The most loss area is EMEA, where Funplus Phoenix, Fnatic and G2 Esports are the three representatives attending. Specifically, players such as Dmitry “Confusing” Ilyushin, Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky (Funplus Phoenix) and Andrew “Braveaf” Gorchakov of Fnatic will be directly affected. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether Kyrylo “Ange1” Karasov (the Ukrainian player of Funplus Phoenix) is attended or not.
Also followed Dot eSportsRiot Games will make an official announcement to the teams before March 28. Fnatic has actively searched for potential faces to replace Braveaf, while Funplus Phoenix is struggling to relate many players to fill the position of Shao and Sinhgetsu. It is a sign that Russian players are at high risk not to attend Masters 1 Reykjavik.
Masters 1 is Valorant's first international tournament in 2022. After the success of 2021, Iceland continued to be chosen as the host. At this time, the teams at Emea have to play in the form of online. Therefore, when attending Masters 1, the Russian players were forced to move from their country to Reykjavik, Iceland.
However, due to the unstable political situation, the above players may be banned from going into Iceland's airspace. The only way for Russian players to attend the tournament is to fly from Russia to Serbia, then continue to fly from Serbia to Iceland. However, this option will face a lot of trouble, cost a lot of costs and time of the teams.
In other developments, Masters 1 Reykjavik has identified 6 participating teams including Fnatic, Funplus Phoenix, G2 Esports (EMEA), Optic Gaming, The Guard (North America) and Paper Rex (APAC). Both Funplus Phoenix and The Guard have first attended the international tournament, while Optic Gaming has participated in Masters 3 and Valorant Champions under the name Team Envy.
