Fnatic have recently defeated Sentinels in the lower bracket of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters Toronto.
The team are now set to face G2 Esports on Friday, June 20th at 8pm BST.
We caught up with Emir ‘Alfajer’ Beder after the match to get his thoughts on beating Sentinels, the winning mindset, the fans, and top seeds in the lower bracket.
Congratulations on winning such an insane series. First of all, I’d like to know what was going through your mind as you jumped out in front of johnqt with the Operator?
I saw the one-way smoke, and I couldn’t peek through the one-way while running because he could see me.
I thought, ‘Should I just do a jump peek with the team?’, so he wouldn’t be able to see me.
To be honest, that’s what happened. I just jump peaked and killed him, then we won the round. It was good.
Just before the final map, we could see you and Boaster hype up the crowd. How does it feel to have the crowd literally behind you during the matches?
It’s really nice and I think it’s really good to be close to the fans.
When we turn around, we can see them cheering for us, and it makes us more motivated, and then we cheer as well.
I hyped up fans because Zellsis (Jordan Montemurro) was always doing it, and he gestured to me ‘Where are your fans?’
So I decided to do it. I didn’t know which one was louder but I did it anyway.
How do you approach the final map in such an important series?
I think all of us, maybe the exception of kaajak (Kajetan Haremski), have enough experience to deal with the challenges and pressure on us.
Icebox is an attack-sided map, so when we went into the last map starting on defence, I told my team, ‘Guys, we’re gonna start defence. If we start losing four or five rounds in a row, don’t feel mentally down because we should lose rounds.’
So we just kept moving on, and when we did win five rounds on defence, after the switch, we all said ‘we win this game.’
Sentinels have previously had the better of Fnatic. What has changed since you last faced them at VCT Champions 2024?
I mean they changed TenZ, hello from here (Masters Toronto) TenZ, who was the smoker for the team.
We also changed two of our players, now with kaajak and crashies (Austin Roberts).
I think that’s why we won today, because of our teeny boys. They are so good.
Why do you think the top seeds have found themselves in the lower bracket?
I think it’s because every team that came to the playoffs from the Swiss Stage had played two or three games before us.
I think they had time to warm up, but when we went to the stage first time we had no clue what was going on.
We had no idea how the stage looked or where the fans would be.
We didn’t know anything, and then when we had to compete in the Playoff Stage for our first match and we were not ready for that, while the other teams from the Swiss Stage were.
Lastly, do you have anything you’d like to say to the fans?
Thanks for supporting us. I’ve seen you guys every day when we’re playing the game. I’m hearing you guys cheering, asking for pictures and stuff.
Thanks to everyone who is supporting us, and thanks to everyone who is watching from home and who came here.
I don’t have much to say, but keep supporting.
Love you all.
Covers: League of Legends, Valorant, UK esports, and global esports and gaming news.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with many incredible individuals who continue to humble me to this day. Because of them, I’ve had the energy to turn a hobby into a career. I work to honour those who have given me a chance and thrive thanks to the community.
Email: [email protected]
