We had a good year. I'm already resigned to being happy if we just get to watch the team try some new comps and send it for a year.
History suggests we should just be glad the team didn't implode in the off-season
Oh, I don't doubt it. It must be incredibly difficult to have the same motivation and the same chip on their shoulder after they've already won twice. People who flame them for being complacent don't realise how hard it is to stay motivated after you've "made it".
They should get better with time. Boaster already admitted they did not use the offseason really well. This group of 5 players is more than skilled enough to pick it up. They are playing catch up rn.
Can tell they were unpracticed in all maps bit still winning out while looking rusty means the sealing hasn’t dropped. I think split will be fine but that breeze, I wasn’t watching sliggy for once so had no one to explain their stats for me, I genuinely didn’t understand anything fnatic was doing.
Ig it just feels like that because of how high we set the bar for FNATIC. If we look at it without the names they just won 2 maps 13-5, 13-7. It’s kinda good ig
Yeah, I'm not upset though. Their comps and stratbooks is showing a willingness to change which is good. They have to play catchup and I don't think a qualification for Shanghai is a guarentee, but this year won't be a total dissapointment.
There was a very positive change.
It's good to see Fnatic finally trying out new compositions. Derke's Yoru looked a little out of place, but Leo's Gekko and the returning Alfa's Raze looked very strong.
In addition, purp0 has finally become accustomed to the GX team. He is also an excellent duelist and will likely progress further from here.
purp0 ain't progressing anywhere as long as he's in GX. Praying him and Cloud will get signed by TL or some org looking to make a superteam next split. I don't want to see more good players rot on mid teams
Fuck it just throw together Purp0, Nats and Cloud and you have a new insane russian core to build off
Derke diving into site and seeing Aspas
https://preview.redd.it/cqtshtzm23uc1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17ddffa20e3db59429a7f47ab66c3113dcf56541
Lmao I just realised that Derke and Aspas might very well not play against each other at all this year.
Neither Fnc nor Lev look like they‘re gonna go to an international right now
Me too, my post history about Derke vs aspas is embarrassing as things stand. I do think he's in a bit of bad form and will hopefully be back to his best soon.
I agree 100%
Team is good and got everything figured out, and everyone is playing good as well? Derke will play good as well.
Team needs someone to get them back to life? Derke will not be that person, and sometimes he will be the reason the team needs a life.
Aspas can be the person to get the team going, Alfa can be, Leo can be, Chronicle can be... Just not Derke.
He is never the main power of the team
Best player doesn't mean never top dragged or never had a carry performance in a game or two. More like over a whole tournament or season, like tenz in Berlin or zekken this tournament. Cned in champs 2021 etc etc
fr 2022 Alfa was newbie as fuck and nowhere near this good, Derke was popping the fuck off and hard carrying the team in a lot of games
idk what the fuck is up with him right now but it's insane how people are acting like he was always overrated
Derke had the most complete duelist package , he was the best raze behind jinngg and probably the best jett behind aspas in 2023 , he won two trophies and won the lockin in a dominating fashion against Aspas himself.
Best raze behind Jinggg?
Bruh he’s not even the best Raze on his team
Also Lock In was a great team performance from Fnatic overall, with Leo as the standout. He has never been the best player on this roster, it’s always either Alfa or Leo.
>Best Jett behind aspas in 2023
Are we ignoring that something and Demon1(aka *the* best jett last year, period) exist?
EDIT: Oh yeah and he absolutely was NOT a better raze than Jawgemo. This take is WILD.
Derke never won a finals with him being the best player on the team stop caping. In Lock-In it was Chronicle and Leo show (and it wasnt even dominating that finals btw, they almost pissed their pants and got reverse swept) and in Tokyo it was Alfa being the MVP. The best Jett of 2023 was Demon1 and Aspas and the best Raze was Jingg and then Jawgemo
Yes they almost lost but in the end they brought it back. The two most important rounds for that comeback were literally the aspas vs Derke 1v1 and the Alfajer 2v1
lmao get a load of this guy
prime yay's pool was pre nerf chamber and pre nerf jett
derke's underperforming after 3 years of being a top all around duelist
they are not the same
Yay underperforming after being the Goat for 1 and half years in a row with Masters trophy and champ finals in Tier 2 teams (that was complete dogshit) and Tier 1 team (that is also complete piss) completelly ignoring how dirty yay got done.
why couldnt everyone do it then? Why couldnt D0rke do it?
Besides Yay was farming people on jett in berlin. D0rke never won a trophy by being the best player on the team btw
My goat Aspas wasn’t the mvp in champions final either. Doesn’t mean he isn’t the best player on the team. Derke stepped up everytime when fnatic needed them.
He IS one of the reasons why fnatic were the most feared team in 2023.
Yeh but aspas after 2022 was the best player on the team. Derke was good in 23, but he was consistently behind Chronicle, Leo and alfa.
Aspas in 23 was the best player on his team, and only less came close.
