North American VALORANT didn’t go out with a bang at VCT LOCK//IN but with a whimper when the last remaining team from the region in 100 Thieves got dismantled by the superpowered Fnatic roster today.
The series started as poorly as possible on 100T’s own pick of Fracture. Fnatic punished the last stalwart of NA on the attack side, with Leo Jannesson (on Fade) thriving in his official on-stage debut after an extended time in quarantine. They had a dominant 11-1 half on the attack, then won the pistol and anti-eco to quickly end map one 13-1, keeping all five 100T players under nine kills each.
On Fnatic’s pick of Icebox, Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev showed why he’s one of the best players in the world on Icebox (or any map to be fair), and decimated the 100T attack side with aggressive Jett play that went unanswered. 100T trailed 10-2 at the half but started to crawl back with a hot start to their defensive side. They rallied to only a 12-10 deficit but then lost a brutal 13th round to a late low-health rotate and Fnatic Shortys.
The comeback attempt on Icebox was effectively the only positive for 100T, who were dominated for most of the series. Overall, it was a tough showing for both Cryocells and stellar, who went a combined four-for-21 in opening duels. 100T are the second NA team to be knocked out in convincing fashion by Fnatic after Sentinels were soundly defeated in round one.
With both NAVI and Fnatic making it to the Omega bracket final, an EMEA team is guaranteed to appear in the grand final. The two stacked European rosters will face off on Friday, March 3 at 11am CT.
