Fnatic eliminates G2 Esports at VALORANT Masters Toronto

Today’s Lower Bracket Semifinal at VALORANT Masters Toronto saw Fnatic eliminate yet another Americas team — this time, G2 Esports.

After sending home Sentinels, the last hope of EMEA survived elimination with a scrappily earned 2-0 victory ahead of the Lower Bracket Final.

G2 made a daring first map pick by taking Fnatic to one of its comfort maps, Lotus. However, both teams had sloppy moments throughout the match. Following a dominant start, Fnatic let several rounds slip through its fingers. Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett, in particular, was frequently caught off guard trying to anchor risky positions on defence. Meanwhile, G2 lost several rounds to questionable utility usage, leading to an even 6-6 half.

The second half started in a similar fashion. Fnatic won another pistol, yet invested an Operator into its third round instead of the traditional bonus route. G2 punished its opponent for this decision and stole Fnatic’s Operator for its defence. Overall, G2 looked more polished on Lotus while Fnatic lost two attack rounds by running the clock down too much.

Still, EMEA’s last hope made successful adjustments after its final timeout. With some hero plays and a few clean site executes, Fnatic took Lotus 13-10.

The series continued to be a back-and-forth spectacle on Fnatic’s map pick, Split. Although G2 had looked uncomfortable on this map during the series versus Paper Rex, the North American team managed to secure both pistol rounds this time. On top of that, Trent ‘trent’ Cairns won clutch after clutch while Fnatic once again struggled with its biggest enemy on attack: the time limit. Through scrappy round wins, Fnatic achieved a mediocre 5-7 half.

The second half was packed with thrifty round victories from both squads, sometimes in a back-to-back fashion. However, Fnatic displayed superior proactivity and composure. Leveraging smart utility combinations and strategies, the EMEA roster denied many of G2’s executes and post-plants. It felt like it was only a matter of time until Fnatic claimed Split 13-10.

Throughout both maps, Fnatic’s Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov and Emir ‘Alfajer’ Beder stood out with their high-impact frags. The two players delivered 47 and 46 kills and average combat scores (ACS) of 295 and 278, respectively.

With today’s matches concluded, Fnatic is heading into the Lower Bracket Final against Wolves Esports. Wolves just lost the Upper Bracket Final to Paper Rex, who became the first team to qualify for the Grand Final.

Taking place tomorrow, the best-of-five (BO5) series between Fnatic and Wolves will determine who will compete against Paper Rex for the Masters Toronto trophy.