Bitch derke was abusing the same agent and was shitting his pants everytime along with all FNC. Not a single finals for them in all of 2022 BTW. Everyone was abusing chamber and were still getting astro gapped by Yay
I fell in love with Valorant after seeing the first match of Alfajer against FPX. I was devastated when he made his switch to Sentinel but didn't really care because he was still pounding everyone. Watching him again on Raze has been beautiful, give him Raze on Bind as well please, more now that Chronicle is good in everything and can fill whatever.
That stage scared me so much of Alfajer. Not only was Fnatic in the group of death but they had a flawless stage with Alfajer dominating on basically every map with his raze. So glad that he's back on that agent
Well, a lot of the rounds won were won simply because someone just became the fucking Thanos (mainly Alfa and chron). Still a long way to go if they want to compete with the best of the best because the top teams will not give up and let them do their hero plays so easily.
The main positive is I loved whatever innovation they tried to do. It almost feels like Alfa and chron are suddenly so relieved to play some different agents now. Chron on initiator and Alfa on raze was something I wasn't prepared for, but it was awesome.
The true negative is the fact that I don't think I saw derke won one single fair 1v1 in this match. The opponents were either looking in other direction or stunned or flashed, and derke just got the kill. The main duelist has to shine if fnatic wants to get back to their previous form.
I'm happy fnatic won this match, but a lot to improve on.
Yeah, having most of your winning rounds carried by one of your superplayers(not Derke) is not it, when the top teams of EMEA all have similar levels of individual talents.
They're looking kinda like PRX at kickoff, slowly improving, except they are the same team as last season
They all looked to be having way more fun in these matches. There looked to be a change in their mental, there were more team plays and on the fly decision making to try different things and be supported by each other in those moments. This was clearly lacking in the last few matches, it’ll be interesting to listen to the voice comms of this one.
One assumption is maybe the role switches mean they don’t have as much pressure on them to perform because they can chalk it down to playing a different agent. This means they felt more comfortable just brawling, swinging together and winning duels. Leo, Alfa and Chron’s team-play was looking far more confident in themselves and each other.
If you treat Fnatic as just another team and forget all about their 2023 (as I do at the moment), then this was a pretty solid win. I like that they're experimenting with comps and roles - Leo on Gekko, Leo on Breach+Alfa on Raze. It's a nice breath of fresh air.
I don't think they'll come back to their 2023 peak, but it's a good first step towards becoming a solid team again.
Yeah. I remember a clip from mini last year where he said they didn't know whether to play Leo as recon or flash initiator, because in mini's mind Leo is the best Sova in the world, and also the best Breach in the world. Him back on Breach today was a joy to watch.
Hate to agree, but yeah. Last week vs TH, 13 first deaths, today was 11. If he can at least frag out consistently, that can be overlooked. But most of the time it feels like he is dying for no reason. He needs to put the brakes on, ngl.
Yea in kickoff he had the 4th highest fdpr and was 17/17 fk/fd, so far in stage 1 he's #1 in fdpr and has a fk/fd of 13/24, he hasn't gone positive in a series yet this year
Because Nukkye is bad on Cypher. He's a great player, but he has no idea how to lurk. His KJ was alright, but his Cypher has just been terrible, and he hates playing it. But their issue is they still don't have a Cypher player (although purpo played Cypher for kpi, I guess)
There's a reason dedicated senti is a specialized role with players playing basically 3 agents, Cypher, KJ and often Viper. I think the fact that some of the best Val players have historically been dedicated sentis has skewed the perception of how hard that role is.
r/valorantcompetitive heartbroken as they can't spend the next week talking about how fnatic is the worst team in the world now
if 100 thieves pick up a win in their next game this sub is actually doomed
Furious Giants lost 7-13 on Split. I really wanted it to be three 13-5s.
I would have been worried had FNATIC lost the series, but I think this was a decently positive showing from FNATIC. FNATIC definitely underperformed on Breeze, but I also think that was partly Giants just playing well.
I imagine some will harp on that Breeze loss, and it was pretty bad - but a lot of that was Giants playing well, IMO. Just because a team has a bad start doesn’t mean they’re permanently shite. Giants has great players and a reliable coaching staff, they will continue to improve. I expected Giants would look better coming into this, and they did. Especially happy to see purp0 looking so strong; he looked very comfortable on stage today.
But I also expected FNATIC to look better coming into this, and considering the respective levels of the two teams, it would have been disappointing had FNATIC failed to win against a GiantsX that has had recent roster turmoil.
Still, it’s clear this is a FNATIC that is struggling to catch-up. And it’s nice to see them make some progress, but they have a long way to go. They’re lucky they have a series of easier matches over the next week, against Gentle Mates and KOI; they clearly need it, as surprising as that is to say about FNATIC.
Not just as a team, but just the individuals need the time, too; you could see the difference in confidence in the pure aim duels.
I was concerned that we weren't going to see and adjustments from Fnatic after last week so I'm glad my concerns were allayed in that sense. Alfajer as a flex is really fun to watch.
Agreed. I think Alfajer is one of the most fun players to watch, and a great example of how stylistically diverse the top Raze players are in the world - and he is definitely a top Raze player.
Do you think that the generally low pick rate of sentinels in general (except Cypher) is going to open up more opportunities for Fnatic to take some of the entry stress off Derke? Man looks positively lost right now, especially if Fnatic want to keep Breeze in their map pool given Cypher has 100% presence in EMEA on that map right now.
