Fnatic has also won the second EMEA playoffs of the VCT. In Berlin, the British organization’s Valorant team underlined its claim to be champions
The die is cast, the EMEA quartet for the upcoming Valorant Champions in South Korea is set: Fnatic, Team Vitality, Team Heretics and FUT Esports have secured their World Championship tickets. While the first three qualified by finishing in the top three in the playoffs of the second VCT stage, which was again won by Fnatic, FUT Esports ultimately only needed the championship points they collected
Seeded top duo fly early
The Turkish team, together with Heretics, had entered the competition in Berlin as the top seeded duo and were therefore only challenged in the second round – which, however, was secured by the two winners of the previous Knockout Round. While the Spaniards were narrowly defeated by Team Vitality 1-2 (14:12, 10:13, 12:14) in a closely contested duel, Fnatic FUT barely gave them a chance in the second game on Haven after a no less hot 15:13 overtime win on Bind. It was 13:5 for the Brits, who sent the Turks into the Lower Bracket, where they were promptly eliminated by Heretics (10:13, 11:13).
In the Upper Bracket Final, Vitality then suffered a fate almost identical to that of FUT: after keeping up with Lotus and losing 11:13, not much came together in the second game against Sunset. The result was 6:13, but the French team managed to pull themselves together. After losing the first duel of the Lower Bracket Final with Team Heretics 6:13, the team led by captain ‘ceNder’ made a comeback and secured their chance for revenge against Fnatic with a 3:1 win.
Fnatic remain EMEA champions
In fact, Jokubas Labutis, as ‘ceNder’ is actually called, and his colleagues managed to come back from 1:1 down in the Grand Final. However, the Bees had nothing to counter the 1-2 score with a 9:13 on Lotus. The defeat turned out to be a blow, after which Fnatic brought home their second playoff victory of the season with an unchallenged 13:3.
The organization from the United Kingdom will therefore once again travel to the champions in Incheon and Seoul as the great hope of the EMEA region. In Group A, the team will face DRX, Krü Esports and Bilibili Gaming. The Valorant Champions 2024 kicks off on August 1 and the search is on for the successor to the Evil Geniuses. The Americans secured the “home world championship” in Los Angeles last year, but did not play a role in the allocation of the champs places this year after the serious departures of captain ‘Boostio’ and ‘C0M’.