DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) have taken first place in Valorant Champions' Group A, securing a playoffs spot in a 2-0 victory over FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder .

Today's match was a repeat of the first bout between FNATIC and DRX, held all the way back at the Champions 2021, which was also a group winner's match. FNATIC took a 2-1 victory then to claim their playoffs spot. Today, DRX were the ones to take a victory, but they did so in clean fashion.

DRX's victory never seemed sure, though, until the final stages of the match. Abyss started with a 4K from hiro that gave his team a small lead, but DRX quickly replied with six straight rounds that led them to a 7-5 halftime lead.

The second half was defined by back-and-forth momentum between both teams and several retake wins from FNATIC. When they finally found a 10-9 lead, MaKo and Foxy9 nailed Sheriff headshots that took them to map point. Even then, FNATIC nearly got a ninja defuse and pushed it to overtime. At the last second, BuZz blindly hit a knife on a defusing Chronicle and got his team the 13-11 win on their own pick.

Alfajer was key in keeping Abyss as close as it was for FNATIC in their first outing on the map. Of his eight multikills, five were in the second half, among which was a 4K in round 23. His trademark Killjoy also found two clutches in the second half. In that map, he claimed a 1.49 rating, 25 kills and 210 ADR. He was second only in first kills to BuZz, as the Korean accrued one more than Alfajer.

Lotus was equally close until the second half of the game. DRX's keys to a slight 7-5 margin at halftime were two back-to-back clutches from BeYN and a 4K from BuZz to bookend their attack. He proceeded to lock down the entire map for DRX on defense, finding eight of his 11 kills in the second half via an ace and a 3K in consecutive rounds.

BuZz's stats tell a story of domination on Lotus, which he finished with a +10 differential and 23 kills. He also added up eight opening kills, surpassing his own six on Abyss.

Even in the face of loss, Alfajer stands out from the crowd. He was an even match for BuZz across the match, but stood head and shoulders above his entire team. Alfajer finished the match with a 1.4 rating, 45 kills, and 193 ADR. The next best FNATIC player, Derke , left with a 0.89 rating, 28 kills, and 117 ADR.

Counting today's game, DRX and FNATIC only have four VCT encounters between them, one per Champions. All of their previous bouts were three-map high-stakes thrillers, and DRX's sole win in those three was one that enabled them to break free from their top six curse in 2022 and go on to finish third in that year's Champions, their best international placement to date.

They finished third back then, but did so without a home soil buff. Now they are playing in their home state of South Korea, just outside of Seoul, where the team is based and where they play the VCT Pacific. Now that they are playing at home, with a solid group stage behind them, DRX may not be stoppable.