BREAKING: LA Valiant Trade Fate to Florida Mayhem for McGravy, FCTFCTN, and Shax

The Florida Mayhem and the LA Valiant announced the finalization of a four player-trade Friday morning. Pan-Seung “Fate” Koo, who was at one point set to be traded to the Boston Uprising, will once again find a new home – this time in Florida. In exchange, the Mayhem will send flex tank Caleb “McGravy” McGarvey and two Mayhem Academy players to Los Angeles – former Outlaws main tank Russell “FCTFCTN” Campbell and flex DPS Johannes “Shax” Nielsen. Sources shared with The Benchmob that Mayhem may have also included an additional cash sum to facilitate the trade.

Fate was originally slated to be traded to the Boston Uprising alongside flex DPS player Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa in exchange for Boston’s star main tank Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth and Uprising Academy hitscan William “Asking” Vetter. Before the deal could be finalized, sources say, contractual misinterpretations and mixed public reactions to the trade pushed the Valiant to back out of the deal.

Valiant Efforts

Despite this falling out, the LA Valiant clearly kept looking for a new home for Fate. Fate has often been cited as an integral piece of the LA Valiant roster, and was the starting main tank for Team South Korea in last year’s Overwatch World Cup, where the team took home its third gold medal. Despite this pedigree, many have speculated that personal issues within the team forced the Valiant to put Fate on the market (though such rumors are far from confirmed by anyone with knowledge of the situation, including The Game Haus.)

“Fate’s contributions to the organization go beyond the Overwatch League,” said GM Michael Schwartz in an official Valiant press release. “As one of the original Immortals players to make the transition to the Valiant, he played a key role not only in team’s Inaugural Season success in OWL, but also as Immortals captured the Overwatch Contenders Season Zero title. We thank him for all he has given to the organization.” The press release also reveals that McGravy is set to play as a backup for current flex tank Indy “Space Halpern, in addition to flexing to other roles.

The Valiant improved on their 0-7 Stage 1 with a 3-4, -6 record in Stage 2 . Interim Head Coach Mike “Packing10” Szklanny still leads the Valiant at the time of this posting, after the team released their original Head Coach Byung-chul “Moon” Moon at the end of Stage 1.

Mayhem’s Moves

The Florida Mayhem have also had no shortage of troubles in their time in the Overwatch League, and are seeking to rebuild their roster yet again after an 0-7 stage of their own. The team announced in early April that changes were coming – namely that the team would be moving towards an all-Korean roster. In the process, the team announced its plans to release Kevin “TviQ” Lindström, Damon “Apply” Conti, and Caleb “McGravy” McGarvey – the last of whom had been signed to the team for less than two months. The Mayhem also signed former O2 Blast coach Sang-min “INSIGHT” Oh after releasing Head Coach Vytis “Mineral” Lasaitis in early April.

Contenders No More

Two Contenders players are joining McGravy in LA – FCTFCTN and Shax.

FCTFCTN most notably played for the Houston Outlaws last season, after showing his skill on teams like Faze Clan and the US World Cup team. He joined Mayhem Academy in November of 2018, after being released from the Outlaws roster in September.

Shax joined Mayhem Academy in June of 2018, after having made a name for himself on teams like the Copenhagen Flames, Orgless and Hungry, and the Danish World Cup team. The Valiant’s signing of these three players seems to imply that the LA Valiant are moving towards a more Western roster. It is unclear at this time if Shax will take a starting role on the roster, or simply provide support for the Valiant’s current starters in their positions, like McGravy.

We will continue to update this story as more details become available. You can also follow along at the TGH Esports Twitter page, linked below.

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