FunPlus Phoenix took Guild Esports’ trash talk as fuel to win

After facing Fnatic in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 Stage 2 Masters upper bracket, FunPlus Phoenix eliminated Guild Esports in a back-and-forth three-map series, 2-1. It proved very interesting as only one of the three maps was close, with the other two decisive victories. After winning a close map one, FPX had a tough time on Breeze, but didn’t let it affect them heading into Bind, the final map of the series — Guild kicking them while they were down just fueled them.

.@FPX_Esports come out on top in this EMEA duel!

They advance in the Lower Bracket. #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/tcqaEM9v6A

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) July 16, 2022

“It didn’t feel good, and Guild unintentionally helped us a lot by screaming at us like they just won Champions,” said Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks. “I’m not going to put salt in the wound now, but that trash talk gave us motivation and bit them in the ass.”

Defeating Guild qualifies FPX for Champions 2022

To both their success and their detriment, FPX have only faced Europe, Middle East and Africa region teams so far in the knockout stage. After losing to Fnatic, they faced Guild in the lowers, a team they were more familiar with than other opponents. But this win had more importance than just Stage 2 Masters to FPX.

“This match was probably the most important match for us in general,” said Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov. “It was more emotional than expected, as Guild started to trash talk us. But our whole goal was to qualify for Champions, and we got that with this win. Now, everything else is a bonus.”

SUYGETSU gets the birthday buff on his return

FPX’s tournament started with them fielding substitute player Mathias “SEIDER” Seider. He filled in for Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin, who had VISA issues heading into the tournament. However, his VISA went through and this series marked not only his birthday but the first international LAN match with FPX’s normal roster from their region. He was crucial in the match, with a clutch moment to end the first map and prevent overtime.

“When I got information mid, I pushed to get that kill and it just kept going. ” SUYGETSU said. “Plus, as a team, we don’t relax until everyone is dead, so that mindset helped finish the round.”

With this series over, Guild is gone from Stage 2 Masters while FunPlus Phoenix will face the loser of the upper bracket match Paper Rex versus Fnatic. Even after this win, that sour taste of their Breeze performance was a reminder that they aren’t at their normal form yet. But, the more time that they get in the tournament, the more the peak FPX we’ll see.

“We’re trying to come back together, keep our shape,” SUYGETSU said. “It might take a little more time to get back to normal, but we can do better. Especially on the attack side on Breeze, that’s for sure.”