Fnatic enter Grand Finale of VALORANT Masters Tokyo; EG and PRX set up Lower Final

Fnatic are your first VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo finalists after taking down Evil Geniuses in the upper bracket final. In the second match of the day Paper Rex took down NRG Esports to keep their hopes alive in the lower bracket. NRG are out of the tournament. Here is what happened at VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo!

Fnatic vs. Evil Geniuses

In the opening map of the day, Fnatic chose Lotus, and looking at their overall performance, the decision made sense. The EMEA representatives dominated the game from the very beginning until the end of the map. FNC started the battle with an 8-0 run and ended the first half with a lead of 10-2. Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov had a stand-out performance with 13 kills and a 1.57 rating on Viper, but Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev’s six first bloods on Raze opened up bomb sites and made it easier for Fnatic to plant the Spike. The dominance continued in the second half too, as Fnatic quickly picked up three rounds while only losing one to close out the series after 16 rounds, 13-3. Derke finished the game with 18 kills, seven first bloods, and a 1.56 rating, and Chronicle was right behind him with a 1.48 rating.

After a hard loss on Lotus, EG tried to keep their heads up before heading into their map pick of the day, Fracture. This time, EG had a much more resilient performance from the North American representatives. They had a strong run on defense, winning nine rounds to take the advantage before going into the second half. EG especially showed dominance after the fifth round of the first half as they won seven rounds in a row. Kelden "Boostio" Pupello had a spectacular performance maintaining a 1.77 rating with four first bloods and 16 kills in total. Fnatic failed to match EG’s defensive performance in the second half as the NA team managed to execute some of their attacks perfectly to win the game after 22 rounds, 13-9. Boostio’s 21-kill Killjoy came in handy for the organization, backed up by Alexander "jawgemo" Mor’s 19-kill Raze. Chronicle once again had a decent performance, but this time, it wasn’t enough.

It all came down to the decider map, and the map was Split. Teams had similar performances in the first half, and none of them managed to maintain a lead for more than a couple of rounds. In the end, the first half ended in a tie, 6-6. Corbin "C0M" Lee and Ethan "Ethan" Arnold had 20 kills combined to keep their teams in the competition, while Leo "Leo" Jannesson carried his team with 15 kills, and Emir "Alfajer" Ali Beder followed him with a 1.32 rating and 12 kills on Cypher. Unexpectedly, Derke only had three kills in the first half, but his teammates were there to carry him. However, Fnatic managed to break the tie in the second half after a head-to-head competition until the very end. It was a very tense decider map, but the EMEA representatives eventually won the game with a score of 13-11. Leo ended the game with a 1.70 rating and 26 kills. While Derke only had 11 kills throughout the game, six of them were first bloods which came in handy for Fnatic.

VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo

Fnatic

2

X

1

Evil Geniuses

Upper Bracket Final, Best of 3 - June 21, 2023 - 3:00AM

13

Lotus

3

9

Fracture

13

13

Split

11

Fnatic

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Chronicle

1.34

254

56/42/27

+14

1.33

78.4%

164.5

24%

38%

3

5

Leo

1.25

229

52/27/24

+25

1.93

82.5%

146.9

18%

60%

3

2

Alfajer

1.08

213

50/34/6

+16

1.47

72.2%

131.7

25%

70%

7

3

Boaster

1.02

176

35/38/37

-3

0.92

82.6%

109.5

15%

63%

5

3

Derke

0.97

217

42/46/9

-4

0.91

70.4%

131.9

20%

65%

20

11

Evil Geniuses

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Boostio

0.89

197

42/48/12

-6

0.88

57.8%

131.0

17%

44%

7

9

jawgemo

0.86

208

42/48/12

-6

0.88

63.7%

142.0

17%

41%

9

13

Ethan

0.85

163

34/46/29

-12

0.74

69.6%

101.4

19%

60%

3

2

Demon1

0.83

170

39/49/15

-10

0.80

65.1%

110.0

42%

33%

4

8

C0M

0.68

136

30/44/17

-14

0.68

67.9%

89.8

28%

14%

1

6

NRG Esports vs. Paper Rex

NRG Esports picked Pearl to start things off in the lower bracket semi-final in Japan. The first half was very close, but NRG had a small lead of 7-5. Sam "s0m" Oh’s Harbor came in to play with 15 kills and a 1.65 rating, with Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks helping him holding a 1.10 rating and 11 kills. On the other side of the competition, Patiphan "cgrs" Porsi and Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie led their teams with 1.21 and 1.20 ratings. The second half was nothing but the mirrored version of the first half. This time, PRX won with a score of 7-5, and the game went into overtime. PRX didn’t waste any time there and closed out the initial map with a score of 15-13. Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee had a great performance with a 1.21 rating, and Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto helped his teammates with eight first bloods.

Paper Rex’s map pick of the day was Lotus, but it looked like NRG chose the map, looking at the performances of both teams. The VCT 2023 Americas League team grabbed 10 rounds in the first half and dominated the competition. Pujan "FNS" Mehta played out of his mind on attack with 16 kills and a 1.82 rating with ardiis and s0m on the follow-up with 1.24 ratings each. PRX showed a pulse in the second half but didn’t last long. NRG didn’t waste any time and closed out the game after 19 rounds, 13-6.

Teams battled each other on Bind to decide today’s winner. NRG had a slight advantage before going into the second half as they had a 7-5 lead, mainly thanks to Austin "crashies" Roberts’s 12-kill Skye performance. The American player had a 1.50 rating and a 176.3 ADR in the first half. However, things changed when sides were switched. PRX had a better attacking performance in the second half. The last maps of the round caused nothing but excitement as both teams wanted to continue their run in the VALORANT Masters event. PRX were one step closer on the scoreboard, but NRG didn’t have any intentions to get eliminated. In the end, PRX managed to close out the series after a 13-11 win on Bind to face EG in the lower bracket finals. f0rsakeN’s 24-kill Harbor came in clutch for the Asian team.

VCT 2023 - Masters Tokyo

NRG Esports

1

X

2

Paper Rex

Lower Bracket Round 3 of 4, Best of 3 - June 21, 2023 - 6:30AM

13

Pearl

15

13

Lotus

6

11

Bind

13

NRG Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

s0m

1.30

248

62/48/28

+14

1.29

84.6%

167.0

24%

54%

7

6

FNS

1.15

233

53/49/28

+4

1.08

72.8%

156.0

20%

75%

9

3

ardiis

1.01

214

52/44/15

+8

1.18

79.4%

137.8

18%

50%

10

10

Victor

0.90

191

47/47/12

0

1.00

80.0%

125.4

19%

43%

6

8

crashies

0.79

138

37/48/26

-11

0.77

75.8%

98.8

39%

25%

3

9

Paper Rex

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

f0rsakeN

1.15

239

58/54/20

+4

1.07

66.7%

158.7

28%

57%

16

12

d4v41

1.00

173

43/48/38

-5

0.90

76.0%

119.2

27%

60%

3

2

Jinggg

0.95

225

51/52/11

-1

0.98

72.8%

151.2

21%

50%

10

10

cgrs

0.89

185

48/47/9

+1

1.02

72.8%

120.6

22%

63%

5

3

mindfreak

0.73

151

36/50/23

-14

0.72

64.0%

98.9

24%

20%

2

8

Fnatic are currently waiting for their opponents in the grand final stage, and it will be clear after the match between Evil Geniuses vs. Paper Rex. Check out our VCT Masters Tokyo tournament page for more information!