FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) is a Chinese professional esports organization owned by video game developer FunPlus. It has teams competing in League of Legends, Valorant, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
| Nickname | "Little Phoenix" (小凤凰)[1] |
|---|---|
| Short name | FPX |
| Divisions | League of Legends Valorant Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Fortnite Battle Royale PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds |
| Founded | 20 December 2017 |
| League | League of Legends Pro League |
| Based in | Beijing, China |
| CEO | Yang "Emily" Yan |
| Championships | 1× World Championship (2019) (LoL) 1× VCT Masters (2022 Stage 2) (Valorant) |
| League titles | 1× LPL (Summer 2019) (LoL) 1× VCT Challenger EMEA (2022 Stage 1) (Valorant) |
| Parent group | FunPlus |
FPX was founded on 20 December 2017 following FunPlus' acquisition of a spot in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), the top level of professional League of Legends in China.[2] On 10 November 2019, FPX's League of Legends team won the 2019 League of Legends World Championship after sweeping G2 Esports in the grand finals.[3]
League of Legends edit
History edit
On 20 December 2017, FunPlus' esports division announced the creation of FPX and its acquisition of a spot in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL).[2] FPX's inaugural roster consisted of top laner Kim "GimGoon" Han-saem, jungler Hu "Pepper" Zhiwei, mid laner Feng "bing" Jinwei, bot laner Lin "Lwx" Weixiang, and support Liu "Crisp" Qingsong. The team's first tournament was the 2017 Demacia Championship,[4] which they placed ninth to fifteenth after losing to Team WE in the third and final round of Group E.[5]
For the 2018 LPL Spring regular season, FPX was placed in the league's western conference. Despite adding veteran mid laner Yu "Cool" Jiajun,[6] FPX finished fifth in their conference with a 9–10 record and did not qualify for playoffs. Chen "Alex" Yu-ming replaced Pepper as the team's primary jungler for the 2018 LPL Summer regular season.[7] FPX finished fourth in their conference with an 8–11 record, qualifying for playoffs as one of the bottom seeds. They were promptly defeated by JD Gaming in the first round.[8]
In preparation for the 2019 LPL Spring regular season, FPX revamped their roster, adding jungler Gao "Tian" Tianliang and veteran mid laner Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang.[9] The team massively improved, finishing first in the regular season with a 13–2 record and getting an automatic bye to the semifinals.[10] However, in an upset result, FPX lost 2–3 to JD Gaming in the semifinals, and advanced to the third place decider match rather than the finals.[11][12] FPX defeated Topsports Gaming 3–1 in the third place decider match.[13]
Going into the 2019 LPL Summer Split without making any roster changes, FPX once again finished first in the regular season and automatically qualified for the semifinals. In the semifinals FPX defeated Bilibili Gaming 3–1, qualifying them for the finals and the 2019 World Championship, as any result would have sent FPX to the World Championship (i.e., a victory in the finals would automatically qualify FPX as the first LPL seed, a loss would award them enough championship points to qualify as the second LPL seed).[14] FPX then defeated three-time champions Royal Never Give Up 3–1 in the finals, securing their first title.[15]
For the main event group stage of the 2019 World Championship, FPX was placed in Group B along with Splyce, J Team, and GAM Esports.[16] After defeating Splyce in a tiebreaker match, FPX qualified for the knockout stage as the first seed in their group.[17][18] In the quarterfinals FPX defeated Fnatic, which finished runner-up the year prior,[19] and in the semifinals FPX defeated fellow LPL team and defending world champions Invictus Gaming to advance to the finals.[20] FPX then swept G2 Esports 3–0 in the finals to win their first international title and the LPL's second World Championship title.[3][21][22]
On 30 November 2019, FPX won the award for "best team" at the 2019 China LoL of the Year Awards, held during the LPL All-Star event.[citation needed] In preparation for the 2020 spring season, several additions were made to FPX's roster: Two-time LCK champion Kim "Khan" Dong-ha joined from SKT T1,[23][24] while three players were promoted from FPX's academy team.[25]
Current roster edit
| FunPlus Phoenix League of Legends roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ye "Juicy" Sheng-Liao | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Legend:
| Roster updated 7 may 2023. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tournament results edit
| Placement | Event | Final result (W–L) |
|---|---|---|
| 9th–15th | 2017 Demacia Championship | 1–2 (against Team WE) |
| 5th | 2018 LPL Spring Split (West) | 10–9 |
| 4th | 2018 LPL Summer Split (West) | 13–6 |
| 7th–8th | 2018 LPL Summer Playoffs | 1–3 (against JD Gaming) |
| NQ | NEST 2018 Qualifiers | 1–2 (against Team WE) |
| 1st | 2019 LPL Spring Split | 13–2 |
| 3rd | 2019 LPL Spring Playoffs | 3–1 (against Topsports Gaming) |
| 9th–16th | NEST 2019 | 0–3 (against SinoDragon Gaming) |
| 2nd | Rift Rivals 2019 LCK-LPL-LMS-VCS | 1–3 (against LCK) |
| 1st | 2019 LPL Summer Split | 14–1 |
| 1st | 2019 LPL Summer Playoffs | 3–1 (against Royal Never Give Up) |
| 1st | 2019 World Championship | 3–0 (against G2 Esports) |
| 3rd | 2020 LPL Spring Split | 12–4 |
| 3rd | 2020 LPL Spring Playoffs | 3–0 (against Invictus Gaming) |
| 2nd | 2020 Mid-Season Cup | 1–3 (against Top Esports) |
| 8th | 2020 LPL Summer Split | 9–7 |
| 7th–8th | 2020 LPL Summer Playoffs | 1–3 (against Victory Five) |
| 4th | 2020 LPL Regional Finals | 2–3 (against Invictus Gaming) |
| 4th | NEST 2020 | 1–2 (against Edward Gaming) |
| 5th–8th | 2020 Demacia Cup | 0–3 (against Top Esports) |
| 5th | 2021 LPL Spring Split | 11–5 |
| 2nd | 2021 LPL Spring Playoffs | 1–3 (against Royal Never Give Up) |
| 1st | 2021 LPL Summer Split | 13-3 |
| 2nd | 2021 LPL Summer Playoffs | 1–3 (against Edward Gaming) |
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive edit
History edit
On 15 March 2020, FPX announced they had signed the former Danish roster of Heroic, consisting of Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer, Casper "cadiaN" Møller, Johannes "b0RUP" Borup, Patrick "es3tag" Hansen, and Martin "Stavn" Lund, with Frederik "LOMME" Nielsen as their coach.[26] The team played a single match in Phase 1 of the tournament before Patrick "es3tag" Hansen left the team to join Astralis. As a result of this, they had to forfeit the second match.[27] For Phase 2, the organization fielded North American team Bad News Bears, consisting of Michael "dapr" Gulino, Peter "ptr" Gurney, Jonathan "Jonji" Carey, Mitch "mitch" Semago, and Austin "crashies" Roberts.[28] With 65 points, FPX advanced to the quarterfinals.[29] After losing the first match to MAD Lions, the team fell to the lower bracket, where they played against Gen.G. Despite an outstanding performance by the team's in-game leader Michael "dapr" Gulino, FPX lost the match and was eliminated from the tournament. This roster only lasted for the inaugural season of the Flashpoint league.
On 25 September 2020, FPX signed Serbian Petar "peca" Marković, who will be in charge of building the organization's new CS:GO team and split his duties between managing its CS:GO and VALORANT divisions.[30]
On 25 January 2021, FPX confirmed that they signed the quartet of the former Godsent roster.[31] The next day their fifth player Chris "ChrisJ" de Jong was announced.[32]
On 3 March 2021, HLTV.org reported that chrisJ would leave from the current FPX-roster, being replaced by the former ENCE eSports player, Miikka "suNny" Kemppi.[33]
Final roster edit
| FunPlus Phoenix CS:GO roster | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Jonatan "devilwalk" Lundberg | ||||||||||||||||||
| | |||||||||||||||||||
Legend:
| Latest roster transaction: 18 October 2021. | ||||||||||||||||||
Tournament results edit
| Placement | Event | Final result (W–L) |
|---|---|---|
| 7th–8th | Flashpoint 1 | 0–2 (against Gen.G) |
| 2nd | DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe | 0–3 (against Team Spirit) |
Valorant edit
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2020) |
History edit
FPX built a Valorant team from CIS to compete in EMEA. They had won VCT 2022 stage 1 EMEA Challengers to qualify the 2022 VCT: Stage 1 Masters in Reykjavík, but could not attend due to travel restrictions on their Russian and Ukrainian players related to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 regulations.[34]
At the 2022 VCT: Stage 2 Masters in Copenhagen, FPX was forced to play with Alliance player SEIDER after SUYGETSU was unable to travel from Russia to Denmark due to visa issues.[35] After three matches played, SUYGETSU got his visa approved and made his way into Denmark. With his complete starting 5 FPX went on to win the tournament after beating APAC side Paper Rex 3–2, getting its first major win at Valorant.
After the organization's application to be part of the Valorant Champions Tour's new franchise system was denied in 2022, it released its CIS roster and set up a new team in China.