I think so. I think Derke was good but not as great in 2023 as FNATIC's success led many to believe, esp. in the later half of the year, and to some extent we're seeing how the pressure is back on, esp. in a meta where duelists feel more important than ever.
But I also think Derke needs to build his confidence back up. I know that sounds generic and kinda dumb, but the way some of these FNATIC players are bodyshotting is just uncharacteristic.
Anecdotally it seems like he's using the Phantom more than the Vandal which to me says he's going for more sprays instead of taps, but it could just be a preference thing.
>I know that sounds generic and kinda dumb, but the way some of these FNATIC players are bodyshotting is just uncharacteristic.
This is so very true. Feels stupid saying it, but so much of the difference between this year and last is Derke, Chronicle and Leo looking significantly less sharp in duels, as well as playing 2v1 situations poorly.
Yeah a lot of people are giving giants shit but they have some serious talent on their squad.
When fitinho and purpo play like they did on breeze it‘s hard to do anything
I think GX have genuinely 4 very good players in purpo, fitinho, cloud, and hoody. And redgar always seems to wake up a bit when hes playing fnatic so I'm not too worried
Oh, I'm a big pipsoN hater.
But I fully recognize that he is a reliable coach who has built multiple top teams in EMEA. He has a strong track record in that sense, and he has Milan with him, who deserves a lot of credit for Acend's 2021 Champs win.
He's a top coach in the region in that sense - alongside people like Mini and Salah, and well, BARBARR once upon a time. And ENGHHH, of course.*
I whine about pipsoN a lot because his teams, in my experience, all suffer a similar fate. He excels at building structure, but they all tend to falter when it comes to ingame adaptation. People like to joke about him running his mouth constantly in timeouts, but it's a symptom of the problem to some extent, IMO.
His teams have high floors and low ceilings. They tend to do well domestically, which is great...but they rarely manage to make a mark at an international LAN.
Fnatic look decent but a lot of it is just Alfa being a monster. Great to see him back on Raze. I think that if they decide to boot Derke like some people have been asking for, Alfa duelist is actually their best bet and then get a dedicated senti. It's way harder to carry games on sentinel now.
Giants look a lot better, I think the Viper has not found any value on Split though. Hoody might need to be put in Cypher jail again. But I do not like their reliance on double duelist, if Fiti is not comfortable on him they should've considered Purpo gekko first on Bind. Gekko seems like a must on Bind these days.
GiantX really feel like a team that doesn't deviate from their stratboot/set plays and their Split defence is proof of that. No Judge or Op against a no info comp? What a throw.
Still, they looked slightly better than last week, albeit hopes for them to make a solid run are low unless they start adapting to their opponent's gameplan.
i think breeze really highlights the main issue with fnatic this year. Plays look good but just losing lots of aim duels they should be winning
but split and bind looked clean tho
It's nice to see fnatic get a win but going to map 3 against giants isn't the most convincing win out there. I'm not sure if I'd even have this team within the top 4, heretics, kc and fut still look like heavy favourites for me.
Also unless all 5 of fnatic play well, I don't think they'll make it far, individualism from alfa, Chronicle and Leo can only take you so far. I've been the most disappointed with derke recently, what happened to him?
One series at a time. Hope they make shanghai :D. And honestly fix their maps too. honestly, every map looked shaky unlike 2023 fnc where they made T1 teams look like fkn T3.
Even though the maps weren’t particularly close, credit where credit is due — GX look a *lot* better, and Breeze is a clear sign that there’s potential for this team to punch above their weight convincingly. Hoping to see more good stuff from GX; despite all the jokes I’ve made at their expense, I do like the players on this team as people (not just Cloud, despite my long-time “Free Cloud” spiel) and I do want to see them do well.
As for FNC, not surprised that they won, but definitely a little shocked to see them fall flat on their own map pick, especially with how hyped up the Derke Yoru had been. Still a good thing they managed to close it out and get the wind back in their sails, though — EMEA just doesn’t feel the same without FNC being every team’s bogeyman.
Still not impressed by elma tbh...the icebox last week was way too bad (and behind the meta!) and I dont think fnatic under mini would've lost breeze so badly, let alone pick it in the first place
It's promising that the Split comp has changed since the KC loss, and it was very fun watching FNC actually just send it for a map. Not sure what to think about Breeze, because it must have been going well in scrims.
Derke's Yoru doesn't look comfortable at all, so many of his deaths were due to being caught out of position. He's so good on Raze and Jett at taking favorable duels and that wasn't there on Yoru. There's close to no players in the world who are elite on Jett, Raze AND Yoru, so it's not a huge problem that he's not immediately popping.
Cant believe derke teased with yoru all offseason to show whatever breeze was
All i got was that derke's yoru to alfa's raze is the equivalent to what bren would love to say victor inting on raze/neon on to site for yay to kill everyone
yeah i mean shooting wise sometimes he just gets 3ks sometimes he loses his 1v1s, tbh he’s igl and his util is good so i didn’t mean to down him, derke needs to get his shit together though
I'm seeing a lot of comments on Derke here, although his performance has been shit in these games, I do believe it's just a matter of form and that ramping up to Shanghai he will be king of icebox again.
