Opinion: First Strike Europe's Orgless and Hungry

Europe is one of the best regions in the World, without a doubt, boasting the dominant G2 Esports, an exciting FunPlus Phoenix, and many more big names including Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, and BIG. However, much of the region's talent is untouched, from the unsigned Jett madman in Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek to one of the best support players in Jake "Boaster" Howlett, both of which have qualified for First Strike Europe Regional Final.

Many of these players are already integrated into some extremely strong teams, where they, time and time again, battle for top four spots, creating an extremely close layer of competition below the region's number top. Here we will highlight a list of some of these squads, their achievements, and why they should be considered more highly for any organisation.

OrglessV

Ričardas "Boo" Lukaševičius Daniil "pipson" Meshcheryakov Niki "delezyh" Sutinen Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas Vincent "Happy" Cervoni

OrglessV were formerly known Prodigy, a mix team set up by Jérôme "JEROME" Coupez’s agency, originally fielding many big names, like Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi, Oscar Cañellas "m1xwell" Colocho, Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom, William "draken" Sundin, and many more.

As time progressed, the team evolved, going through many iterations until realizing this current vision around Daniil "pipsoN" Meshcheryakov. The Russian in-game leader, who formerly was the captain of Worst Players built the roster with Ričardas "Boo" Lukaševičius, Vincent "Happy" Cervoni, and now former members, Joseph "Luzuh" Loose, Vakaris "vakk" Bebravičius. With Vakk returning to nolpenki, and Luzuh moving onto new pastures, the team chose to add the ex-STR99 duo, Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas and Niki "delezyh" Sutinen.

Since the additions, the squad has played and came runner up in GLX Elite Series Main Event before qualifying to the Main First Strike event, through First Strike Europe: Qualifier #2 Playoff/Play-In.

SUMN FC

Jake "Boaster" Howlett James "Mistic" Orfila Muhammed "Moe40" Hariff Domagoj "Doma" Fancev Kostas "tsack" Theodoropoulos

SUMN FC, one of Boaster’s projects, has been climbing the ranks since the very start, when their roster consisted of Boaster, James "Mistic" Orfila, Muhammad "Moe" Hariff, Domagoj "Doma" Fancev, and Denis "dinkzj" Tkachev.

This roster was the start of a new British core looking to contest the best. While not yet against the elite, SUMN FC put some great results up, with a runner up slot at Lava Series #5, before winning its sequel, Lava Series #6, and even managed to qualify for GLX Elite Series Main Event after winning GLX EU Battle #7.

The line-ups’ final result was a 5th-6th finish at Rix.GG Series - Cup which, subsequently, saw the departure of dinkzj, and arrival of the greek Sentinel main, Kostas "tsack" Theodoropoulos.

Rotating their fifth, the squad wanted to challenge the higher echelons of VALORANT, and so they did, coming runner up at the Valorant Contenders Cup, only losing to FunPlus Phoenix, then winning EPIC.LAN - #31 Online, before, most recently, qualifying for First Strike Europe Regional Final, where they are set to contend against the region’s best.

nolpenki

Vakaris "vakk" Bebravičius Jesse "JESMUND" Terävä Aron "xajdish" Fredriksson Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt

nolpenki is a known name from before the release of the game as a Lithuanian beast. That roster was known for being contenders for top ten in Europe, winning events such as Lava Series #3 and Trovo Challenge - Europe, while also qualifying for Ignition Series event, WePlay! VALORANT Invitational.

Ultimately, the rosters inconsistencies and bigger goals from Vakaris "vakk" Bebravičius led to the roster being fully revamped into an international sensation, bringing in ex-BBL Esports player, Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek, Polish Sova main, Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt, Finnish Sentinel, Jesse "JESMUND" Terävä, and two times Ignition Series runner-up, Aron "Aron" Fredriksson.

The roster was a super-team on paper, and they delivered early, winning TOURSTAT Summer Clash and Valorant Challenge 2, dropping only a singular map in the second. They kept this up, qualifying to both of the play-ins and the First Strike Europe Regional Final.

Nolpenki, SUMN FC, and OrglessV are only the tip of the iceberg for unsigned European talent pre-packaged into some extremely strong teams, but there are many more including the trinational Purple Cobras. Many of these squads are often overlooked but Europe continues to show its strengths and many organizations may look to peer into the scene, especially with Riot’s newly announced VALORANT Champions Tour.

So which of these rosters will be picked up? Who will pick them up? Let us know below.