An Anticipated Reckoning: NA’VI faced off against NRG in their first match of VCT Masters Tokyo

EMEA 4th seed representatives Natus Vincere faced off in a long-awaited reckoning with Americas 2nd seed NRG in their first match of VCT Masters Tokyo. The two roster cores, OpTic Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix, have not faced on another since VCT Masters Copenhagen back in July 2022. Since then, both rosters have seen lineup changes and even shifted organizations.

OpTic Gaming, with the exception of Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen and Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker have since joined NRG. Meanwhile, the FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) roster has since joined Natus Vincere (NA’VI) with the exception of Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks. With the creation of the international leagues and FPX’s elimination in the lower bracket of Champions 2022, the two teams have unintentionally avoided one another since Copenhagen.

Thus, their meeting in the first round of Tokyo breathes to life several key narratives in the early stages of the tournament.

 

Fated Clash of the Tacticians

Pujan “FNS” Mehta and Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov are considered two of Valorant’s most tactical IGL’s in the current era. Both IGLs have been leading their respective cores for coming on two years now and have forged impressive legacies for their respective rosters. However, when the question of greatest IGL’s come up, these two names often make near the top when it comes to reading the opponent and pulling off tactical victories. They are systemic, with the players often functioning with machine-like precision when executing.

Hence, the question of which tactical IGL is better. In the post-match press conference, “ANGE1” does address NRG’s victory, stating, ‘They played very well, I’ll be honest. They played, it seems, better than us today, so they won.’ He goes on to say that ‘it was a lot of fun to play against “FiNESSE” as an IGL and against their team in general.’

Last month, in the pre-tournament press conference for VCT EMEA, “ANGE1” expressed his desire to test NA’VI’s strength against that of America’s. He noted how, ‘[the Americas teams] looked strong, but when they played each other.’ NA’VI’s series against NRG was only the second series to go the distance of a third map and delivered in terms of incredible resilience from both sides.

“ANGE1” also praised NRG as a squad, stating ‘[NRG] was very skilled, they made some incredible clutches, good decisions…’ ‘I’m not taking my words back.’ he declares. ‘It’s fun to play against NA teams’ he concludes.

“FiNESSE” for his part, gave ample credit to NA’VI. He noted in the post-match interview that NA’VI were potentially having an off-day, but still, he praised their performance in the series. Visually, the series was very back-and-forth, and NRG looked shaky at times. When asked on this, “FiNESSE” credited NA’VI for their ability to disrupt. ‘They do a good job of disrupting, so you have to give them credit for that. And that made it difficult for us to win rounds cleanly all the time’ he says.

 

Ardiis’ Decision

At the end of 2022, with the disassembly of the EMEA-based FunPlus Phoenix roster, FPX star “ardiis” made the decision to move from EMEA to Americas to compete. He joined the newly rebuilt OpTic Gaming roster, who had now found a new home on NRG. Since joining, many have questioned both whether “ardiis” could perform without the NA’VI core and whether the NA’VI core could perform without him. Today, he proved the former, racking up a total of 55 kills across the 3-map series with a positive KD of +12. Despite losing to his replacement “cNed” in terms of First Kills, NRG ultimately ended as the victors anyways.

The storyline of the ‘hired gun,’ who has moved from roster to roster as the ultimate slot-in star performer, is a riveting tale. His journey, which began on fish123 (before they were known as Liquid), G2, Heretics, FPX, and now NRG, proves “ardiis” to be a titan of consistency.

[ardiis in Post-Match Press Conference] You (ardiis) decided to move to America to compete there. How does it feel to play against your former teammates on NA'VI? Is there now some feeling of justification or satisfaction now that you've done so well for yourself on NRG, beating your former team?

It feels nice to beat them. It would feel a lot worse if we lost, but, yeah I mean, to be honest I don't know what else to say.

 

Battle of Ideology

Despite both IGLs earning the moniker of tactical leaders, their leadership and game styles differ in ideology. “ANGE1” is the ultimate systemic IGL, leaning into precision and consistent deliverables. “FNS” is the scholar, who studies his opponents to come up with the perfect strategy before and during the series. He is infamous for his anti-strats and mid-rounding.

In the aftermath of the loss, “ANGE1” spoke a little on some of the preparation before the series.

[ANGE1] You came into Masters Tokyo with a 100% winrate on Pearl. NRG, meanwhile, have a more questionable winrate on the map. Was there a reason it was floated rather than first picked over Ascent?

We thought Ascent was a better pick in this exact moment. I thought they would be expecting us to pick Pearl, it is the obvious one. Maybe I was wrong. Happens. Saving strats on Pearl.

 

NA’VI will next face EDward Gaming in the R1 elimination match. They will need to win to remain in Tokyo and continue having a chance of qualifying for Champions 2023. NRG, meanwhile, has moved on to face T1 in the qualifying match to Playoffs.

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Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games