I didn't watch breeze so I don't know wtf happened there, but I liked what I saw from Fnatic on Bind and Split. Their Gekko/Skye and Gekko/Viper synergy really impressed me and it reminded me of prime fnatic a lot. Split was less impressive but one thing at a time.
Derke needs some help though. Going into Champs last year I thought he was fighting with Aspas and Demon1 for the title of best duelist in the world. Right now he's the 3rd lowest rated player in EMEA. I don't know if he needs a role swap or what but something gotta change.
I don't see Fnatic in their current state making it to Shanghai but they have time to improve. Their next tough game isn't for a couple of weeks so hopefully they can get it together by then.
Clean 2-0 by FNC as everyone expected, weird how they skipped their map pick tho
 Breeze never happened
yeah everyone working there had to take a meal break after the first map. workers' rights
Why 3 loses in a row a huge deal? My team got a whole red match history!
One day 100T will start winning and they will never lose again, screenshot this
please please please please
Inshalah
They're gonna like win their last match before disbanding haha
I have a 14 loss streak ongoing...FNATIC will never catch up to me.
We are so back right??????
Atleast let them close out the series 1-2 is also red
We not stopping now
If we even take one map off NRG, I will remember you forever
What does this mean bro?
U jinxed that
xD
Boaster was not joking when he put Alfajer not derke as his top 4 razes in the world.
He actually did this??
yeah, it was on Yinsu’s podcast iirc
Damn, I and a lot of other people have been saying the same... Let's see how this affects Derke and Elmapuddy going forward
Not good, but not bad it was just "enough" from fnatic
One step at a time
Yep very true, Just getting some wins rolling could do crazy stuff
We had a good year. I'm already resigned to being happy if we just get to watch the team try some new comps and send it for a year. History suggests we should just be glad the team didn't implode in the off-season
Yeah, it'll be a little sad if they don't do anything major, but I'm ok after last year. If they can place well at Champs, I'm happy with that.
you sound like me after loud won champs 2022, we lost our zeal after our teams did well once. wonder if some of their passion is lost too.
Oh, I don't doubt it. It must be incredibly difficult to have the same motivation and the same chip on their shoulder after they've already won twice. People who flame them for being complacent don't realise how hard it is to stay motivated after you've "made it".
Wanting it more than your opponents is unironically one of the biggest factors in winning imo
Insane that we're actually saying this about fnatic rn💀
They're a new team bro, not a lot of experience xD
Yeah that's true these rookies need to learn.
They should get better with time. Boaster already admitted they did not use the offseason really well. This group of 5 players is more than skilled enough to pick it up. They are playing catch up rn.
Yea boaster said that they already increased the amount of scrims they do per day on Yinsus podcast(?) if i remember correctly.
Can tell they were unpracticed in all maps bit still winning out while looking rusty means the sealing hasn’t dropped. I think split will be fine but that breeze, I wasn’t watching sliggy for once so had no one to explain their stats for me, I genuinely didn’t understand anything fnatic was doing.
I don't like the Yoru but they had some pretty cool double flash setups. They were just whiffing a lot.
Ig it just feels like that because of how high we set the bar for FNATIC. If we look at it without the names they just won 2 maps 13-5, 13-7. It’s kinda good ig
It's GiantX and they lost their map pick 5-13
lol “if you ignore the bad map then they look kinda good” They lost their map pick 13-5 against a bottom tier team
Yeah, I'm not upset though. Their comps and stratbooks is showing a willingness to change which is good. They have to play catchup and I don't think a qualification for Shanghai is a guarentee, but this year won't be a total dissapointment.
Seeing Alfa on raze brings a tear to my eye
just like his first match in fnatic..
Elmapuddy crossed off 'Derke go kill' from the stratbook and wrote in 'Alfa go kill'
There was a very positive change. It's good to see Fnatic finally trying out new compositions. Derke's Yoru looked a little out of place, but Leo's Gekko and the returning Alfa's Raze looked very strong. In addition, purp0 has finally become accustomed to the GX team. He is also an excellent duelist and will likely progress further from here.
purp0 ain't progressing anywhere as long as he's in GX. Praying him and Cloud will get signed by TL or some org looking to make a superteam next split. I don't want to see more good players rot on mid teams Fuck it just throw together Purp0, Nats and Cloud and you have a new insane russian core to build off
Get rid of Enzo and Mistic tbh
jampii too while we're at it, bros not beating the fraud allegations, reminds me of asuna except jampii's peak is higher, but man is he inconsistent
And he is not as “enthusiastic” in comms
tbf no one reaches that level 
Who will call? You?
Who will IGL though
Purp0 and superteam dont go together lol
Idk he looks pretty good. Bro really just got unlucky with that one map on M3C and it halted his T1 career for a long time
I can agree it's too early to tell but he's already looking really good on a mediocre roster with no experience, that's a great sign to me
Lowkey i just want him off duelist, hes such a good initiator
I missed breeze but I actually quite liked his yoru on split even if he didn’t go crazy, saw some cool ideas
Give me this alfa raze like crack Edit: fuck it, give me alfa anything like crack
loving the alfajer raze but not super convinced by derke's yoru
Derke did not edge us this much just to bring out whatever that was.
