In the first match of the second weekend of the VALORANT Champions Tour Europe, Middle East and Africa 2022 Stage 2 Challengers tournament, Fnatic swept Guild Esports 2-0 to get to their first finals of 2022.
Guild Esports remain in the competition to face the winner of FunPlus Phoenix and M3 Champions. Both Fnatic and Guild already earned their tickets to Copenhagen, as they are both guaranteed top three in the region. However, Fnatic have showed exactly why they are the best team in EMEA in Stage 2, still undefeated in the stage.
GRAND FINALS BOUND! pic.twitter.com/u6T0SSlQtd
— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) June 24, 2022
Bind starts us off
To start this series, after the map bans of Breeze and Icebox, Fnatic started off on Bind. The compositions on both teams were relatively similar, with the two key changes focusing on running Chamber and Brimstone for Guild Esports. Fnatic, instead, ran Viper and Astra to try and limit the enemy’s line of sight.
The map started relatively close on Guild’s attack in the first half, with them losing the first three rounds but ending the half at 6-6. Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel’s Chamber play was crucial, maneuvering around the double smokes of Fnatic well.
However, when the sides swapped, Fnatic winning the first four rounds put them in a great position. Led by Jake “Boaster” Howlett’s Astra play, that 10-6 lead turned into a 13-9 map win. Despite the fact that Sayf’s Chamber led the lobby in ACS at 293, 70 more than the next player, Fnatic’s teamwork is what led them to victory.
Haven goes the distance
Then, for Guild, the Stage 2 Challengers upper bracket final started with yet another Fnatic pistol win on their pick of Haven. On this map, the only change between the two teams were a Sova for Fnatic and a Fade for Guild. While Leo “Leo” Jannesson on the Fade got more picks, the value from Sova helped out Fnatic more on defense. Hitting the half up 7-5, Emir Ali “Alfajer” Beder on Raze took over for Fnatic and led the lobby in kills (28) and plus/minus (+5).
alfajer send tweet pic.twitter.com/SKUPaKX5zS
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) June 24, 2022
However, on the attack, Guild started to make a comeback after hitting the half down 8-4. In fact, Guild winning pistols for the first time showed a sign that the map was within reach for the team. But, when Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev also started to pop off on the Chamber, Fnatic had the advantage. One crazy stat that Derke managed throughout this map was a 7-0 first kill to first death ratio. Alongside teammate James “Mistic” Orfila, two Fnatic players had no first deaths in a long Haven map. So, as the teams eventually traded maps, it favoured Fnatic as they prevented overtime and won the map 13-11 and the series 2-0.
Now, Fnatic will be waiting in the grand finals for Stage 2 Challengers. As for Guild, they will face the winner of FPX and M3C on June 25.
