Despite being heavy favorites, FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder struggled to put away BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #33 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal chiwa Egor Stepanyuk PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan on the last day of VCT EMEA's super week, scraping by for a 2-1 victory. In contrast, Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius made quick work of Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #30 saadhak Matias Delipetro Avez Hazem Khaled Elite Efe Teber SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin marteen Martin Pátek , defeating them 2-0 in dominant fashion.

Mixwell gives a thumbs up to the crowd behind him (Photo by: Hara Amorós / Riot Games / LVP)

FNATIC vs. BBL Esports (FNC 2-1)

FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder , who were kings without a crown for the longest time, finally got their coveted trophy in São Paulo last month. They wiped the floor with the competition at LOCK//IN, not losing a map until halfway through the grand final.

They brought their reign of terror back to Europe, as they kicked off the season by taking down Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin without breaking much of a sweat. However, against BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #33 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal chiwa Egor Stepanyuk PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan , FNATIC showed signs of mortality, as the Turkish team took a map off the reigning champions, the first time an EMEA team had done so in nearly half a year.

“Every team has had a massive roster upgrade in preparation for this franchise league, and it does make stuff a lot more difficult for us,” Boaster said. “But it's part of the competition, that's why it's fun. That's why you want to win, because you want to prove that you're the best of the best. If teams are putting in really decent rosters now, it makes it more rewarding to win for me.”

BBL came out of the gates swinging on Ascent. They were a step ahead of FNATIC at every turn, achieving a streak of nine attacking rounds in a row. After BBL won the first two rounds of the second half as well, FNATIC found themselves at a familiar 11-3 deficit – the same scoreline they had come back from to win LOCK//IN against LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira . However, lightning would not strike twice for FNATIC, and BBL remained in control, closing out the first map at 13-6.

“It's a Turkish map. Every Turkish team is just so good at Ascent. You can compare it to the Americas region, over there it's a Brazilian map, and in EMEA it's Turkish. BBL really wanted to win, and they came out guns blazing from the get-go. We didn't quite clock into work when the barriers went up. We've got a lot of stuff to work on, but we have a day off tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to getting back on it.”

What Derke can do, QutionerX can do better.

Being a map down, it was imperative for FNATIC to find a response on Haven. They started strong, taking an early 5-1 lead. BBL were able to stay with their opponents better in the second quarter, but the first half still ended up going 8-4 in FNATIC's favor. BBL took the first two rounds of the second half to close the gap, although FNATIC took two rounds in response.

Once FNATIC settled into the half, they picked up a couple of crucial full buy rounds, although they were plagued by BBL's eco rounds. Despite dropping three rounds to light buys from BBL, FNATIC closed out Haven at 13-9 to level the series at 1-1. FNATIC substitute kamyk , standing in for Alfajer this week, ended up topping the scoreboard on Haven with a 1.29 rating and 22 kills.

“When it comes to Mini and CoJo 's scouting, they're one of the best in the business,” Boaster said. “We've picked up loads of talents along the way, and now we have a FNATIC roster that has just won the recent international event, which is sick. Kamyk is very keen, very excited, and he's a good player. We're lucky enough to have him as a sixth, instead of teams actually having him on their main roster.”

Nevertheless, the prospect of integrating kamyk into a fluid six-man roster, a concept FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #7 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban has already applied in this league, didn't entice the FNATIC captain.

“I will never do a six-man roster. I think you'd run into the problem of players being too cold and switching out players who are hot, and if they only play one map, what's the point? I just don't think it's very good. We've built a team that has roles for everyone, and we can play a certain comp on every map. That's all we really need, but it's very handy to have kamyk as a sub, that's for sure.”

Split proved to be another closely contested map to close out the series. After FNATIC took the first two rounds, the lead switched back and forth three times in the first half, eventually ending in a tie at 6-6. FNATIC took their opportunity to break away in the second half by winning four rounds straight. However, BBL were still hot on their heels, winning five out of the next six rounds to make it 11-11. In the last two rounds, FNATIC could finally put the series to bed, taking Split 13-11 after a BBL timeout.

The bulldog is the best gun in the game, at least in the hands of AsLanM4shadow.

FNATIC's consistent factor throughout the series was Leo , as the Swede's 1.26 rating was the highest out of anyone. With a kill score of 24-13, he took it upon himself to drag his team through Split. Sitting directly behind him on the scoreboard was kamyk, whose performance as a substitute was even more successful than against Giants on Monday.

QutionerX, who'd had a quiet game against Karmine earlier in the week, stepped up in this series, outperforming his duelist counterpart Derke. He was not afraid to take first engagements, winning 15 of his 25 opening duels. AsLanM4shadoW 's performance was not to be overlooked either, as his clutches helped his team win three crucial rounds.

Luckily Leo's hand-eye coordination is better in the game than out of it.