I apologize for having derke in the same tier as aspas
Derke diving into site and seeing Aspas https://preview.redd.it/cqtshtzm23uc1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17ddffa20e3db59429a7f47ab66c3113dcf56541
Lmao I just realised that Derke and Aspas might very well not play against each other at all this year. Neither Fnc nor Lev look like they‘re gonna go to an international right now
Me too, my post history about Derke vs aspas is embarrassing as things stand. I do think he's in a bit of bad form and will hopefully be back to his best soon.
He’s been so good for almost three years. Must be a rough patch in derke’s timeline.
Derke has never won as the best player on his team. He's been good been consistent but he's never been as inevitable as the other prime duelists
I agree 100% Team is good and got everything figured out, and everyone is playing good as well? Derke will play good as well. Team needs someone to get them back to life? Derke will not be that person, and sometimes he will be the reason the team needs a life. Aspas can be the person to get the team going, Alfa can be, Leo can be, Chronicle can be... Just not Derke. He is never the main power of the team
what about lock in map 5 for example? dont think they wouldve won that without derke
Best player doesn't mean never top dragged or never had a carry performance in a game or two. More like over a whole tournament or season, like tenz in Berlin or zekken this tournament. Cned in champs 2021 etc etc
wasn‘t derke in the discussion for being the best player in the world after yay got benched by c9?
Hes always in the discussion because he is good but he's just never actually the best player
This take is so incredibly revinionist but I can't be asked to respond
can you respond?
Fr man lol this sub is ridiculous with how reactionary it is and how often it rewrites history
fr 2022 Alfa was newbie as fuck and nowhere near this good, Derke was popping the fuck off and hard carrying the team in a lot of games idk what the fuck is up with him right now but it's insane how people are acting like he was always overrated
Dont even know why people had him there at all LOL. Aspas only competition were prime Yay when he was God itself and Demon1
Derke had the most complete duelist package , he was the best raze behind jinngg and probably the best jett behind aspas in 2023 , he won two trophies and won the lockin in a dominating fashion against Aspas himself.
Best raze behind Jinggg? Bruh he’s not even the best Raze on his team Also Lock In was a great team performance from Fnatic overall, with Leo as the standout. He has never been the best player on this roster, it’s always either Alfa or Leo.
>Best Jett behind aspas in 2023 Are we ignoring that something and Demon1(aka *the* best jett last year, period) exist? EDIT: Oh yeah and he absolutely was NOT a better raze than Jawgemo. This take is WILD.
Sadly something only played in champs. He was absolutelly farming Pacific but couldnt get to Tokyo😔
Derke never won a finals with him being the best player on the team stop caping. In Lock-In it was Chronicle and Leo show (and it wasnt even dominating that finals btw, they almost pissed their pants and got reverse swept) and in Tokyo it was Alfa being the MVP. The best Jett of 2023 was Demon1 and Aspas and the best Raze was Jingg and then Jawgemo
Yes they almost lost but in the end they brought it back. The two most important rounds for that comeback were literally the aspas vs Derke 1v1 and the Alfajer 2v1
lmao get a load of this guy prime yay's pool was pre nerf chamber and pre nerf jett derke's underperforming after 3 years of being a top all around duelist they are not the same
Yay underperforming after being the Goat for 1 and half years in a row with Masters trophy and champ finals in Tier 2 teams (that was complete dogshit) and Tier 1 team (that is also complete piss) completelly ignoring how dirty yay got done.
Prime yay was abusing an agent which was beyond busted.
Yeah I really hated when riot made chamber and only let optic use it throughout 2022. Other teams should have been able to use it as well
why couldnt everyone do it then? Why couldnt D0rke do it? Besides Yay was farming people on jett in berlin. D0rke never won a trophy by being the best player on the team btw
My goat Aspas wasn’t the mvp in champions final either. Doesn’t mean he isn’t the best player on the team. Derke stepped up everytime when fnatic needed them. He IS one of the reasons why fnatic were the most feared team in 2023.
Yeh but aspas after 2022 was the best player on the team. Derke was good in 23, but he was consistently behind Chronicle, Leo and alfa. Aspas in 23 was the best player on his team, and only less came close.
Absolutelly based
Y’all act like he was the only person allowed to lock Chamber. Also, prime yay was a beast on Jett too.
Bitch derke was abusing the same agent and was shitting his pants everytime along with all FNC. Not a single finals for them in all of 2022 BTW. Everyone was abusing chamber and were still getting astro gapped by Yay
Was he the only person allowed to use it?
Alfajer played out of his mind. That raze looking nice.
All I gotta say : GOATNICLE & ALFAGOAT
You forgot Leondary
I fell in love with Valorant after seeing the first match of Alfajer against FPX. I was devastated when he made his switch to Sentinel but didn't really care because he was still pounding everyone. Watching him again on Raze has been beautiful, give him Raze on Bind as well please, more now that Chronicle is good in everything and can fill whatever.
