FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder have been out of international play since Masters Reykjavik, where they were swept in the grand final by a Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #3 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid roster that were on a tear.

The team subsequently missed out Stage 3: EMEA Challengers Playoffs in an extremely close series to Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #23 nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak . Gambit Esports Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin later won Masters Berlin, meaning Fnatic qualified directly to Champions via circuit points and would avoid the Last Chance Qualifier.

“We've been focusing on team play since we lost,” Martin "MAGNUM" Penkov said. “Other teams have been focusing on strats and not reactions.”

Boaster holds his head after losing in Reykjavik Fnatic want to avoid a repeat of Reykjavik (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games).

Despite being guaranteed a slot in Champions, Fnatic didn't sit around waiting for the end-of-year tournament to reach them. They attended the third LVP Rising Series, as well as the Red Bull Home Ground #2. Fnatic exited both tournaments in the top eight, but the latter left an impression on them.

“It gave us a reality check for Champions,” Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev said. “We don't want to feel like this, we want to win, and in order to win we need to fix these mistakes we had before and during Red Bull and other stuff.”

The Fnatic duelist, as well as MAGNUM, went on to say the team used the Red Bull tournament to focus on communication and rotations without letting up too much of their game. The team wanted to grasp how others felt after months without officials.

“I am not going to say we didn't try, because of course we did,” Derke said. “There is always going to be a situation where you hide something in the smaller tournament, especially with the biggest tournament of our lives within the next month. Everyone in this team would rather hide strats but the sad reality of losing matches is not a nice feeling, you suffer from it.”

Fnatic's preparation for Champions has involved two big things: bootcamp and staff.

“We came [to bootcamp] almost a month ago, playing through the quarantine, and the preparation has been really good,” Derke said. “We know what to focus on, we know what maps to play, we know our agent pools. When we got out of quarantine, it was really good for us, we got to meet our team again, we got to meet our coaches, among other stuff which helps us a lot. I think that will really impact our Champions run.”

Fnatic's technical team is made up of coach Jacob "Mini" Harris, assistant coach Martin "Anderzz" Schelasin and performance coach Marcus Askildsen, whose role's importance is often forgotten in esports.

Fnatic line up behind Mini Fnatic stand behind Mini's methods (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games).

“[Marcus] helps us with food, drinks, what to eat, what to not, how to move, how to gym, and preparation outside the game,” Derke said. “You see the impact every day, you have more energy, you do more stuff, it just helps your body.”

“With Anderzz, he came to us and has helped us a tonne,” Derke continued. “I don't know where we would be without him. He helps us a lot with agents, maps, creating some strats, analyzing crazy stats that no one has ever pulled before, so it is really nice to have him.”

In Champions, Fnatic are placed in group D alongside Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #9 Xeppaa Erick Bach Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo v1c Victor Truong moose Kaleb Jayne OXY Francis Hoang , Vision Strikers Vision Strikers Inactive stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Zest Kim Ki-seok (김기석) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) , and FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #5 JohnOlsen Chanawin Nakchain Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew Sushiboys Panyawat Subsiriroj . By many, it's considered the group of death. Both Fnatic players share this sentiment.

“Our group is the toughest one,” MAGNUM said. “There are three teams that should be in the playoffs. In our eyes, we don't care who we are facing because we want to win Champions, so we would have to go through any team. The goal for us is to finish first.”

“We have a tough group, tough teams and one of the best Korean teams and one of the best NA teams,” Derke said. “But once we get through it, we will get a lot of momentum which will help us in the playoffs.”

Their group opener is against Cloud9 Blue, who come off of a hot NA LCQ campaign.

“I won't say we will take this only because we have played only on one LAN, I don't think it will make much of a difference,” Derke said. “We have played against Vanity in Version1, people are hyping Cloud9 Blue now. We are going in as underdogs, we don't care if it is their first LAN or if they've played on multiple.”

“I think we will sweep Cloud9 2-0,” MAGNUM bragged. “I am confident because we worked hard, even if our last tournaments were shaky.”

Vanity and Boaster meet in Iceland Vanity and Boaster are set to face each other again (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games).

But those aren't the only teams they hope to face.

“We want to get revenge on Sentinels, but I think that will be too easy,” MAGNUM said. “I'm just kidding. The team I respect most is Liquid. I have been saying this since Iceland, they are a team with huge potential with a really good coach... Since they got Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom, they have been on another level.”

“But in reality, nobody is unkillable in a game,” MAGNUM later said.

MAGNUM places his team as a title contender alongside other EMEA teams, discarding other regions.

“I respect every region but I think EMEA is the strongest one. I am confident we will get the win,” he said. “I think whoever wins Champions will be us or Liquid, second goes to Gambit, and then the rest.”

Fnatic debut in Valorant Champions on December 1 at 9 p.m. CET against Cloud9 Blue. Their next opponent will either be APAC LCQ winners FULL SENSE or the Korean powerhouse of Vision Strikers.