Yellow and Black dominance: Fnatic secures VCT Masters Tokyo Grand finals

At the Tipstar Dome, The EMEA #2 took on the Americas #3 for the VCT Masters Tokyo grand finals spot. After the dust settled, Fnatic, regarded as one of the best teams in the world, prevailed and secured their second international grand finals in a row. Evil Geniuses, who have been on a cinderella run, came close but could not take on the EMEA Titans. The best of three map series went the distance, with Fnatic Leo clinching the final round of the final map to win the series. Post the game, Fnatic and Evil Geniuses attended a press conference. Strafe had an opportunity to attend the same.

VCT Masters Tokyo Upper Finals Recap:

To start the game, Fnatic vetoed out Pearl and Ascent and chose to play Lotus as the first map. Evil Geniuses vetoed Bind and Haven and chose fracture. Split was leftover. Fnatic's Lotus was a beating of a lifetime to  Evil Geniuses. For the first time in the tournament, EG seemed to be mortals. In the first half of Lotus, Fnatic won 10 rounds as attackers. They extended the lead to nine rounds in the next half. EG anti-eco'd Fnatic to win their third round, but Fnatic just anti-eco'd them back to secure the map.

Fnatic was poised to take the series 2-0 with such a dominant performance. But EG was just starting, as fracture was their best map. EG started strong, but Fnatic answered back with a string of three rounds. But as the fifth round started, Evil Geniuses repeatedly shut down Fnatic. The repeated beating led to Fnatic hesitating at their site takes and losing the first half 3-9.

Strafe asked Boaster about the Fnatic's executes on fracture, and he explained the hesitation as follows:

"I think we were just too bit scared. Cuz what would happen is I've got my Brim smoke, and we'd have to use them for the cross because we are scared of the potential Oper in Canteen looking down. So when they started to delay us, in one round, we screwed up because they had raze ult in B heaven, and we ran into him. We were too slow, and we didn't have anything, and we were still struggling to clear B heaven. I think we made a few, I thought I had a good read on one of the rounds, But, umm, it just didn't make sense. Now that I think back to it, like, it doesn't actually, where was our plan for me to do, yeah, so. But yeah, it went well." 

Fnatic eventually lost fracture, forcing a third map.

On Split, Both teams went blow for blow in the first half, tying the score. Fnatic secured a lead in the second half, but EG caught up. The game went on to the last round, where Fnatic were two players down, but Leo secured a 3k with a last-second kill on Ethan to secure the series.

After the game, Strafe asked Potter about Fnatic's strength and what they did do differently compared to the other EG opponents, Potter explained: 

"Fnatic is really good at slowing the round down. They had a lot of traps for us, and we were a little over-zealous, especially on the first map, didn't have enough finesse in our game plan, and we really fell right into their traps. Very often, we were giving them our opening picks, and that really made things tough for us. I think we were really able to identify quickly and moving on to the second and third maps. The bounce back is great, and I know Boosti just said he's a little upset, but again these kinds of matches, I wish it happened to us earlier in the tournament but it happened here, and we have one more chance, so, again these lost rounds are a really good experience for the squad."

Demon1 also had a relatively quiet game. Strafe asked him if he was nervous, especially since he was playing against his idol Derke. He said:

"1. I don't have any idols. 2. I don't get nervous. They were just playing really well as a team, and they are the best team, so they will be shooting back."

Finally, We asked EG IGL Boostio about the team they would want to face, and he said: 

"Probably Paper Rex. We have already faced NRG three times this season, so we are good playing them. And PRX has a couple of good players. So PRX."

Fnatic Coach mini talked about EG's prowess. 

"Their style of Valorant is really good. They play, quite honestly, quite similar to the way we approach the game. I think every team that hasn't been playing that style has looked a bit shaky this year, potentially. And the teams that do play that style been looking really good in my opinion. That style is like kinda structured and all that stuff. They had so many ult rounds so many good retakes, so many reactions and stuff. The teams that are playing more lose than that I think are making a little bit of mistakes sometimes"

With the win, Fnatic secured the grand finals and will wait for their opponents until the 25th. Additionally, With the win and being the top seed, they secured two bans for the Grand finals, giving them an advantage over their final opponents. EG will face Paper Rex on the 24th for the second grand finals spot. Paper Rex themselves look amazing and will be ready to reach the VCT Masters Tokyo grand finals. You can follow the VCT Twitter for all the updates regarding VCT Masters Tokyo.

Credits: Riot Games // Valorant Champions Tour

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