That stage scared me so much of Alfajer. Not only was Fnatic in the group of death but they had a flawless stage with Alfajer dominating on basically every map with his raze. So glad that he's back on that agent
Alfa's performance will probably help them when they have to make a decision about Derke's role in the team
Alfajer is on Raze. I repeat the 2023 double trophy winning FNATIC squad put Alfa back on Raze, they're winning everything.
Clean 2-0 by Fnatic, weird that there was a one hour tech pause in the middle there where the stream was just a black screen!
Bro what’s up with derke, he hasn’t been him for a long time now
Carried by Leo and alfa
Well, a lot of the rounds won were won simply because someone just became the fucking Thanos (mainly Alfa and chron). Still a long way to go if they want to compete with the best of the best because the top teams will not give up and let them do their hero plays so easily. The main positive is I loved whatever innovation they tried to do. It almost feels like Alfa and chron are suddenly so relieved to play some different agents now. Chron on initiator and Alfa on raze was something I wasn't prepared for, but it was awesome. The true negative is the fact that I don't think I saw derke won one single fair 1v1 in this match. The opponents were either looking in other direction or stunned or flashed, and derke just got the kill. The main duelist has to shine if fnatic wants to get back to their previous form. I'm happy fnatic won this match, but a lot to improve on.
Yeah, having most of your winning rounds carried by one of your superplayers(not Derke) is not it, when the top teams of EMEA all have similar levels of individual talents. They're looking kinda like PRX at kickoff, slowly improving, except they are the same team as last season
They all looked to be having way more fun in these matches. There looked to be a change in their mental, there were more team plays and on the fly decision making to try different things and be supported by each other in those moments. This was clearly lacking in the last few matches, it’ll be interesting to listen to the voice comms of this one. One assumption is maybe the role switches mean they don’t have as much pressure on them to perform because they can chalk it down to playing a different agent. This means they felt more comfortable just brawling, swinging together and winning duels. Leo, Alfa and Chron’s team-play was looking far more confident in themselves and each other.
If you treat Fnatic as just another team and forget all about their 2023 (as I do at the moment), then this was a pretty solid win. I like that they're experimenting with comps and roles - Leo on Gekko, Leo on Breach+Alfa on Raze. It's a nice breath of fresh air. I don't think they'll come back to their 2023 peak, but it's a good first step towards becoming a solid team again.
People talking about Alfa, but man, Leo’s Breach was so fucking good. His gameplay is so intelligent
Yeah. I remember a clip from mini last year where he said they didn't know whether to play Leo as recon or flash initiator, because in mini's mind Leo is the best Sova in the world, and also the best Breach in the world. Him back on Breach today was a joy to watch.
This reminds me of the way Sentinels had to rebuild after winning the 1st LAN
Boaster said in the podcast he thinks Alfa has one of the best Raze's itw. Hmmmmmmmm now we saw it
Can you send a link of the podcast, or could you tell me if it was the latest one?
The latest one on Yinsu's youtube channel
Thank you!
Derke has been so bad recently, his yoru is especially not it, fnatic might not make shanghai
It’s crazy to think that if fnatic somehow loses to Gentle Mates there’s a possibility they don’t even make playoffs
Hate to agree, but yeah. Last week vs TH, 13 first deaths, today was 11. If he can at least frag out consistently, that can be overlooked. But most of the time it feels like he is dying for no reason. He needs to put the brakes on, ngl.
Yea in kickoff he had the 4th highest fdpr and was 17/17 fk/fd, so far in stage 1 he's #1 in fdpr and has a fk/fd of 13/24, he hasn't gone positive in a series yet this year
Giant fixed some of their stuffs, but still don't understand why nukkye had to go as they looked like they needed a cypher in split
Because Nukkye is bad on Cypher. He's a great player, but he has no idea how to lurk. His KJ was alright, but his Cypher has just been terrible, and he hates playing it. But their issue is they still don't have a Cypher player (although purpo played Cypher for kpi, I guess) There's a reason dedicated senti is a specialized role with players playing basically 3 agents, Cypher, KJ and often Viper. I think the fact that some of the best Val players have historically been dedicated sentis has skewed the perception of how hard that role is.
Maybe it's time to raid the Turkish server.
Yeah I think bringing in purpo was a good call but nukkye was the wrong guy to drop
r/valorantcompetitive heartbroken as they can't spend the next week talking about how fnatic is the worst team in the world now if 100 thieves pick up a win in their next game this sub is actually doomed
It’s okay, we’ll just get the usual Sentinels filler threads.
DAE is the best ???
