Kale “autumn” Dunne will step up to lead FPX as the IGL, taking over from the departing Zhang “BerLIN” Polin.
CHINA – Kale “autumn” Dunne is stepping into the in-game leader role for FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) ahead of VCT CN Stage 1, the Australian player has confirmed. This transition comes after the departure of team captain Zhang “BerLIN” Polin, as well as head coach Deng “NaThanD” Senqiao, who left a month earlier.
The role change for autumn marks a new chapter for the Australian import, who shared that he will be stepping up to lead for now, as the team couldn’t find a dedicated IGL in the market at the moment.
Despite the change, autumn remains confident in the team’s progress. “Things have not been too bad, we’re winning a lot of scrims against good teams, so it’s not too bad,” he said during one of his livestreams. “[…] I’m still having a lot of games in scrims where I’m IGLing and still getting 30 kills or something. If I can call alright and still get kills, it can be really good for the team. We’ll just have to see. So, the new IGL now is me.”
autumn has been a part of FunPlus Phoenix since September 2023, joining the team in place of Huang “Yuicaw” Yung-chieh.
With autumn bringing firepower and international experience to the roster, FunPlus Phoenix qualified for every major international event last year—Madrid, Shanghai, and Seoul—while consistently securing second place domestically in Kickoff, Stage 1, and Stage 2, finishing just behind EDward Gaming. All of these achievements came under the leadership of BerLIN, who stepped down from the team and was officially announced as retired by the organization this week due to personal reasons.
However, FPX had a rough start to the year, failing to qualify for VALORANT Masters Bangkok and finishing 5th-6th in the domestic Kickoff event after losses to Bilibili Gaming and Dragon Ranger Gaming. With autumn now taking over calling duties, he aims to turn things around, while the team have also brought in former Qing Jiu Club and JiJieHao player Yang “Shr1mp” Yong to fill the void left by BerLIN.
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Cover photo courtesy of Liu YiCun/Riot Games
