FNRGFE have knotted tongues and stolen hearts since their creation for Overwatch Contenders. Thankfully their newest recruit does not warrant an alteration to the six-letter abomination of an amalgamated acronym; coolmatt69 will join his former teammate buds to replace enigma, who has stepped down from the flex role.
Both coolmatt and buds became free agents after Fnatic dropped support for the team following lacklustre results and an atmosphere of uncertainty before Contenders. coolmatt, known for his flex classically between Zarya and Soldier: 76, has moved to playing D.Va in the recent meta and is highly rated by peers. KyKy and company also chose him for the United States World Cup team, with KyKy remarking that he believes coolmatt to be the best D.Va in North America.
The flexibility and hero pool synergy of FNRGFE was one of their strongest points. Both enigma and clockwork are strong Tracers, and buds can play a variety of hitscan heroes along with his newly improved Genji. The team looked comfortable and consistent on D.Va and triple DPS dive, and coolmatt69 will be looking to fill a similar role on flex with more Soldier: 76 and less Tracer presumably.
For enigma, it was a simple case of time investment. While the dream of professional play remains alluring, this was not the right time to commit fully for him and he decided to step back from his position.
Speaking to enigma, he gave this statement on leaving:
I'm taking a step back from competing to focus on some other priorities.
We formed FNRGFE as a last-minute pug team and ended up performing far better than I had anticipated. I'm proud of what we accomplished and I'm sure the team will continue to surprise the community, especially with coolmatt in my place.
In the meantime, I'll be riding the bench as their biggest cheerleader.
FNRGFE are scheduled to play on June 25th in the second half of the Contenders round robin group stage. They are currently sat at third in the group with a win record of 1-2, though their losses were close.
The new roster for FNRGFE is:
- Matt ”clockwork” Dias (DPS)
- Casey ”buds” McIlwaine (DPS)
- Matt ”coolmatt69” Iorio (Flex)
- Austin ”Muma” Wilmot (Tank)
- Chris ”Bani” Benell (Support)
- Daniel ”Boink” Pence (Support)