In what was supposed to be a close series between two powerhouses of the VALORANT scene, Fnatic came out with a truly dominant sweep on June 17 at the VALORANT Champions Tour Masters Tokyo playoffs—with a massive Sage misplay summing up a dismal showing for NRG Esports.
NRG and Fnatic were trading rounds on Fracture with some of the best displays of top-tier VALORANT fans could see. Almost every round had a set play from both squads and various rotations called by both experienced leaders Jake “Boaster” Howlett and Pujan “FNS” Mehta. It was dead even at the half at 6-6, and it was looking like we’d need to see all three maps to determine a winner.
But as soon as halftime on Fracture arrived, Fnatic shifted into another gear to run over NRG without so much as a sweat. Words can’t even explain how one-sided it was, but Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks’ mistake on map two’s Bind was the true culmination of the series as a whole for NRG, who now must make a run through the lower bracket.
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For NRG, their saving grace was their Bind pick. They lost the pistol and eco, only to win the next two rounds to tie the map early at 2-2. Fnatic then strung 10 straight rounds in a row, using a combination of aggressive Raze satchel swings from Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev and effective lurks from Boaster to all but put the map away. By half-time, the eight-round lead seemed impossible to overcome, and NRG losing their pistol afterward didn’t help.
Just as the team began to build some momentum after a force buy win in round 14, it all came crumbling down due to a crucial mistake from ardiis’ Sage.
Down 11-4, NRG’s Victor Wong found an early pick on the A site, with NRG deciding to play slow afterward and eventually push onto the B site. Just as the team decided to push, ardiis used his Barrier Orb, seemingly to boost an NRG player over Fnatic’s Viper wall. Then, in what seems like the worst misclick possible, he throws down a Slow Orb just in front of his teammates.
It surprised everyone, including the casters, quickly realizing what was coming next. There were only 15 seconds left in the round, leaving NRG to push through the slow—and into their demise.
The round was over, with the misplay a perfect summary of NRG’s first playoff game at Masters Tokyo. NRG would lose 13-4 with only themselves to blame, and despite a near-positive kill differential, ardiis himself tweeted post-match that he played “shockingly bad”. He doesn’t have too much time to reflect upon this, though; NRG has their lower bracket match on June 18 against the loser of Paper Rex versus DRX.
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As for Fnatic, they’ll take on the winner of the Pacific Derby as they look to continue their upper bracket run at VCT Masters Tokyo.
