Karmine Corp's VALORANT academy has its first two players. According to Sheep Esports sources, Khoury “Yohpa” Baptiste and Roman “f4ngeer” Smirnov have agreed to join the KC’s Blue Stars project in the VCL France. The two players recently competed under KC’s banner in the October Spotlight Series EMEA 2024, a mixed tournament, where the team finished fifth as GIANTX claimed victory.

Yohpa is already well-known to the local audience. The French player previously represented Joblife at the 2023 Coupe de France before joining Cicadas Gaming for the 2024 Open Tour France. His team performed impressively in the Up&Down tournament, securing a spot in Split 2 of VCL France and ultimately finishing in 5th place. At only 17 years old, Yohpa aims to reach the top of the VCT EMEA scene, and Karmine Corp offer an ideal environment where strong performances could earn him a promotion to the VCT roster. Known for his Duelist play, especially on champions like Raze and Jett, his signing reflects KC’s commitment to developing young, promising, and aggressive talent.

During the Spotlight Series EMEA 2024, however, Yohpa took on the Initiator and Sentinel roles, shifting the Duelist role to f4ngeer. Also 17, the Russian player is an emerging talent on the European VALORANT scene. He had an outstanding 2024 season with trashcan, earning the MVP award in the VCL East second division early in the year and playing a pivotal role in his team’s promotion to VCL East Split 2. He was later named VCL East Split Rookie for Split 2, holding the 6th-best 2.0 rating in the league (1.18), according to VLR.GG.