Turkish Phoenix: NAVI Valorant in finals talks to add Ascend Superstar cNed

NAVI Valorant, who picked the FPX squad after the organization was denied partnership, is all set to sign Turkey's star Awper cNed as a replacement for Ardiis to round off the roster.

The Legacy of FunPlus Phoenix Valorant

FunPlus Phoenix, or FPX, was one of the most dominant squad from EMEA and were consistently at the top despite the hardships they faced with the roster and in the competition.

With Ange1 leading the team, followed by Shao, Suygetsu, Zyppan, and Ardiis, the team

dominated the EMEA Challengers placing first in VCT EMEA Challengers Stage 1, beating G2 Esports while playing with a substitute.

But due to VISA issues, the team was not allowed to compete in the VCT Masters Reykjavik 2022 and was provided with 7-8th positional points and prize money.

The team wasn't disheartened and repeated the feat by qualifying for VCT Masters Copenhagen as the second seed behind Fnatic. They had one of the most incredible runs in Valorant Competitive history with a substitute and beat Paper Rex 3-2 in the finals to lift the trophy.

The team came as the defending champions to the Valorant Champions and were dominant in the Group stage and were the team to beat, but they fell short to DRX in the Lower Bracket SemiFinals to place 4th in the event.

The Turkish Ascend Superstar

cNed became a prominent name in the 2021 Valorant season when the team rose to fame in VCT Masters Berlin 2021. The Turkish youngster was very explosive and amongst the best Jett and Operator players in the world.

Despite an early exit in Berlin, cNed and Acend showed what they could do and came into Valorant Champions with a vengeance, making it to the finals without dropping a map. In the finals, they beat the defending Champions, Gambit, 3-2 to lift the trophy. cNed put up a monstrous performance throughout the event finishing the event with an ACS of 229 and was Acend's star.

While 2022 was a shaky year for Acend and cNed, he performed individually well and made highlights whenever he could, maintaining an ACS of 225+ throughout the year. And with Ascend denied partnership, he was allowed to explore his options.

The new NAVI Valorant:

With both Acend and FPX denied a spot in the upcoming Valorant Partnership program, all the players on the team were allowed to explore the option.

With the FPX squad deciding to stick together, Navi, one of the partnered organizations from CIS, made an offer to the squad and all the players and the coach except Ardiis accepted the offer.

Ardiis and NAVI could not agree, and Ardiis was reported to join NRG alongside Victor, Crashies, FNS, s0m, and Coach Chet. With Ardiis gone and the spot empty, the NAVI Valorant squad was seen trialing multiple players, one of them being G2 IGL nukkye.

But yesterday, as reported by George Geddes, NAVI and Acend are in the final stages of transferring cNed to NAVI, rounding out the NAVI squad. 

With cNed as the new fifth, The NAVI will potentially be as follows:

• Mehmet "cNed" Yağız İpek
• Kyrylo "ANGE1" Karasov
• Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky
• Dmitry "Suygetsu" Ilyushin
• Pontus "Zyppan" Eek
• Erik "d00mbr0s" Sandgren (Coach)