Tournament results edit
| Placement | Event | Final result (W–L) |
|---|---|---|
| 4th | 2022 Valorant Champions | 0–2 (against DRX) |
| 1st | 2022 Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters | 3–2 (against Paper Rex) |
| 1st | 24cyber ORCs Cup | 2–0 (against One Breath) |
| 2nd | BLAST Valorant Twitch Invitational | 2–3 (against G2 Esports) |
| 3rd–4th | VALORANT First-Strike Europe | 1–2 (against Fnatic) |
Sponsorships edit
FPX is sponsored by BMW,[36] Herman Miller, Huya Live, OPPO, PUMA, Oish, Cool Fish, and Bixin.[37]
References edit
- ^ "LPL半决赛前瞻：FPX迎战BLG 小凤凰取胜即进S9总决赛". China Sports Network (in Chinese). 31 August 2019. from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
- ^ a b "C9 Investor Funplus Ventures Rectifying COI with LPL Team". Unikrn News. 26 December 2017. from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ a b Esuguerra, Tyler (10 November 2019). "FunPlus Phoenix sweep G2 Esports to win Worlds 2019". Dot Esports. from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ "德杯青岛站预选赛赛程公布" (in Chinese). 英雄联盟职业联赛. 26 December 2017. from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ "2017 Demacia Championship – BANANA CULTURE GAMING & MEDIA" (in Korean). Retrieved 9 December 2021.
- ^ "我们荣幸地宣布，通过与中国著名电子竞技选手余家俊（Cool）@无状态COOL_ 进行了良好充分沟通后。..." (in Chinese). FPX电子竞技俱乐部 via Weibo. from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ "今天我们很高兴的向大家宣布，经过友好的沟通与交流，原J Team打野选手Alex（陈煜明）将以自由人身份加入FPX LOL分部。..." (in Chinese). FPX电子竞技俱乐部 via Weibo. from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ Penev, Boyan (7 September 2018). "JD Gaming wins 3-1 against FunPlus Phoenix to make quarterfinals". eSports.com. from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ "How to beat FunPlus Phoenix: shut down Doinb". ESPN. 13 March 2019. from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ Kolev, Radoslav (13 April 2019). . VPEsports. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ^ Li, Xing (19 April 2019). "JD Gaming can finish a Cinderella run in the LPL final vs. IG". Dot Esports. from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ Kolev, Radoslav (14 April 2019). "Flawless talks about breaking into tears after upset win over FPX". VPEsports. from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ Oak, Yudae (17 April 2019). "League of Legends: FPX Doinb on the Reason Behind the Mid Renekton Pick: "Because my Renekton is OP."". Inven Global. from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ O'Dwyer, Samuel (31 August 2019). "FunPlus Phoenix defeat BiliBili Gaming to secure their first appearance at Worlds". Dot Esports. from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
- ^ Rand, Emily (7 September 2019). "Doinb earns his place as one of the LPL's best". ESPN. from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
- ^ Endres, Elena (17 October 2019). "FPX send J Team home to earn a spot in the Worlds 2019 quarterfinals". Dot Esports. from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ Esuguerra, Tyler (17 October 2019). "FunPlus Phoenix, Splyce top Group B at Worlds 2019". Dot Esports. from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ "Splyce and FunPlus Phoenix battle it out for Group B". ESPN. 17 October 2019. from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ Endres, Elena (26 October 2019). "Fnatic eliminated from Worlds 2019". Dot Esports. from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ Endres, Elena (2 November 2019). "FPX advance to Worlds 2019 finals after a massive throw by IG". Dot Esports. from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ "Chinese team FunPlus Phoenix wins League of Legends World Championship". CNN. from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ Cuthbertson, Anthony (10 November 2019). "Chinese team wins 'biggest event in eSports history'". The Independent. from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ Heath, Jerome (16 December 2019). "Khan joins FunPlus Phoenix as the team's top laner". Dot Esports. from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ Kolev, Radoslav (16 December 2019). "FPX confirm signing of Khan, are keeping Worlds 2019 championship roster". VPEsports. from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ Moncav, Melany (20 July 2020). "FunPlus Phoenix announces Khan roster move after losing streak". WIN.gg. from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ "FunPlus Phoenix confirm Heroic roster signing". HLTV.org. from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "Orgless vs. FunPlus Phoenix". HLTV.org. from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ "FunPlus Phoenix swap Swole Patrol for Bad News Bears roster". Field Level Media via Reuters. 29 March 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- ^ "MAD Lions, MIBR top Flashpoint 1 group standings; playoff matches determined". HLTV.org. from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ "peca joins FPX as General Manager". HLTV.org. from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "FunPlus Phoenix confirm former GODSENT quintet signing". HLTV.org. from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ^ "chrisJ joins FunPlus Phoenix on loan". HLTV.org. from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ^ "CHRISJ LEAVES FUNPLUS PHOENIX, SUNNY JOINS AS STAND-IN". HLTV.org. from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
- ^ Miter, Mateusz (28 March 2022). "FPX unable to attend VCT Masters Reykjavík due to travel restrictions, Team Liquid invited instead". Dot Esports. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ tamagao (9 July 2022). "SEIDER to be FPX's lone sub filling for SUYGETSU". vlr.com. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
- ^ "LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: BMW PARTNERS WITH FNATIC, G2 ESPORTS, CLOUD9, T1 AND FUNPLUS PHOENIX". estnn.com. 16 April 2020. from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- ^ Daniel, Joshua (3 February 2021). "China's FunPlus Phoenix professional esports team signs new deal with Herman Miller furniture company". MEGPlay. from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
External links edit
- FunPlus Phoenix on Twitter