Brazil’s top esports organization Furia took their first steps into the world of Smash Bros. on Thursday, with the signing of Smash Ultimate Falcon main Griffin "Fatality" Miller. The Georgia resident is one of, if not the world’s top Ultimate Falcon main, having begun his career in the Brawl mod Project M before moving over to Nintendo’s latest title and climbing the ranks in the US.

His signing represents a new era for Furia, who until this point had primarily focused on first-person shooters like Counter-Strike and Rainbow Six Siege, and have risen to the top of Brazilian esports following their founding in 2017. The organization has not revealed the length of the contract for its new signing, but he is unlikely to have been given the same deals as their CS team, which famously signed for five years when they last renewed.

Fatality has struggled for major wins of late but has strung together some impressive results with one of the weaker iterations of Captain Falcon, picking up second at The Box: Juice Box 3 in June, ahead of both MKLeo and BestNess. He is currently ranked second in Georgia, behind Kola, and placed in the top 20 at two recent LANs, Low Tide City, where he beat MuteAce and Riptide.

The move has the potential to benefit the wider Ultimate scene too, with South America a region that is largely untapped at present by the major orgs. With some of the world’s best players hailing from Mexico, and Japanese stars regularly making an appearance at US Majors, Ultimate has a chance to be a far more international scene than Melee before it, and Furia’s entry into the game will no doubt bring with it many Brazilian fans looking for a new hero to cheer for.

Furia signing Fatality is part of the org’s expansion into the US, having quickly gone from a new team in 2017 to South America’s leading esports organization in 2021, but in the world of Smash there is always talent available.

It remains to be seen if they are to continue to make more signings, but their entry into the scene is undoubtedly a positive for Smash esports.