Chinese giants FunPlus Phoenix have announced that they have parted ways with General Manager Petar ‘peca’ Marković and with CSGO coach Jonatan ‘Devilwalk’ Lundberg. The decision comes after a series of disappointing results from the organization’s CSGO and Valorant squads.
With FPX’s teams missing out on qualification for PGL Major Stockholm and Valorant Champions, the Chinese organization have decided to clean house and begin a rebuilding job in their European ranks.
Peca joined FPX in September 2020 as General Manager of European operations with the goal of “building a winning team in CSGO” after the organization had failed to complete a deal to sign the Heroic squad earlier that year.
He was also brought in to manage the organization’s Valorant roster, which at the time was one of the best in Europe.
Decline in results
FPX officially entered CS:GO in January 2021 with the signing of GODSENT’s team, coached by Devilwalk, who had won two Majors with Fnatic, one as a player and one a coach.
The team were inside the top 20 in HLTV’s world rankings during the first eight months of the year, and were in a relatively comfortable place in the European Regional Major Rankings (RMR) table ahead of IEM Fall, the final qualifying event for PGL Major Stockholm.
However, FPX crashed out of the tournament in 17th-20th place to miss out on a highly-coveted spot at the first CS:GO Major in two years.
we lost tiebreakersthat means we have no chance to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm. Sad after being in good position throughout whole RMR period, even during RoadToRio, but the truth is there are many more teams that deserve the spot than us. Back to the drawing board 🔮
— STYKO (@STYKOcs) October 3, 2021
Meanwhile, FPX’s Valorant squad was gradually fading into irrelevance. After placing third-fourth in the Stage 1 Masters and winning the Stage 2 Challengers, the team — headlined by former CS:GO player Kirill ‘ANGE1’ Karasiow — finished the Stage 2 Challengers Finals in 5th-6th place and the Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs in 9th-12th place.
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Out of the race for a spot at Valorant Champions, FPX began to overhaul their roster for the 2022 season by benching Tobias ‘ShadoW’ Flodström and Dmitriy ‘dimasick’ Matvienko. Their team currently feature four players following the signing of Dmitry ‘SUYGETSU’ Ilyushin earlier in October.
Open to Valorant offers
FPX’s decision brings an end to a long chapter in Devilwalk’s career. The Swedish coach had been part of the team since February 2019, guiding them throughout their time as NoChance, SMASH, GODSENT, and FPX.
Quizzed on his future, Devilwalk revealed that he is entertaining the idea of continuing his career in Valorant.
“I am extremely happy with what we did in our journey, from the start of NoChance to FPX,” the 30-year-old told Dexerto. “I got to work with some wonderful people, like Radifaction, nukkye, frozen, Maikelele, kRYSTAL, STYKO, zehN, Maden, chrisJ, suNny, Thomas, emi, and peca.
“I’m extremely thankful for the trust they put in me and for what we did during a lot of turbulent times. I have nothing but good things to say about the players! I wish them the best of luck and consider them all my friends!
“I’m looking at all options right now, be it in CS:GO or Valorant.”
