Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix reached Upper Bracket Final in VCT 2022 EMEA Stage 1

Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix were the winners of the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event Upper Bracket Semi Finals and they will be competing against each other in the Upper Bracket Final. However, it is not the end of the road for Team Liquid and M3 Champions as they will continue their journey facing Guild Esports and G2 Esports, respectively.

M3 Champions vs Fnatic

In the first map of the VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event Semi Finals, Fnatic picked Fracture and started on the defending side. Until the eighth round, the European team had a great lead, 6-2, but M3 Champions managed to close the gap in the last rounds of the first half. Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev joined Martin "MAGNUM" Penkov to have their team ahead in the first half with 13 kills each. Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov had the best statistics on the M3 Champions’ side with 9 kills and a 1.11 rating. Fnatic had the lead before going into the second half, 7-5. Despite having a strong start to the second half, the Russian team failed to keep their momentum and faced unexpected losses, especially during the latest stages of the competition. The Czech star of Fnatic, Magnum, stepped on both sides with Cypher in his hands, holding a 1.24 rating and a 1.50 K/D. Bogdan "sheydos" Naumov’s efforts weren’t sufficient for the side of M3 Champions as they lost the first map after 23 rounds, 13-10.

Yesterday, M3C’s second map pick against Guild Esports was Bind and they used the same strategy today against Fnatic. Both halves went both ways as M3C won the first two rounds but failed to defend the bomb sites for five rounds in a row. In the end, M3C grabbed the remaining rounds to end the first half with an advantage, 7-5. sheydos has been putting up incredible numbers since yesterday and he continued the tradition by grabbing 15 kills on the defending side with Sage in his hands. The Russian player stepped up for his team by holding a 1.73 rating and a 3 K/D. Nikita "d3ffo" Sudakov gave him the best support to keep their team ahead with 5 first bloods in the first half. Fnatic’s Finnish star, Derke, stepped up with 12 kills and 3 first bloods which was the most important factor of their 5-round winning streak. Despite all the efforts on Fnatic’s side, the Russian team dominated the second half to close out the game with a score of 13-8. MC3’s Bind performance was on point regarding their executions and sheydos’ individual performance.

Lastly, we have witnessed one of the craziest Split competitions in the competition. Fnatic had a great first-half performance, winning 9 rounds to keep the advantage on their side. M3C’s arsenal wasn’t enough to break FNC’s defense. The first half ended with Fnatic’s 9-3 lead. Fortunately, the second half also had the same score but this time it was in favor of the Russian team. After that point, both teams won consecutive rounds to get ahead but the battle continued for a while. Finally, Fnatic pulled the trigger and closed out the series after a 23-21 win on Split. Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev had 46 kills and 9 first bloods to his name, which was the most important factor for the European team. On the other side, Igor "Redgar" Vlasov finished the game with 35 kills but Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov had even crazier statistics with 32 kills and 10 first bloods to his name. Fnatic managed to move onto the Upper Bracket Final and M3 Champions will continue their journey in the Lower Bracket Quarter Finals.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

