(Photo by Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games)
London-headquartered esports organisation Fnatic have won the VCT EMEA 2024 Stage 1 final, and are amongst the confirmed Valorant Masters Shanghai teams.
They defeated Team Heretics 3-2 in a close-fought and exciting grand final at the Riot Games Arena in Berlin yesterday, after turning around a 2-0 deficit to pull off a reverse sweep.
Heretics took the first two maps 13-7 and 15-13, but Fnatic came in clutch with impressive 13-8, 13-5 and 13-8 wins to seal the series.
Fnatic had initially finished second in their group, and Heretics third in the other, with both teams facing one another in the upper bracket final. Heretics defeated Fnatic 2-0 to knock them into the lower bracket final, where Fnatic beat FUT Esports 3-1.
Then, in the grand final, Fnatic took revenge over Heretics to lift the trophy.
This means Fnatic, Heretics and FUT are the three EMEA teams that will play in Valorant Masters Shanghai at the end of this month.
It’s a real return to form for Fnatic, who failed to qualify for Valorant Masters Madrid earlier in the year.
Fnatic’s roster of Boaster (UK), Derke (Finland), Alfajer (Turkey), Chronicle (Russia) and Leo (Sweden) impressed, with the latter being named MVP after playing on stage through illness. They also have UK coach mini and UK Valorant team director Cojo.
Heretics, meanwhile, had Lithuanian players Boo and MiniBoo, Turkish players RieNs and Wo0t, plus Brit Benjyfishy, and UK coaches neilzinho and weber, meaning there was UK talent on both sides in the VCT EMEA 2024 Stage 1 final.
Match reaction as Fnatic reverse sweep Heretics in VCT EMEA Stage 1 2024 final
Heretics UK player Benjyfishy said: “2-3 Fnatic, tough loss. Only thing we can do is learn from it, sorry to the fans.”
Fnatic UK player Boaster said: “3-2 vs Heretics! It’s been a long week for us but we live for the grind! Thank you for the support. #GetYourBoastees
“We’re going to have so much map footage to review and improve. Got some sweet revenge too! I’m also slowly shooting again which is hype.
“We got the crowd here, we had to give them a good show, and I think we had nothing to lose. We were taking it game by game, I was feeling really confident on Lotus and Split, and Breeze was like a coin toss considering the last series. Leo’s perseverence bolstered us to really send it home for him.
“We get a few extra days of practice now, we just needed reps. The more vods we can watch back and prep we can get and feel comfortable with ourselves, slowly but surely we’re getting back to a state where we’re feeling confident. I think for Shanghai, I’m ready!”
Boaster, Fnatic
“I personally felt super down missing out on Madrid. Social media felt like a constant reminder. Luckily I have great support system that helped me. Let’s be kinder to the people that could be going through a rough time.”
Chronicle said: “Happy to win, but this official was the most stressful considering what was happening.
“Our comms were pretty weird, because of Leo’s bad health state. We were talking really quiet so he’ll feel well. He decided also not to call at all, which is very impressive for him after showing that performance. It’s insane. And we tried to play as a team, be happy, always be positive no matter what. So we did well.
“Thanks everyone for support, we definitely need a chill after this one.”
Fnatic’s UK Valorant team director Cojo commented: “That was some Michael Jordan Flu Game shit from Leo. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a team than I am tonight and that includes LOCK//IN. That was an absolute war and to stay focused during reverse sweep on their fifth series in five days is unreal. I love this team. Champions!”
UK host Yinsu added: “We’ve never had a reverse sweep in VCT EMEA before and it’s bloody FNATIC?? After a whole year of everyone calling them bad. My God, what timeline are we living in.”
Valorant Masters Shanghai teams and key info
The second global tournament of the Valorant Champions Tour, Valorant Masters Shanghai, will take place from May 23rd through June 9th 2024, gathering the 12 best teams and the top players.
Competitors qualified for the event by finishing top three teams in the four international leagues.
Masters Shanghai will conclude at the largest venue in VCT history – the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
The 12 confirmed Valorant Masters Shanghai teams are:
- Fnatic (EMEA)
- Heretics (EMEA)
- FUT Esports (EMEA)
- 100 Thieves (Americas)
- G2 Esports (Americas)
- Leviatan (Americas)
- Edward Gaming (China)
- FPX (China)
- Dragon Ranger Gaming (China)
- Paper Rex (Pacific)
- Gen.G (Pacific)
- T1 (Pacific)
It comes following Valorant Masters Madrid which was won by Sentinels and set a new viewership record. It was the most-watched VCT event to date, with peak concurrent viewership of 3.1m, 48% more than Masters Tokyo. Additionally, the Average Minute Audience (AMA) set a new global event record at 1.1m, a 97% increase over the previous record set by Masters Tokyo.
“Masters Madrid surpassed our expectations, and we’re using that momentum to implement exciting updates to our next event,” said Leo Faria, Global Head of Valorant Esports.
“We are introducing a new segment that will increase competition stakes by giving higher seeded teams the power to choose their opponents following the Swiss stage, thus placing their fate in their own hands.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
