Valorant Champions 2022: Fnatic Sends Team Liquid Home

Despite being touted as one of the strongest regions at Valorant Champions the teams from Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) had a rough start to the event. Two of the best teams in the region, Team Liquid and Fnatic, found themselves in the lower bracket against each other. Team Liquid ended up suffering an embarrassing defeat with Fnatic taking home two easy map wins. With Liquid out of the competition, Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix are still in the lower bracket fighting for survival.

Boaster feels that the lack of an in-game leader hurts Team Liquid

After the game, Fnatic’s IGL (In-Game Leader) Jake "Boaster" Howlett said during the post-match conference that Liquid does not have the ability to make mid-round decisions and changes “because they don’t have that dedicated IGL who’s seeking to improve their overall macro and organizing-his-troops kind of game. They play a bit on hard mode I think. To not have an IGL.”

During the first game on Bind, Fnatic took an easy 9-3 lead and Team Liquid was simply unable to respond to Fnatic’s aggression. After suffering an early defeat against XSET, Fnatic looked hungry for a win. Fnatic was just as relentless in the second half of the game and closed things off with a 13-6 victory on the first map.

The second game of the matchup on Haven was just as one-sided with Fnatic taking home a 13-7 victory. While things were a lot closer in the first half with a 7-5 scoreline in Fnatic’s favor, Team Liquid failed to put up any pressure against its opponent and ended up suffering its second straight loss and lost the series.

Emir “Alfajer” Ali Beder ended the night with 41 kills. The Turkish player felt right at home in Istanbul and fans cheered him on as he sent Fnatic packing. With a 2-0 victory in the bag, Fnatic will be looking to face the winner of DRX vs LOUD on 13th September. FunPlus Phoenix is the only other EMEA team in the competition while Brazil, Japan and North America have come out on top so far.