Fnatic Suspend BraveAF

Fnatic suspended its recently signed Valorant player, Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov, from pro play after a situation surfaced online. As revealed, BraveAF was accused of supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to a full-blown investigation and a temporary suspension of the 26-year-old.

As revealed by Fnatic on Wednesday, March 30, the 26-year-old Valorant esports pro has been accused of supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although Fnatic plans to launch an investigation into the matter before making any final decisions, BraveAF was temporarily suspended from pro play.

Earlier this week, screengrabs of BraveAF’s online conversation got leaked online, revealing an interesting discussion between the player and an unnamed girl. In the conversation, BraveAF said that the West “have achieved the collapse of the USSR” and now “want the collapse of the CIS”.

In the same conversation, BraveAF also mentioned that this “isn’t a full-scale war” and that it’s “not about the civilians” of Ukraine.

The controversial conversation, which got posted on social media on Wednesday, quickly started gaining serious attention, with many people calling for Fnatic to fire BraveAF. And it didn’t take long for the esports organization to take action.

“We are aware of the ongoing situation with one of our Valorant players, Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov. Effective immediately, Gorchakov will be suspended from pro play at Fnatic while we launch an investigation,” read the announcement.

The Russian Valorant pro player has since responded to the accusations and claimed that the messages were from Thursday, February 24, when the Russian invasion started. Moreover, he claimed that the statements were a part of a conversation he was having with a Ukrainian friend and that he did not intend to cause any harm.

At the time, BraveAF claims that he was talking with the friend only to check whether she was safe and that what he said was just his initial thoughts around the situation. But most importantly, he stated that he hopes that the war ends and does not want to see anyone hurt.

BraveAF’s response was met with mixed opinions from the esports community, with some defending the Valorant pro and others wanting to see him pay the price for what he said.

It’s currently unclear what the future holds in store for BraveAF and whether he will be able to continue competing with Fnatic. But as it stands now, BraveAF is suspended from pro play and unable to play until Fnatic conclude their investigation and make the final decision.

BraveAF’s benching from the Fnatic Valorant roster comes at a very unfortunate time. The 26-year-old joined Fnatic on January 21 to replace Domagoj “Doma” Fancev and has yet to play an official match with the team.

He started his professional Valorant career in October 2020 with Team Empire and later played for tyeasy and One Breath Gaming in June-August 2021. As a free agent, BraveAF got picked up by Fnatic as a promising talent and a key piece in Fnatic’s ambitions to build a championship roster.

But unfortunately, it seems like we won’t be able to see BraveAF in the Black & Orange jersey. BraveAF was supposed to compete with Fnatic in the VCT 2022 EMEA Challengers 1, which began at the start of March, but could not do so.

Due to the current situation in Russia, he was unable to travel to Europe and got replaced by Tom “otom” Hart, who joined the team on March 3. With otom serving as a substitute, Fnatic fought their way through the VCT EMEA Challengers 1 and qualified for the Masters Reykjavík.

The First Masters event of 2022 is slated for April 10-24 in Iceland, but BraveAF likely won’t be able to attend it. Moreover, the current situation suggests that BraveAF could get dropped by Fnatic, but we should get more information on the matter in the coming days.