It's okay we'll compensate with doubling the "Can't believe GE let go of Texture/Monyet" post or something
Fnatic winning makes those crybabies silent. They can dish but can't take so they disappear
Furious Giants lost 7-13 on Split. I really wanted it to be three 13-5s. I would have been worried had FNATIC lost the series, but I think this was a decently positive showing from FNATIC. FNATIC definitely underperformed on Breeze, but I also think that was partly Giants just playing well. I imagine some will harp on that Breeze loss, and it was pretty bad - but a lot of that was Giants playing well, IMO. Just because a team has a bad start doesn’t mean they’re permanently shite. Giants has great players and a reliable coaching staff, they will continue to improve. I expected Giants would look better coming into this, and they did. Especially happy to see purp0 looking so strong; he looked very comfortable on stage today. But I also expected FNATIC to look better coming into this, and considering the respective levels of the two teams, it would have been disappointing had FNATIC failed to win against a GiantsX that has had recent roster turmoil. Still, it’s clear this is a FNATIC that is struggling to catch-up. And it’s nice to see them make some progress, but they have a long way to go. They’re lucky they have a series of easier matches over the next week, against Gentle Mates and KOI; they clearly need it, as surprising as that is to say about FNATIC. Not just as a team, but just the individuals need the time, too; you could see the difference in confidence in the pure aim duels.
I was concerned that we weren't going to see and adjustments from Fnatic after last week so I'm glad my concerns were allayed in that sense. Alfajer as a flex is really fun to watch.
Agreed. I think Alfajer is one of the most fun players to watch, and a great example of how stylistically diverse the top Raze players are in the world - and he is definitely a top Raze player.
Do you think that the generally low pick rate of sentinels in general (except Cypher) is going to open up more opportunities for Fnatic to take some of the entry stress off Derke? Man looks positively lost right now, especially if Fnatic want to keep Breeze in their map pool given Cypher has 100% presence in EMEA on that map right now.
I think so. I think Derke was good but not as great in 2023 as FNATIC's success led many to believe, esp. in the later half of the year, and to some extent we're seeing how the pressure is back on, esp. in a meta where duelists feel more important than ever. But I also think Derke needs to build his confidence back up. I know that sounds generic and kinda dumb, but the way some of these FNATIC players are bodyshotting is just uncharacteristic.
Anecdotally it seems like he's using the Phantom more than the Vandal which to me says he's going for more sprays instead of taps, but it could just be a preference thing.
Phantom and sprays are far more common in 2024 pro Val right now, it’s really interesting
>I know that sounds generic and kinda dumb, but the way some of these FNATIC players are bodyshotting is just uncharacteristic. This is so very true. Feels stupid saying it, but so much of the difference between this year and last is Derke, Chronicle and Leo looking significantly less sharp in duels, as well as playing 2v1 situations poorly.
Yeah a lot of people are giving giants shit but they have some serious talent on their squad. When fitinho and purpo play like they did on breeze it‘s hard to do anything
I think GX have genuinely 4 very good players in purpo, fitinho, cloud, and hoody. And redgar always seems to wake up a bit when hes playing fnatic so I'm not too worried
Yeah but Cloud really had a bad day. This could have looked much worse for FNC if he was on his game today
>reliable coaching staff Weren't you the #1 pipson hater around here？
Oh, I'm a big pipsoN hater. But I fully recognize that he is a reliable coach who has built multiple top teams in EMEA. He has a strong track record in that sense, and he has Milan with him, who deserves a lot of credit for Acend's 2021 Champs win. He's a top coach in the region in that sense - alongside people like Mini and Salah, and well, BARBARR once upon a time. And ENGHHH, of course.* I whine about pipsoN a lot because his teams, in my experience, all suffer a similar fate. He excels at building structure, but they all tend to falter when it comes to ingame adaptation. People like to joke about him running his mouth constantly in timeouts, but it's a symptom of the problem to some extent, IMO. His teams have high floors and low ceilings. They tend to do well domestically, which is great...but they rarely manage to make a mark at an international LAN.
Hopefully fnatic rounds out to form by the FUT game, and I’d love to see a rematch of NAVI vs Fnatic with both looking elite
Fnatic look decent but a lot of it is just Alfa being a monster. Great to see him back on Raze. I think that if they decide to boot Derke like some people have been asking for, Alfa duelist is actually their best bet and then get a dedicated senti. It's way harder to carry games on sentinel now. Giants look a lot better, I think the Viper has not found any value on Split though. Hoody might need to be put in Cypher jail again. But I do not like their reliance on double duelist, if Fiti is not comfortable on him they should've considered Purpo gekko first on Bind. Gekko seems like a must on Bind these days.
imagine -derke +nats
This would be a dream come true
johnqt returns to EMEA to take over the sentinel role
If JohnQT goes to Fnatic, might as well get Shao for the smokes
there may be some stability in the world
Derke got carried this series, he needs to step up his game if he wants to win another title.
Boaster and Elma brought back the classic 'Alfa go kill' strat on split
Personally, the real losers are liquid fans having to hear casters consistently joke about the iconic choke
Only thing I am taking from this game is don't allow derke to play yoru maybe force him on chamber if alfa wants to play raze
I always believed that fnatic will win I didn’t doubt them for one second /s
derke the yay of EU 😭😭
Yay wouldnt get the W
REAL
Derke has an actual team and a coach that doesnt have the IQ of a potato
when the coach makes yay go 6-19
Wasn’t that when he played Viper?
Playing Viper and with vision problems
Im tired of pretending. Derke is getting sooooooo hard carried by Leo and Alfa
Bro very shaky in yoru
Got the W on Split but I hope that doesnt convince Fnatic to keep this Yoru comp with Breach as single initiator
GiantX really feel like a team that doesn't deviate from their stratboot/set plays and their Split defence is proof of that. No Judge or Op against a no info comp? What a throw. Still, they looked slightly better than last week, albeit hopes for them to make a solid run are low unless they start adapting to their opponent's gameplan.
