by New York-based esports organization Andbox rebranded in March 2022, changing its name to NYFU. Now, the team has almost completely overhauled its Valorant roster as a further step in the rebranding process.
Given their poor run in the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1, the changes were necessary as they look forward to Stage 2.
Andbox finished in the top 16 out of 128 teams that participated in the Open Qualifiers. However, their loss against Bait Academy was the final blow to their NA VCT Challengers’ participation.
Their first loss in the top 16 playoffs came at the hands of NRG. They were swept in the best-of-3 series.
Meanwhile, they had a chance to qualify through the Lower Bracket but managed to steal only one map against Bait Academy.
They had the chance to go again in the second Open Qualifiers but also lost their first two games in the competition. The first was a 2-0 sweep by Soniqs, while the defining loss came at the hands of Bait Academy in the Lower Bracket.
Taking all of that into consideration, the esports organization went on a full-scale rebranding, first changing its name, and has now welcomed four new players to its roster.
Via Twitter, the team made the announcement, welcoming four new players to fill the vacancy in their Valorant roster.
New name, new roster, same city. This is NYFU, New York's VALORANT team. @oderuscs @YaBoiDre@ShoT_UPcs@neptunensic@JSUNGv1
See you on the big stage. ??#VALORANT | #NYFU pic.twitter.com/kGCbkj3kgO
— NYXL (@NYXL) April 20, 2022
NYFU only welcomed four players because they opted to retain the services of Chad “Oderus” Miller. He is the only player left standing from the former Andbox roster and will continue his role as team captain.
With the change, he will play alongside Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond, Andrew “ShoT_UP” Orlowski, Jason “neptune” Tran, and Jason “JSUNG” Sung.
YaBoiDre started his professional gaming career in 2020 with 100 Thieves. After two months with 100 Thieves, he helped Luminosity Gaming in the VCT Challengers NA 2021 Stage 1.
However, his last performance was as a member of Evil Geniuses in the NSG: Winter Championship Last Chance Qualifier. He is undoubtedly one to keep an eye on in the coming campaign.
ShoT-UP, the former FaZe Clan player, will also be a big boost for NYFU. The American spent about two years with Immortals before joining FaZe in January 2022.
JSUNG knows about playing against NYFU as he was part of the Soniqs team that defeated them in the second Open Qualifier. Perhaps the team saw something in him during that matchup and opted to pursue the player.
The last of the newest team members is neptune, who was taken away from Rise. He was a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player before opting to make the switch to Valorant.
There is without question enough talent in this roster to help the team to a better run in the second half of the year. NYFU have already featured in two esports tournaments, NSG: Summer Championship Open 2 and the Knights Gauntlet Circuit.
Given their performance in both events, there is still a lot of work to be done. However, it is no cause for worry as it is still early stages, and the team is trying to develop chemistry.
