FNATIC triumph over Vitality to reclaim EMEA crown

FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder triumphed over Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #9 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso 3-1 in the grand finals of EMEA Stage 2 to be crowned the champions of EMEA. FNATIC has claimed the first regional seed for the group stage of Champions and $100,000 in prize money, while Vitality will be consoled with the second seed and $65,000.

“Some teams right now I feel like are a little bit burnt out, and you can kinda see that in their results recently, whereas for us, we're just getting started.” Boaster said in a pre-recorded segment.

Boaster's words reflect the results; FNATIC blazed a flawless path through Stage 2 coming into this series, including a comfortable win in the upper bracket final against Vitality days prior. FNATIC sought to secure a second stage championship while Vitality sought to dethrone the kings just as Sayf did with Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak one year ago.

For the map veto, FNATIC leveraged their double map ban as the upper bracket finalists to take Icebox and Sunset away from Vitality, the latter of which Vitality beat Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius on twice in the past week.

FNATIC chose to open with Haven, where they held a 4-0 record since its return to the pool off the back of their unique Iso and Yoru composition. The duelists were indeed the headliners in the map; Alfajer and Derke took turns dominating Vitality with a combined five multikills. Alfajer barely topped the scoreboard over his fellow duelist with 22 kills and 297 ACS to Derke's 21 kills and 278 ACS.

Sayf in particular was unusually quiet, with only 11 kills to 17 deaths. His 1v3 Blade Storm clutch in round 20 came too late to stop his opponents' momentum and FNATIC took the map 13-8.

Haven wasn't the last that Vitality saw of the double duelist pairing; FNATIC shocked on their opponent's map pick of Ascent with another Iso and Yoru composition. This gamble did not pay off, as after a few chaotic rounds, Gorilla took a timeout and identified FNATIC's inability to hold the A site without an Omen or a KAY/O to secure Vitality a resounding 8-4 attack half.

Vitality carried their momentum forward with a flawless pistol round to secure a 12-5 scoreline. FNATIC attempted to mount a comeback with four consecutive rounds, but Vitality closed out the map 13-9 after Derke failed to clear ceNder out of Wine with his Dimensional Drift ultimate. This time, it was Sayf triumphing in the duelist matchup, racking up 21 kills to 12 deaths and 253 ACS.

“In Vitality fashion, we thrive in the chaos,” Sayf said in the comms replay.

Unfortunately for Vitality, there was much less chaos to thrive in on FNATIC's pick of Lotus, where neither team changed compositions from the upper final. Kicks and runneR rallied for a moment with a 2v4 in round 10, but Chronicle answered back immediately in round 11 with three kills off of Boaster's Paranoia. In a mirror of Vitality's scoreline on Ascent, FNATIC chained an 8-4 half and a pistol into a 12-5 score, staving off a Vitality comeback attempt to take the map 13-9.

Last up was Bind, where FNATIC brought out a Clove pick from Alfajer in place of Boaster's usual Brimstone. Unlike Ascent, Vitality were unable to find a weakness in FNATIC's defense; FNATIC steamrolled the first half, winning the first 10 rounds in a row with significant value from Alfajer's post-death smokes and concluding the match with a commanding 13-3 score. Boaster demonstrated a statement fragging IGL performance on Viper with 18 kills and 320 ACS over 16 rounds.

With this victory, FNATIC cement themselves as back-to-back EMEA stage winners and a strong candidate to make a deep run at Champions. When asked who they wanted to face most in Seoul, almost every member of the team answered Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) .

“I need to get revenge against Gen.G, and I just need to get my revenge in general on the world for doubting FNATIC,” said Boaster.

FNATIC and Vitality will return in the group stage of Champions, which begins Aug. 1.