The Rise of Benjyfishy

Benjy Fish, better known as Benjyfishy, shocked the esports and gaming scene on June 24th, 2022, when he announced his retirement from pro Fortnite to pursue competitive Valorant. Before his retirement from Fortnite, the British player was one of the most decorated and skilled players in the game, having represented NRG and taking home more than $500,000 in tournament earnings.

Benjyfishy quickly rose to fame in 2019 when he signed with NRG Esports as a player and qualified for the Fortnite World Cup four times. Notable placements of his include a 14th place finish in the World Cup Duos tournament and a 25th place finish in the World Cup solos tournament. He took home $50,000 from each event, respectively. Benjyfishy also had several impressive FNCS placements, one being in the FNCS Invitational - Week 2 (2020), where he won $50,000 for his first-place finish.

Fast forward to just last week when benjyfishy announced he would be joining Team Heretics. The Spanish organization is one of the eleven teams competing in the VCT EMEA League, which is the highest level of pro Valorant. The team is set to play tomorrow in the LCQ for a last chance to qualify for Champions.  

Here he is.

From dominating Fortnite to Tier 1 Valorant.

Welcome @benjyfishy to our VCT team.#VamosHeretics pic.twitter.com/GGweI4iteV

— Team Heretics (@TeamHeretics) July 12, 2023

The British player has big shoes to fill, as he is replacing former world champion zeek, who departed the team a few months ago. Team Heretics were playing with their Assistant Coach weber during the remainder of the regular season but were allowed by Riot to add a new player for the LCQ.

But how exactly did benjyfishy find himself in Tier 1 Valorant less than a year after first pursuing the game competitively? It starts with his first real competitive experience in the game, which came in September 2022 in the Trinity Trials tournament (Benelux VRC). There, he played with the team Dragonslayerzzz during the Fall split. They ended up going 5-1 in the Rumble Stage, which qualified them for the Playoffs. The team ultimately placed second in the tournament, with their run ending after an 0-3 Grand Finals loss to Sector One Wings Program. Throughout both Rumble Stage and the Playoffs, benjyfishy consistently played well and finished with an average ACS of 266.4 and a K/D of 1.39, which was among the top. Incredibly promising stats for a brand-new player to the pro scene.

Benjyfishy then played with Dragonslayerzzz in two more tournaments in October and November. One being the G-Loot Clash tournament and the other the VRL France: Coupe De France tournament. Unfortunately, the team didn't get far in either, but benjyfishy continued to put up impressive stats and grow as a player.

On December 22nd, 2022, it was announced that benjyfishy would be joining Enterprise Esports to compete in the VCL East: Surge league, which is one of the nine Tier 2 regional leagues in the EMEA region.

Legendary Fortnite player @benjyfishy has switched to Valorant and decided to play VCL East: Surge with us! The team has been training together for a while and we believe it will be a great show. Good luck! pic.twitter.com/8tSxfSF5oS

— ENTERPRISE ESPORTS (@enterprise_esp) December 22, 2022

This was a big step for the 19-year-old player, as it was his first time playing in T2. However, he came in confident and crushed it, being one of the best and most consistent players on his team. EP would end up placing second in Split 1, with their run in the Playoffs ending with a 0-3 Grand Finals loss versus Acend. Throughout both the Group Stage and Playoffs, benjyfishy averaged an ACS of 215.5 and a K/D of 1.14.

Split 2 of VCL East started in April. Both benjyfishy and EP were back and ready to compete again. The team went 10-8 during the Regular Season, good enough for the #4 seed, which qualified them for Phase 1 of Playoffs. Enterprise won two matchups over Zero Tenacity which then advanced them to Phase 2 of the Playoffs. EP then lost the Upper Semifinals matchup 1-2 to Acend, which dropped them to the Lower Bracket. There, they won important matchups over Anonymo Esports and Diamant Esports to advance to the Grand Finals. This extremely important best of five matchup was against Acend. Unfortunately, EP lost 0-3, but benjyfishy put on a show, averaging an ACS of 240 through all three maps.

With the second-place finish, the team qualified to the VCT EMEA Ascension Play-Ins tournament. However, after the conclusion of the VCL East: Surge season, benjyfishy announced he would not be continuing with Enterprise in this tournament and said he would announce more info on his future soon.

we lost 0-3 against @AcendClub these guys are too good sadly :( we qualified for ascension play-ins but i have decided not to play it with Enterprise, more info on my future soon <3 pic.twitter.com/Y59uhxZuIN

— benjyfishy (@benjyfishy) June 11, 2023

Rumors started a while ago, but it was confirmed on July 12th that benjyfishy would indeed be joining Team Heretics for the VCT EMEA LCQ and possibly beyond.

Joined @TeamHeretics see you in VCT pic.twitter.com/kzUyq59xuW

— benjyfishy (@benjyfishy) July 12, 2023

We'll get to see the 19-year-old compete in Tier 1 Valorant for the first time tomorrow, when Team Heretics will go up against KOI. It's amazing to see the British player compete at the highest level of Valorant about a year after he stepped away from Fortnite. Incredible stuff and he'll continue to grow from here.

-

Tune in to @ValorantTracker on Twitter for the latest VALORANT News and Guides.

If you're new to VALORANT Tracker, check out your player statistics, ranked and premier leaderboards, and much more on our site!
Before you leave, check out our Valorant Tracker APP to monitor your in-game performance.