Fnatic

2

X

1

M3 Champions

Upper Bracket Semi Final, Best of 3 - March 23, 2022 - 3:00PM

13

Fracture

11

8

Bind

13

23

Split

21

Fnatic

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Derke

1.17

257

82/70/16

+12

1.17

66.0%

179.6

23%

56%

20

16

Mistic

1.14

198

65/57/38

+8

1.14

74.0%

132.7

30%

43%

3

4

MAGNUM

1.00

216

63/57/21

+6

1.11

76.7%

139.8

21%

22%

2

7

Boaster

0.80

166

46/69/30

-23

0.67

63.4%

101.6

18%

40%

8

12

braveaf

0.79

155

45/63/34

-18

0.71

68.7%

106.6

25%

59%

10

7

M3 Champions

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

sheydos

1.16

228

72/50/11

+22

1.44

74.5%

134.4

27%

80%

8

2

Chronicle

1.06

221

64/60/28

+4

1.07

72.1%

146.4

22%

62%

13

8

nAts

1.01

207

67/60/20

+7

1.12

67.0%

137.0

26%

33%

4

8

Redgar

0.87

183

58/64/27

-6

0.91

75.7%

128.0

27%

41%

7

10

d3ffo

0.84

202

55/67/17

-12

0.82

60.4%

132.9

19%

48%

14

15

FunPlus Phoenix vs Team Liquid

Just like yesterday against G2 Esports, Team Liquid picked Split as their choice for the first map of the semi-finals competition. After winning the first two rounds, it was expected for Team Liquid to continue their supremacy on the attacking side but it was not the case. FunPlus Phoenix bounced back strongly and won five rounds in the first half to hold the advantage in the first half. Despite having a 7-5 lead in the first half, it was going to be hard for Team Liquid to keep their lead on the defending side. Kamil "baddyG" Graniczka played a huge role with Omen in his hands, securing 3 first bloods to defend the bomb sites against TL’s attacking strategies. Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom’s Brimstone kept TL in the lead as the Belgian player held a 1.47 rating and 1.57 K/D in the first half. The wind changed directions in the second half as FunPlus Phoenix made a great start to the competition. Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks picked up some clutch kills to get his team behind the wheel but most importantly, Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky’s Sage played a huge deal for the CIS representative. The Russian player had a great performance in both halves and finished the game with 22 kills as well as a 1.67 K/D. FunPlus Phoenix won the first map with a score of 13-10 to get the lead in the series. Team Liquid failed to win their map of choice in the semi-finals competition.

Secondly, FunPlus Phoenix’s choice was Haven. The CIS team played the map 34 times until now and they also secured a 13-7 win on it against Team Liquid during the group stage. TL won the starting rounds of the competition but just like the previous map, FPX bounced back with a clutch win in the third round to keep the gap small. baddyG carried his team with Astra on the defending side. The Polish player used his utility superbly to stop TL’s attacks. FPX did a great job in the first half and ended the competition holding an advantage, 7-5. Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks put on a real show with Jett in his hands, holding a 1.87 rating and securing 16 kills in the first half. FPX kept their great performance in the second half to close out the series in two maps. The Latvian star, ardiis, completed the second map with 25 kills and a 1.92 K/D to carry his team to glory. On the other side, Travis "L1NK" Mendoza’s 18-kill Brimstone performance wasn’t enough. Team Liquid failed to work their chemistry, especially in the second map, and couldn’t prevent a hard loss.

VCT 2022 - EMEA - Stage 1 - Challengers - Main Event

FunPlus Phoenix

2

X

0

Team Liquid

Upper Bracket Semi Final, Best of 3 - March 23, 2022 - 7:30PM

13

Split

10

13

Haven

9

FunPlus Phoenix

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ardiis

1.37

301

44/30/9

+14

1.47

73.2%

192.5

20%

73%

11

4

Shao

1.24

227

37/24/18

+13

1.54

77.6%

146.8

33%

57%

4

3

Zyppan

0.98

201

31/32/14

-1

0.97

69.0%

138.8

21%

40%

4

6

baddyG

0.89

171

26/26/16

0

1.00

77.5%

108.6

12%

55%

6

5

SUYGETSU

0.48

118

17/28/5

-11

0.61

71.0%

83.0

32%

0%

0

2

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Nivera

1.11

233

35/29/14

+6

1.21

62.3%

146.4

17%

60%

6

4

L1NK

0.96

180

30/27/14

+3

1.11

62.6%

116.6

31%

33%

1

2

ScreaM

0.84

174

28/33/8

-5

0.85

64.2%

115.8

35%

67%

6

3

soulcas

0.70

157

24/32/10

-8

0.75

62.2%

108.5

19%

13%

1

7

Jamppi

0.66

150

23/34/8

-11

0.68

55.4%

93.3

29%

40%

6

9

Upper Bracket Final

• Fnatic vs FunPlus Phoenix 7:00 PM CET / 11:00 AM PST on 3/25

Lower Bracket Quarter Finals

• M3 Champions vs G2 Esports 4:00 PM CET / 8:00 AM PST on 3/24
• Team Liquid vs Guild Esports 7:00 PM CET / 11:00 AM PST on 3/24

The competition will continue without any byes The winners of the Lower Bracket Quarter Finals will face each other in the Lower Bracket Semi Finals. All the games will be streamed live on the official VALORANT Twitch channel. You can find more information on the events page.