Looking back on the super week, BBL played two close matches against Karmine Corp and FNATIC, but found themselves empty-handed in the end, sitting in 9th place with a winless record. On the other hand, FNATIC occupy the top spot in the league, boasting a 2-0 record after a close shave against BBL.

“A win is a win, and we got two of them this week,” Boaster said. “It allows me to kind of relax tomorrow, instead of thinking ‘why did we lose that' in bed tonight. That BBL game could've gone either way because we didn't look too great today. BBL did make it scary for us, and they're a good team, but luckily we managed to pull through even when we didn't play amazing. That's why we're one of the best teams in the world, and why we want to be on that stage in Japan competing for a second title.”

Team Heretics vs. Karmine Corp (TH 2-0)

The second match of the day looked poised to be another close contest. VLR users were split 58-42 in their pickems, with Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #30 saadhak Matias Delipetro Avez Hazem Khaled Elite Efe Teber SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin marteen Martin Pátek receiving the slight edge. Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius completely shattered these expectations, dominating the series and allowing their opponents to pick up just seven rounds in total.

With a monstrous 347 ACS, the server was keloqz 's playground. Karmine Corp could find no answer to the Frenchman's relentless aggression and Operator play on Jett.

“It feels like we didn't really play today, they just ran us over,” ScreaM said. “The Jett Operator was a big problem for us before, it showed today as well, particularly on Split. They played well on Icebox too, they surprised us with the Harbor and their fast paced game. It just felt like an off day for us.”

Heretics opened the score on Icebox with the first two rounds. Karmine scraped by for the bonus round, but they struggled to string any rounds together. The French squad would only find two more isolated rounds in the half, allowing Heretics to get into a 9-3 lead. Picking up the first two rounds of the second half was a good sign for KC, but Heretics swiftly suppressed their hopes by winning four unanswered rounds, closing out Icebox with a 13-5 scoreline.

Won't someone stop this man?

Heretics's Mixwell picked up Harbor on Icebox against KCorp, an agent who has struggled to enter the meta in EMEA, in particular compared to Pacific, where the Indian agent has been with open arms. Thanks to Harbor's Cove ability, Heretics were able to get the plant down in 11 out of 12 attack rounds.

Mixwell faced an old rival in the server today: the Spaniard has been facing off against ScreaM for the last seven years, dating back to the pair's Counter-Strike days. Early on in Valorant's history, the two defined the competitive landscape, as their G2 and Liquid teams were the best in their day. In the franchise era, they had each found new teams, allowing their classic rivalry to get an additional chapter.

“I think it's cool, it's a nice story,” ScreaM said. “He's been here since the beta, and we've always been matching up against each other, sometimes it goes my way and sometimes it goes his way. I think he's a good player and he shares his experience with the team. There's a good rivalry, it's nice storytelling I think.”

Karmine Corp desperately needed to turn a new leaf on Split if they wanted to stay in the game, but it did not take long for things to go awry on the second map too. Heretics took the first two rounds, and after KCorp picked up the bonus round, Mixwell's squad swiftly extended their lead to 6-1. A thrifty win allowed KCorp to get a second round on the board, but Heretics stormed away after that and took the half 10-2.

When Heretics opened the second half with two more rounds and took match point at 12-2, the series was all but wrapped up. As the final rotten cherry on top of a bitter cake, Karmine Corp were too slow to retake on the final round, and Newzera had to sit and watch in agony as the Spike exploded right under his nose.

Oh no.

While he had the gun for just nine rounds, keloqz managed to pick up an incredible 14 kills with the Operator, being an all-around nuisance to KCorp. Additionally, he got the first kill on half of all defensive rounds, never once dying first himself.

“We usually have problems against people who play like this, and keloqz is one of the players who plays Jett Operator, which has been an issue for us for quite a long time. He played well, he played his game and we couldn't counter it, so that worked in his favor.”

“Since we all came to Berlin, it's been a process,” ScreaM said. “I think we are very tired, and today it showed, we weren't 100%. The way they played kind of surprised us, and we didn't feel comfortable at all. I think I died like 10 times to keloqz picking me off with the sniper, this game was a total snowball in our face. We're just gonna review it and learn from it, because we can obviously do better than what we did today.”

As the super week draws to a close, Team Heretics and Karmine Corp find themselves in a three-way tie for fifth, both rocking a 1-1 series record and a map difference of 0.

“There are some positives from this week,” ScreaM reflected. “We won a game, we're still in the running to qualify for Tokyo, I think everybody still is, which is the main goal for us. We're gonna stay focused on the next games, we have to stay positive and not lose our confidence, because confidence is key.”

Looking ahead

With the final two matches wrapped up, the EMEA super week has concluded, and the newly inaugurated VCT EMEA studio has seen its first share of action. “It's nice to be facing the other team, with their fans on their side and our fans on our side,” ScreaM said. “It feels a little bit old school, where people are screaming at each other across the stage. It's quite enjoyable. When it goes your way of course.”

EMEA returns next Wednesday, as the teams will go back to a schedule of one fixture per week.

Next week's matches are: