Reykjavik, 2021: FNATIC FNATIC Europe Unranked Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder face Sentinels Sentinels North America Unranked N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid in the grand finals of the first ever Valorant international event, Masters Reykjavik and go down without winning a single map. Now in 2023, FNATIC have won two grand finals and are the first team to win two international trophies.

“[We] try to maintain a positive atmosphere. It's our biggest winning factor,” said FNATIC IGL Boaster after today's series.

FNATIC at LOCK//IN had a clean run until the grand final where they were almost reverse swept by LOUD LOUD Brazil Unranked dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira . Despite LOUD leading 11-3 in the final decider map, FNATIC came back to take their first international trophy. Their run at Masters Tokyo was even cleaner: the team only dropped one map throughout the entire event and won the grand finals versus Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Unranked Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le 3-0 to lift their second international trophy.

FNATIC lift the Masters Tokyo trophy Two majors down, one left to go for 2023. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Thanks to the upper bracket advantage, FNATIC received two bans in the map veto, which they used to remove both Pearl and Fracture from the available pool. Fracture was arguably Evil Geniuses' strongest map, one where they were 5-0 over the course of the event.

“This is the first time we felt like we lost out in our vetoes all season long from our first match in Brazil,” said EG's potter . “Going into Champions, that will definitely change.”

FNATIC first-picked Lotus, a map on which they had dominated EG just a few days prior in the upper bracket final.

FNATIC won Lotus with little ado, despite a slow first half. They would win seven out of nine rounds on defense to take the map 13-8. Alfajer and Leo were both key reasons for FNATIC's victory, with them finding 45 kills and a +23 kill differential combined.

EG had individual moments of brilliance throughout the event.

Split, EG's choice, was a map on which they had almost pushed to OT the last time they'd faced FNATIC. Unfortunately for EG, history repeated itself, with the team coming close but once again falling short as FNATIC took the map 13-11.

There's a reason Chronicle has three international trophies.

Although EG brought the score to 11-11, Derke found a 4K to give FNATIC the lead again and deal a crippling blow to EG's economy during the last round of regulation.

Derke's trademark devastation won FNATIC this essential round.

FNATIC's initiators, Chronicle and Leo, were vital in not only setting Derke up for success, but also finding several valuable kills of their own.

“I try to think a lot when I play and improve all the time. I watch a lot of the game,” said Leo when questioned about what made him such a capable initiator.

Now on Bind, FNATIC were only one map away from the trophy.

Evil Geniuses finally found a strong start on attack, which featured their unorthodox Reyna-Chamber team composition.

Agent picks were based on comfort as opposed to any strategy, according to Boostio , since Bind had been one of EG's permabans throughout the event.

“Two years ago, since the time we made the team, Boostio has been begging to play Reyna. We didn't think it would be the grand finals at Masters, but here we are,” said Potter.

EG found a considerable lead of 10-4 before FNATIC were able to win three of their own. EG still found match point first, at 12-7, but FNATIC were able to win the next seven rounds to win the map in OT 14-12.

Valorant history, FNATIC's legacy.

“We said let's have fun. We said stuff like ‘good flash, good calls'. We just praised each other and it went to OT,” was Derke's response when asked about the team's comeback win on Bind.

FNATIC had done it. The EMEA super team had won their second international trophy, cementing themselves in the annals of Valorant history as the first team to do so.

They had also racked up several achievements across the board. Leo had only died first two times over the course of the entire event. Derke had not played Jett at all, a first for a tournament winning team.

“I was kinda happy,” said Derke on the topic. “I wanted to win the event without playing Jett.”

Mini added that it was just the way the map vetoes had played out.

“I think in the past we preferred maps where Derke was on jett cause we didn't have much firepower but now we're a super team. We don't need Derke to get 40 kills every game.”

Chronicle also set a new record as the only player to win three different international Valorant trophies and to have played in the finals of four events.

The entire FNATIC team nominated Alfajer as the squad's MVP with the exception of Alfa himself who voted for Leo.

“But if I'm doing a hot take, cgrs is the best,” joked Chronicle.

Evil Geniuses' Cinderella run may have not gone all the way to a trophy, but the team still seemed satisfied by their performance in the event.

EG take a last bow If someone had said EG would place second at Masters: Tokyo a month or two ago, no one would have believed it. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

They had taken down the #1 seed in every franchised region on their path to the grand finals. Each individual on the team was able to demonstrate the rosters' championship caliber and overall, EG as a squad seemed happy with their performance.

“I've been on the team for less than 3 months and we're super proud of the team and how far we've come,” was demon1's take on EG's run at Tokyo and his performance.

Potter, when reflecting on EG's performance, stated that the team's focus for Champions will be on improving their in-game economic management and map pool.

Her parting words to FNATIC: “We'll see you there.”

With their victory, FNATIC have guaranteed another slot at Champions for the EMEA League teams. Now the top two teams who make it through LCQ will be a part of Champions 2023. FNATIC have also set themselves up for a sweep this year if they can grab that final trophy at Champions, creating a legacy unseen in Valorant so far.

“The Triforce would be good,” said Mini.