Sources: Uprising, Valiant in Talks to Trade Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth for Kyle “KSF” Frandasia and Pan-seung “Fate” Koo

The Boston Uprising are in trading talks with the LA Valiant, sources told The Game Haus Thursday. If the deal is confirmed, Boston’s star main tank Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth will join the Valiant, while DPS player Kyle “KSF” Frandasia and veteran main tank Pan-seung “Fate” Koo will move to Boston in Stage 2.

Fusions made quite the splash in his Overwatch League debut this stage after an impressive showing in the World Cup at BlizzCon put him on the map. Formerly hailing from British Hurricane, Fusions was signed to Uprising Academy as a two-way player. His contract was later restructured after a technicality prevented him from playing in a key game against the Shanghai Dragons. The game in question netted the winless Dragons their first-ever Overwatch League victory.

[Related: Fusions Interview: “I Think We’ve Made the Best First Impression We Could Have Made”]

Fate has been a world-class tank for some time now, featuring prominently in Team South Korea’s dominant performance at BlizzCon last year. He signed with Immortals (the Valiant’s parent organization) in 2017, and has been with the squad ever since. His time with the LA Valiant has yielded fairly consistent results with a variety of roster combinations behind him, until the Valiant’s 0-7 Stage 1.

KSF has had relatively few opportunities to show his DPS capabilities since he joined the Valiant in April of 2018, but did see some play time in Stage 1. With the Uprising lacking a hitscan-capable player, many have speculated that they would be in the market for one after their first stage ended. KSF’s former teams include Simplicity, “You guys get paid?”, and EnVision eSports.

Image Courtesy of the Overwatch League.

What this means for the Valiant

The Valiant would get a pretty decent deal out of this trade. After an 0-7 start, there’s nowhere to go but up – and trading for (what many consider to be) the best western main tank in the game is nothing to sneeze at. Fusions’s strong shot-calling and in-game leadership might be the shot in the arm the Valiant need to pick things up again. The language barrier will also be less of a factor with Fusions leading the charge.

What this means for the Uprising

Losing KSF would not be particularly noteworthy for the Valiant. As mentioned, he didn’t get much play time in LA to begin with. While the Valiant might not miss him too much, Boston would definitely be happy to have him. Their twin flex DPS players Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang and Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse both lack deep hitscan hero pools, so KSF’s capabilities in that department will (hopefully) fill a gap just in time for a more DPS-focused meta.

The tank swap might give Boston the shorter end of the stick in this trade. Fate is by no means bad – he’s often in the conversation for one of the best main tanks in the game – but Fusions brought the Uprising together in a way that might be hard to replicate. That said, Fate is also Korean, and should gel well with a team that has featured multiple Korean players before. Gamsu, Striker, Neko, and Kalios may be gone, but Boston’s capability to function as a multi-lingual roster certainly has not. With Minseok “AimGod” Kwon in the starting six, Fate could integrate well, but he’ll need to lead with a strong hand to steer Boston through Stage 2 – just as Fusions did in Stage 1.

Closing Thoughts

What do you think of this trade? Who would get the better end of the deal? Will more moves come for the Valiant or the Uprising before we hit Stage 2? Who else might be trading players back and forth between stages? Be sure to let us know your thoughts on Twitter @TGHEsports.

STAY UP TO DATE