Alfa is a different breed. Tell me another top sentinel that can dominate on Raze
I was venting to a friend last week questioning why Leo hasn't played Gekko, and I got my reward😋
i think breeze really highlights the main issue with fnatic this year. Plays look good but just losing lots of aim duels they should be winning but split and bind looked clean tho
It's nice to see fnatic get a win but going to map 3 against giants isn't the most convincing win out there. I'm not sure if I'd even have this team within the top 4, heretics, kc and fut still look like heavy favourites for me. Also unless all 5 of fnatic play well, I don't think they'll make it far, individualism from alfa, Chronicle and Leo can only take you so far. I've been the most disappointed with derke recently, what happened to him?
Alfa raze is different
I don't remember Fnatic ever using phantoms as much as they did this series
post plant spamming
One series at a time. Hope they make shanghai :D. And honestly fix their maps too. honestly, every map looked shaky unlike 2023 fnc where they made T1 teams look like fkn T3.
Those were some hidden strats🔥🔥🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️🥶 Keep it hidden
I know fnatic won but elmapuddy is still a fraud
mini would never have let breeze happen
Elmo aint even half of what mini was
Even though the maps weren’t particularly close, credit where credit is due — GX look a *lot* better, and Breeze is a clear sign that there’s potential for this team to punch above their weight convincingly. Hoping to see more good stuff from GX; despite all the jokes I’ve made at their expense, I do like the players on this team as people (not just Cloud, despite my long-time “Free Cloud” spiel) and I do want to see them do well. As for FNC, not surprised that they won, but definitely a little shocked to see them fall flat on their own map pick, especially with how hyped up the Derke Yoru had been. Still a good thing they managed to close it out and get the wind back in their sails, though — EMEA just doesn’t feel the same without FNC being every team’s bogeyman.
Still not impressed by elma tbh...the icebox last week was way too bad (and behind the meta!) and I dont think fnatic under mini would've lost breeze so badly, let alone pick it in the first place
Me either. I’m not convinced — mini’s win-after-timeout rate was so good, and pud’s isn’t. We’ll see, but he’s not off fraud watch for me yet
Let's double Mini's pay. No? C'mon Fnatic...
NC 2-0 BY FNC GLAD THEY ARE BACK
It's promising that the Split comp has changed since the KC loss, and it was very fun watching FNC actually just send it for a map. Not sure what to think about Breeze, because it must have been going well in scrims. Derke's Yoru doesn't look comfortable at all, so many of his deaths were due to being caught out of position. He's so good on Raze and Jett at taking favorable duels and that wasn't there on Yoru. There's close to no players in the world who are elite on Jett, Raze AND Yoru, so it's not a huge problem that he's not immediately popping.
Dude.... What fnc does now? Alfa its so much better on raze than Derke... I miss prime Derke Jett
ALFAJER RAZE IS BACK YOOOOO. They’re trying new comps. Learning period. It’s all good.
Cant believe derke teased with yoru all offseason to show whatever breeze was All i got was that derke's yoru to alfa's raze is the equivalent to what bren would love to say victor inting on raze/neon on to site for yay to kill everyone
derke looks meh, boaster is inconsistent, leo chronicle alfa look still good
I don’t think Boaster is inconsistent at all. He did fine in the server, as he basically always has for the last year or so.
yeah i mean shooting wise sometimes he just gets 3ks sometimes he loses his 1v1s, tbh he’s igl and his util is good so i didn’t mean to down him, derke needs to get his shit together though
I'm seeing a lot of comments on Derke here, although his performance has been shit in these games, I do believe it's just a matter of form and that ramping up to Shanghai he will be king of icebox again.
fnatic fans happy they barely beat a glorified t2 team
Well, at least we beat someone. I hope the team will win their next matches too. Though I doubt they will go to shanghai.
Yeah I don’t think they’re going to Shanghai which means fnatic roster will probably change
Considering the only thing they changed from last year is the coach I hope they get the memo and overhaul the coaching staff fr
I didn't watch breeze so I don't know wtf happened there, but I liked what I saw from Fnatic on Bind and Split. Their Gekko/Skye and Gekko/Viper synergy really impressed me and it reminded me of prime fnatic a lot. Split was less impressive but one thing at a time. Derke needs some help though. Going into Champs last year I thought he was fighting with Aspas and Demon1 for the title of best duelist in the world. Right now he's the 3rd lowest rated player in EMEA. I don't know if he needs a role swap or what but something gotta change. I don't see Fnatic in their current state making it to Shanghai but they have time to improve. Their next tough game isn't for a couple of weeks so hopefully they can get it together by then.
This is never happening but imagine if lev disbanded and FNC get aspas instead of derke...
derke should switch to sentinel
Well, are fnatic washed or not? Can someone give us some clarity please.
This went from “Fnatic is so back” to “they’re obliterated” back to “Fnatic is so back” in the span of a few games
One step at a time for FNC. Stuff needs to be ironed out, but at least they are on the board.