to the expectations and lost against Ninjas in Pyjamas and ZETA DIVISION, and crashed out of the group stage.

Still, Enzo has proven his worth with solid individual performances, which earned him a permanent contract with the team.

Alfajer, on the other side, is an up-and-coming 16-year-old Turkish prospect who made his Valorant debut in May 2021. Alfajer has played only for Surreal Esports throughout his relatively short career, but he has proven himself as a highly talented player.

Most notably, Alfajer has helped Surreal Esports qualify for VCT 2022: Turkey Stage 1 Challengers – Closed Qualifier 2, where the team placed fourth. In March, Alfajer also won VRL 2022 Turkey: Birlik Stage 1 and placed top-three at VCT 2022: EMEA Challengers Promotion, missing a top-two finish by a single series.

Enzo and Alfajer join Fnatic are replacements for Martin “Magnum” Peňkov and BraveAF, who was suspended after he supposedly showed support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although the duo will have huge shoes to fill, Fnatic’s coach Jacob “Mini” Harris feels Enzo and Alfajer are exactly what Fnatic need.

“Alfajer is an exciting player with a huge amount of firepower and pure talent,” said Mini.

“We believe he is more than capable to be one of our star players but we will be sure to ease him through that transition as he is such a young player. He has plenty of flexibility in his agent pool which bodes well for long-term success in Fnatic.”

“We want to be able to adapt to the fast-paced meta changes we see in VALORANT and we expect that direction to only continue.”

Mini also spoke about Enzo, who Fnatic signed following a solid performance at VCT Masters Reykjavík. There, Enzo showcased his individual talent and proved himself as a valuable player for the team with the right skillset.

“His main strengths are in his support skills, both in and out of the game,” said Mini about Enzo.

“He is the rare kind that still manages to put up numbers whilst being the teammate you wish for. An experienced, ‘secondary-IGL’ type player is something we’ve wanted to have in the team for a while. We’re looking forward to working with Enzo to flesh out that role to add depth to the squad.”

Enzo and Alfajer will team up with Fnatic’s long-time players in Jake “Boaster” Howlett, James “Mistic” Orfila, and Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev. The quintet will represent the Black & Orange at the EMEA VCT Challengers Two, where Fnatic will debut its new roster.

EMEA VCT Challengers Two is slated to kick off on Friday, May 13, while Fnatic will debut its new roster a day later when they clash with FunPlus Phoenix. The Valorant tournament will run until June 26, when the top three teams will receive a spot at the Masters and take home the largest slice of the €200,000 prize pool.

With a new lineup, Fnatic will hope to bounce back from a shaky start to the season and emulate their run from 2021, when they made the finals of VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavík.