VALORANT at EWC 25 – Day 6 – Playoffs
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Do you know? Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hello. Hey. Hey everyone, we’re here at the player lounge and we’re about to test the reflexes on some of our talents. We have big time, Baby Bay, and Victoria here and they’re going to have 15 seconds to get the highest score. You guys know how this works. Baby B, you want to go first? Of course. Let’s go. I’m ready. Ready. I’m ready. I’m ready. Close your eyes a little bit more. Bro, I’m getting tired. Oh, no. No. Okay, baby. B, you got a whooping 31. Big time. You’re next. You’re next. You’re next. You’re next. Okay, you ready? Three, two, one. That’s so aggressive. Bro, you got to be gentle with it. You just got to tap it. Can you stop talking to me, please? Take my advice. It’s about swiftness, agility. It’s not about strength. Got this, bro. Please stop talking. 34. Okay. You’re already ahead of Baby B. Big girl. You know, you got to give it to them. You got to teach them how it’s done. Girl, ready? When does it start? Okay. Yeah. Oh, you hit a button, it starts. Okay, I’m ready. Three, two, one, go. Going, going, going, going, going, going, going, going. It’s not a good start. Oh, you got to bleep that out. You got to bleep that out. You got to bleep that out. You’re owning. You’re owning. You’re owning. Way more than you guys. Okay, it’s the pace. She got 34 as well. Okay, I am not making this up. The number is absolutely here. So, it’s between the two of you guys. Uh, Baby B, you get to choose a winner. Who’s winning? I got to give this to Victoria. Oh, thank you. I’ll take the win. This is a Pacific rivalry. Uh, big time today. You are small time. And it is good to be the victor here. 34 the winner. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Are you entertained? This wasn’t just about who’s the best. It was about who had to win. This amount of money is it’s life-changing. Not just for them, but everyone that is close to them. It’s crazy. They’re so good at a game they can make millions of dollars. Who are these people? One win, one chance for everything they carried with them. This is the Esports World Cup club championship. the ultimate crossgame competition that will crown the best esports club in the world. Let’s break down how it works. Clubs will be able to compete at the esports world cup and as many titles as they can qualify for. The clubs will then earn points based on their placement in each title. To qualify for the club championship, a club will need a top eight placement in at least two competitions. But to win the championship, a club must place first in at least one competition. At the end of the esports world cup, the 24 clubs with the highest number of points will earn a share of the 27 million with the winner taking home a staggering $7 million and of course the title of the best esports club in the world. Who will rise above and write their place in history? Watch it all here at the Esports World Cup. No competition is as ruthless as the esports world cup. Its trophy system is no exception. The club championship trophy awarded to the one club that rose above the rest and reigns supreme across all EWC games. The game trophy. When a competitor closes their eyes, it’s all they see. And it’s not complete until it’s sealed with a champions key. Every participant earns a key engraved with their name. That’s their right to compete. This year, returning champions hold a key unlike any other. Only one can place their key into the game trophy and become an EWC champion. The frame of the champion’s key is embedded into the totem, a stone marker of legacy displaying every champion of the year. The keys of the eliminated will be crushed. The champion selects three broken keys as a personal token, a reminder of who they have humbled. Beneath the totem, a resin block holds the remaining keys, a graveyard of fallen contenders. Will your dreams be broken or your name carved in gold and stone? At EWC, nothing is granted. Everything is earned. down for the cover. Finding a second with a 4K right into the leading arms of Wing desperately trying to find it. The journey to crown the first ever gamewinner in Valerant is here. It has been five long days. 16 teams vied for the crown, but now only one will take it. It is an all EMA affair in our grand finals and we’re so excited to have you. Welcome. It is the esports world cup presenting Dh presenting Valerant Deon here alongside Baby Bay and Kakuka to get you all set up for today’s matches. We have the grand finals and of course the Pacific third place match as well between Gen G and Paper Rex. It has been a heck of a tournament so far y’all. How’s it feeling for our grand finals today? weird because we have the third and fourth uh first and that is something that we do not get to see in Valor I would say at all practically. So it’s cool to see that we’re going to get as much much match action as we can and obviously super happy again that it’s EMA versus EMA. Yeah, super happy I have an NA player on on Fnatic, you know, he’s he’s representing the entire region at this point cuz Yeah, everyone went to the airport already. Big time isn’t here. Yeah, where is where’s our man big time? But uh I’m excited because especially in that grand final, the path that the two teams had to make it there are it’s so different, right? You had heretics who had to like basically run the gauntlet barely making it, but Fnatic looks so dominant the entire way through. Yeah. And one of those two teams will have the opportunity etched their name in history as we take a look at the totem for the 2025 esports world cup. And I’m back at the totem where the club champion keys are. And if you look up there, there’s one more that’s joined the board on Fatal Fury. Last night, we crowned another king. Gochi from DFM is now the champion for this year, uh, this year’s Fatal Fury, and we’re going to find out what’s going to be happening with Valerant. So, a quick recap on what happened yesterday. We had four of the top teams at EWC teams I don’t think we’re very surprised to see in the top four. Now, we had a Pacific versus EMA rivalry here, and EMA ended up coming out on top. First, uh, to start the day, we had Fnatic versus Paper X. We had a rematch from Toronto’s Masters and this time Fnatic ended up winning out. Boster doing some really criminal positions on ascent with that operator. And on the last map there on Split, looked like Fnatic had everything in order. In the following match after that, we had Heritk versus Gen G. And if you guys remember that Lotus, it was so back and forth. Literally round after round going one way the other. We went into that overtime and then Heretics ended up closing out also getting their revenge. So that means today we are going to get all four teams once more. We’re going to get a grand finals between the two EMA teams and of course the two Pacific teams vying for that third place position. And that’s the update from the totem. Thank you for that update. And earlier we had our champion of the FGC’s first tournament here at the esports world cup, Fatal Fury going to detonation focus me there. And you could see the moments anytime the FPC has those moments. Oh my god, it is so huge. It is so so huge because again we like seeing the key crushing but to be able to do that and have this moment and pick out the three different keys he’s going to keep forever in his game trophy. Uh it is awesome. Go on getting the victory there and he’s going all the way up to the top. We’re going to have this moment later today too. I don’t know about y’all but I’m getting goosebumps right now. I mean I was dying when he started crying. Obviously in Fatal Fury, he’s playing by himself, right? So, it’s not like it’s it’s a team sport. He is the ultimate winner. He gets to have uh the trophy and and and whatnot and just be the one putting the key. It’s all about him. So, I understand that moment. Yeah. Me and you just like got really the eyed back here seeing his expression when he won. You could see how much it really meant to him. And I like the fact that you get to pick three of the keys. It’s the ultimate BM. Like, if you ever had a rivalry, you’re like, “Yo, this is you have to choose players in the final, right?” like that was the the last opponent that I that I beat before getting my If you got to pick uh three keys out of any org, what would you pick during the looting phase of uh your What game am I What game am I playing? Let’s play Valerant. I assume you’re going to pick So I’m Valerant and I’ve beaten all the teams in this tournament. Yeah. All the teams of this tournament, what are you picking? Uh I’m picking EDG. EDG. Yeah. I think I think it’s very cool. Um I wouldn’t do I pick anyone from my own region? Yeah, sure. Um, sure, sure, sure. Who do you hate the most? I don’t really Who do you like the least? Sorry. I really hate anyone that’s here. I’ll tell you that. Who do you like the least out of all the NBA teams? Out of all the NBA teams, uh, I can’t I guess Casey cuz they’re French. And then one more. It’s um, one more. Yeah, I think I I’ll take like Paper X because I don’t think I would ever be able to pick Paper X. So, if I if I get that, I I would get that. Yeah. Baby, you go ahead and think about yours as we head on over to the Apex stage where they as well are crowning a champion later today. Hi everyone. I am back at Apex Legend and it is grand finals day for them as well. I’m standing in front of their key wall which is a lot more extensive than ours at Valerant. 20 teams still competing for their lives for the lion share of the $2 million prize pool. Now what’s very different is you can see their keys are not yet crushed and that’s because they have a slightly different system. I don’t know what it’s officially called. It looks like a vortex or an iris when you look from top down. All of the loser keys drop down at the same time and it goes into this vortex and disappears into the Nethers. It is so epic. And I can’t even show you right now, but if you want to see it, you’re going to have to come see yourself here at Apex Legends. One of the cool parts about multi-team finals like what’s happening over at Apex, you get to crush all the keys at once until they’re eliminated. It is just, I guess, an overwhelming amount of of fun there. All right, Baby Bay, what three teams would you end up selecting if you were here at this tournament? I kind of want to go your route of like teams that like I I wish I could pick. Who do you like that? Who do you Who do you hate from your region? No. Who do you like? I mean, I I would have to take the NRG thing for sure. I would have to take the NRG thing given the history of me and NRG, you know, on the shock when I was in Overwatch League. I was basically subsidiary of NRG. So, you know, take taking, you know, a little bit. Uh, also Z was against the NBA the other day, so I think it’s like fair. Okay. Energy. Who else? I I would have to go for Fnatic. I love Boer and And I know how prestigious it would be to beat a team like Fnatic. I I would love to get that on there. And then also, I think it would have to be PRXW Gaming. Like they like when I watch this team play, it just reminds me of the glory days, right? And the fact that they’re winning doing it makes me want to be like, “Yo, I want to give you some of that heat, too.” You know? Yeah. I think for me I think it’s got to be EDG, Reigning Jams, Fanatic main characters, and Sen City to have your trophy locked in the resin above Sen City forever. That’s pretty awesome. And over at the totem, you’re able to see underneath the totem. Each year, all the other keys are locked in resin. So the the other keys don’t just disappear. They’re they will be there and locked in the attempt to achieve greatness, but only one team will be able to do so. Now, we got to see a couple of players make huge huge moments to try and achieve that championship in Kadilla Top Plays cuz we had a lot of them, especially especially by Chronicle in Fnatic early on. And then later on, you can pick anyone alongside uh the Gen G Team Heretics matchup. I think that you can say the same also for the Paper X side. Do not forget how one-sided that sunset was. It really looks like they’re so comfortable with it. and but then split that final map between these two teams. Um having Kayak and Alpha going in this double dualist. I love how they swapping around the operator and how they finally got their victor and their revenge for that final in Master Toronto. Yeah. And then you had the other series that was a ridiculous game with Genji and Heretics. And Genji Munchkin, he was looking like a different animal. I mean making plays like this running through a oneway and this spray down was one of the most clean things we have seen in this tournament so far but then Buu was at the other end reciprocating with his own spray downs. I mean how did he even kill Jing on that? Doesn’t matter. He always has this expression you know to him it’s like oh yeah I just did that doesn’t matter you know next. Yeah those plays led to this playoff bracket here for the first ever uh Valerant at the esports world cup tournament. It is Fnatic and Team Heretics. They’re all EMA finals in the grand finals. But before that, we have the unique kind of first time ever third place match here, Paper Rex and Gen G. I mean, both those matches are just mouthwatering and they’re going to be at the top of their level because of course they are regional matches. So, these are two opponents that are going to be knowing each other very, very well. Yeah, they’re going to have familiarity and and I think that this is where things get interesting, right? Because when you’re playing a team and you know all their secret tricks, everything that’s going on, it really does come down to those micro adjustments. Who’s going to step up in those game uh in those big game moments and make that game-winning play? Yeah. And think about also the the way that Paper X has been unable to beat Geng for for a very long time. It literally they have been saying how for them it is one of the hardest opponents to beat. So for the side of her, they also want some revenge for what happened in that EMA final. They already got to Kersuki. Love to see that is all of the team doing it together at the end of the day. Yeah, we’ve seen a lot of individual reactions, but right there everyone just having to go and flinch and have the audience fully locked in participation was a huge huge moment for team heretics as we take a look at the STC club championship standings. right on the mark there on top. It is detonation focus me and BMW M team Redline for those championships in Fatal Fury. And then earlier in the week uh for Renport, it is uh you go down from there. Verdice Pro will have many teams across multiple different games as well as Fnatic, Heretics will have a couple, Vitality, Na’Vi, Geng as well, some of the other big names in the club championship. Yeah, by the end of today, either Fnatic or Heretics are going to take that top spot as well alongside Detonation Focus Me and uh BMW M team, right? So, I think that that’s going to be an insane match, especially for the standings. I think it’s even cooler cuz did did Fnatic make the uh final for Apex as well? Yes, they made the finals for Apex as well. So, they can end the day technically with 2,000 points above everybody else. Yeah. And by making the finals there and the finals here, they’ve already amassed more points than they had from last year’s total. So, the goal to improve what Fnatic built upon last year already achieved and we’re not even done with week one yet. So, uh, great job by Fnatic might be joined by someone from Fnatic in just a little bit. So, you don’t want to miss that one. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at some of the Crunchyroll top reactions from yesterday’s games. I wish there was a camera in the green room as well because Cuka was sweating. Uh, Achilles had finished his cast from the earlier match and he was sweating big time. was calling out strats being like, “Oh, they’ve lost it. Oh, they won it. Oh, that’s my guy. Just go be. You have the reach. Just go be.” I It was I felt so alone. It was everybody else supporting Genji and I was like, “No, guys. Heretics is going to win this. I do not care.” And run by round in that overtime. But, um, I think we always like to see the reactions on the stage. Paper X is such a happy team. We saw them a little bit more quiet yesterday, especially the longer and the deeper that the match goes going because of the results. Yeah. And that was kind of sad to me too, seeing a PRX that was kind of just defeated and beaten down, right? But that that just goes to show testament of how strong Fnatic were yesterday. Yeah. When we were done with everything, we stopped by the player lounge and the heretics player were were there. And that’s why I wanted to stop. We bumped into Benji and I was like, “Hey, how are you? Congratulations.” yada yada 100 times after they won and also after they lost. And he told me, “Listen, I was giving it because I wasn’t shooting anything, so I needed to keep the energy up, you know, for the rest of my teammates.” And I was like, “Yeah, just pretend. Just pretend that you’re hidden that you’re so in the game just in the game as as the rest of that.” It definitely worked. Yeah, it it worked. And then, of course, it’s it’s iconic. Valerant poster winning and dance moves. Absolutely. And and he’s got the smoo for sure. I mean, I I was wondering when he was going to bust some out though, you know? I was like, where where’s this been? He was kind of reserved in the beginning. And I think once he got that mojo a little back, he played pretty well yesterday. He was like, “All right, it’s time. It’s time to get him.” Do you think he’s going to do it when he has this key frame? I mean, he’s going to put it in the in the totem when he’s going. Oh, when he’s going up. Yeah. Yeah, I see it. All right. Yeah, I think it should happen. Maybe a visual of what’s to come. Now, it’s time for doctor’s notes thanks to our uh friends Dr. Sulman Alhabib Medical Group. And so, we’re going to go to uh Dr. Bay here on what he thinks is the correct prescription for the finals. So, when you think about the finals, what do you want to prescribe for us to make sure that we have a great series? Yeah, I think I want to prescribe a bottle of Chronicle just going absolutely viral. Um, and then and then maybe I’ll prescribe some painkillers for the other end of Heretics. You know what I mean? Something like that. But yeah, I I think Chronicle is about to have one of the best grand finals he’s ever had. I think he’s going to take So, before we go, before Dr. Bay finishes. I think Dr. Ba uh Cuca is here to go ahead and counter that. You like that? I love you guys. Um you’re my bro. Um what was I going to say now? I completely So what would you what do you think like in my head I want to think what should I give heretics for this chronic pain that you are describing here on the side of a fanatic? I think that um um they had a couple scares with with Buu and Beanie and Beanie Boo. I think that Buu should be the one star today for the side of heretics. I think that everybody has a lot of potential, but what Buu did yesterday has to be a constant today for their recovery so they can move on from that bump that was losing that final again. All right, just don’t lose another final, please. Heavy a heavy dose of Boo and maybe a bottle of Chronicle. Uh those were our doctor’s notes. Now remember, they are brilliant casters, but they’re not doctors. If you need doctor’s needs, head on over to Dr. Sullean. How do you know I’m not a doctor? You know what? While I try and figure that out, we actually have Big Time standing by right now in the lobby. Hello, it’s Big Time here, joined at the player lounge by Munchkin from Geng. So, Munchkin, yesterday we heard texture say how much a winter how to win a day would really mean to you guys to be able to defeat Paper Rex. What does a win today do for the team to be able to continue your streak over the Masters Toronto Champions? forchech. Uh since uh Paper Rex are the champions of the most recent Masters event, I believe they are the strongest team in Pacific right now. So beating them would mean a lot. Um also when we return uh home, it’s a it’s very likely that we’ll be playing them at some point in the playoffs. So beating them here would not only give a great boost of confidence for us and and uh be a really good addition to our uh vibes uh but also it’ll you know instill a bit of uh fear in Paper Rex in whenever for whenever we meet again. Perfect. That’s a great answer. And finally being part of uh Genji here at EWC we know Genji are competing in multiple different games. So this third place game will also secure more championship points. How does it feel to be sort of competing for something bigger than yourselves, bigger than just the Valerant team? Championship. So I know Janji were looking to uh be champions of EWC as a whole, not just in Valerant. Now, winning Valerant the Valerant uh Valerant tournament would have been a great first step, but unfortunately we didn’t make the finals, but we’ll do our best to secure third place so that uh the org can earn as much uh as many points as possible. Perfect. Thank you so much. Well, good luck for today and back to you in the studio. Thank you. Thank you very much, man. Look at that. Big time getting the interview reps on in. Looking good there. And I like the fact that Jing is saying they’re going to be familiar with their opponent later on in the Pacific League, kind of like what’s going to happen later on with Team Heretics and Fnatic. And speaking of Fnatic, joining us is Fnatic CEO Sam Matthews. Welcome. How does it feel to be in the finals for the first ever Valerant tournament here at EWC? Well, thanks for having me. Obviously, it’s incredible. You know, we are we’re hoping that they got Valerant in CWC last year. You know, it’s obviously our best game at the moment, and the guys have showed up. They’ve been super consistent. Um, I’m I’m very excited to take the championship. I I want to ask you a question a little bit more bigger picture and uh sustainability is something that, you know, esports has always been struggling with, but I wanted to get your thoughts on how important EWC is for like the entire ecosystem of like esports in general. Yeah. I mean, like listen, you know, you you think about like traditional sports, you have tennis, basketball, whatever you single brands each game. I think the unique thing about esports is we have brands like Fanatic which exists across multiple games but until now we’ve not actually had a competition which allows us to show our muscle, you know, really show that we can be good across multiple games. And so for me it’s like actually, you know, this is kind of where it’s all been culminating towards and obviously us doing well here can mean that we actually help build a sustainable business as you say. Yeah. You you also have uh the Apex final today, right? Um you must be very happy. Absolutely. First two games, I assume, and then you make the the two finals. You’re probably going to get a lot of points at the end of the day. Um, which one are you more excited to watch? The Oh, you can’t you can’t make me choose my favorite child. Um, uh, between Apex and Valerant, honestly, like I’m not going to choose cuz they’re both my my my goats, you know. We were seeing you in the audience. Yeah. Yesterday, uh, supporting Valerant. So, I think we’re going to see you. You might have time for both, right? I have time for both. Yeah, cuz a 2 p.m. final and local time and then obviously Apex later. I think that it’s amazing. Actually, the boys have been watching each other. So, like the Apex guys are watching Valerant which you just don’t see in any other tournament, right? So, I I’m I’m excited for both. I would love to walk away with 2,000 points, you know, that would be a great start. Uh and just speaking for the rest of EWC, uh EWC, what other uh titles are Fnatic competing in and you’re looking forward to? Uh, so we have two other titles so far that have qualified. We have Call of Duty War Zone and TFT. Uh, you have TFT. Yeah, we have TFT. That is so cool. I’m definitely going to watch that. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Okay, now we know what her favorite is. No. So, um, yeah, TFT and but we also have uh Rainbow 6, which just didn’t qualify. And then we have EFC with the last chance to qualify. Yeah. again, just having all the multiple different titles has been uh so exciting to see a brand like Fnatic be up there at the top. Uh final, thank you for the event schedule that is coming on up here. Uh I wanted to know, you’ve already doubled the point total from last year’s EWC. What is kind of like a goal for this year’s after the learnings from last year? Yeah, I mean not quite doubled. We got 660 last year. We’re at 750 now. Uh, I think we would hope to double or triple by the end of today. Um, we actually have four fewer teams this year. So, it’s quality over quantity. We going to try and win every single one we go and just create some sort of like, you know, new award that is the only team ever to have won. Yeah, that’s the hope. But we’ll see how it goes. All right. Well, uh, everyone, please thank Fanatic CEO Sam Matthews. Thank you for the time here, Sam. It has been awesome to have you. Best of luck in the grand finals in just a little bit. Thanks very much. All right. With that, let’s take a look at some of the lineups here for our third place match as we shift over to Pacific. It is the Gen G versus Paper Rex matchup. Texture, Ash, Munchkin, Foxy9, and Karin have to pick themselves off the ground after the best match of the tournament, the closest match of the tournament going that triple overtime. And heartbreak for Geng, but they’ve got points on the line and money on the line and part of those esports World Cup STC club championship uh rankings as well. Very well said, Deon. That that’s a tongue twister and a half. That’s that’s a great skill. But somebody that is on your screen right now is Foxy 9. And I feel like he was kind of absent a little bit in that previous series against Heretics. And it’s somebody that we were talking about being in contention for MVP of the entire tournament. I think if he wants to be able to beat PRX again, he needs to be able to step up and really come to fruition here in this third place match. Yeah, I think that for the entirety of Genji, they were coming in as one of the favorites. Um it’s good to know that they’re willing to give their all going back to this right after this. They have to go back to the region and keep battling. We wanted more Valerant. We give you more Valerant. It’s going to be exhausting for the teams and there might be some burnout, but they have to be able to come over all that. Yeah. And when we take a look at the journey that this team has made used to seeing them at internationals, but that’s how competitive it was earlier. Not able to qualify for Bangkok. Fell a little bit short here in stage one over at Pacific. And then that fifth, sixth place finish, you know, not not what they want, but maybe an indication of where they’re at. Well, it’s definitely getting better throughout the year. Do not forget that for the longest time, we were saying Apox’s going to get a trophy eventually. It’s got it’s got to happen. And for the entirety of the region, Gen G was the first one to get a trophy. We thought it it was maybe going to be Paper X or DRX just because of Legacy. But as we’re saying, the year is going in crescendo. didn’t make it to the first international event, but it was only on that third position. They did get to Toronto 5 to6 third to third to fourth mast champions. It has to be first or second and looks like they are on the way on end. Thanks to our friends over at J Motor Sport, thanks to our friends over at J. Uh now, uh when we think about them and I guess players of the tournament, Foxy 9 has to come to mind here. But who else jumps out at you for this Gen G roster? after yesterday seeing the form that Munchkin was in, I think he’s going to be very very angry and come into this game heated. So I I think he’s definitely a player you need to look out for. Obviously you got texture who’s always good. I think it’s very impressive that yesterday after their match against Heretics. Yeah, it was a very tough loss, but he it went to that overtime everything being very very close. Texture had incredible performances throughout the entire tournament, throughout the entire year. I think that he’s an insanely renowned name uh to be saying that he felt like he didn’t have the day. Yeah. Well, on the opposite side is Paper Rex, the reigning champs from Masters Toronto. They want to make sure they finish the tournament in the podium places as didn’t quite go their way, but we know how good W Gaming can be here. Yeah, I mean, very, very tough loss. I I feel like that last map against Fnatic just wasn’t close enough for my liking. And that’s a map that, you know, Paper X are really good on. Split. I I feel like that’s like the double duelist really shines there, but they just got ded in the server yesterday. Now, keep in mind, they’re not really playing here for those uh overall points in the EWC system. So, this is more of just like, hey, we need to finally beat Genji because it’s been quite some time. I think that for me, this match is going to be um a lot of the names that we’ve been seeing shining already. something the eye but someone that has been a little bit quiet at least in my opinion has been Jing for such a long time Jing was like the the one of the biggest stars here in um in paper alongside forsaken forsaken has still given us that kind of performance but I think that Jin can and has to be the difference maker not only because that could mean a win he needs that confidence to go back into the region and face up all of the other opponents and when we had the opportunity to interview Chronicle after uh by Fnatic after their victory He said, “Hey, we decided to play a little bit more like slow Valorant, and we know that Paper X is a vibes team. I want to be able to see them play against a very structured team with the vibes and be able to break through it as the other teams continue to make strategies to slow them down. Uh, but we’re not slowing down here in our pre-show. We have something standing by right now. Let’s take a listen. Hey, I’m standing by with Paper X something and coach Alex. Guys, I got to ask about yesterday. You had a great first map. Second map, I would argue Fnatic did it, you know, they played it really well, but the third match, Split, I don’t know, you guys looked really off. Something looked wrong. So, can you tell me what happened on split? I mean, we didn’t really practice it much, I guess, and also, but they have like some insane anti straight for for us and it’s become like that, you know. Uh, I don’t know what happened. of course doesn’t know what happened. We saw how you felt inside that booth though. Okay. I want to ask though, now that you guys are competing for third place against Gen G, would you say your fire, your motivation is still as strong as when you were competing for first? Yeah, of course. It’s extra 60k for us and it’s extra experience to play versus Pacific Team. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Come to BJNG. And uh we have a lot of Paper X fans who’ve flown in from all over the world to here in Riad. Do you have a message for them? the guys who flew in, guys and the gals. Thank you so much for supporting us and uh see you on the stage. I know about you, Ellie. I can I can hear the crowd from from the coach room, so it’s really really cool. I hope I hope to hear today as well. I think the crowd can hear you too when you’re raging. I don’t think we we can hear it. Anyway, back to you guys at the desk. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks y’all. Always great to hear the attitude and the cander between uh the team over at Paper X. Yeah, he he I think that you cannot hear him, but it’s like you can in your mind because we’ve seen Alex reactions for the entirety of the game. And I love that we still have coach cams. Yeah. Yo, homie is just straight up like, “Yeah, I don’t know what happened.” Like, “What do you mean?” Like, you know, he was scolding them after that match for sure. And you also know that PRX are uh down four losses to Gen Z in a row. So, this is important for Pride, you know, going into that next stage. 15 seconds. Who you got? I’m going Genji on this one. I love PRX. I love W Gaming. I think Genji just play very very slow and and methodical. I’m I just want to go up against you, so I’m going to say Paper X. Yeah, because I think that Forsaken is going to divide. Sorry. Uh Jen is going to get his confidence back and they’re going to uh go back to Pacific and do whatever they want with the rest of the region. All right, y’all. We’re getting a marquee matchup here of Pacific in our third place match for the esports World Cup. Let’s get into it. Third place match starts right now. We’ll finally go ahead and put the final nail in the coffin as sunset goes the way of Paper X 13 to 10. It’s a beautiful setup for the side of Genji. Spike down. Heat up here. They both came so close, just one map away from a grand final. But now these two teams step back onto this stage for one last battle with pride on the line and a podium finish. Absolutely two teams that lit up this that lit up the stage with bold plays, fearless calms, and unforgettable moments. Welcome back everyone to the final day of Fatherland at the Esport World Cup. This of course isn’t on the line. That will be later. But what is on the line is $130,000. You heard me right. That is what a win here is where. So both of these teams are looking to leave Riyad with their earnings and heads held high. Absolutely. Two Pacific Titans. One final clash. This is the third place match. So let’s welcome our first team. It is a team that even with adversity, they know how to finish a tournament on a win. It’s Paper Rex. They earned the world’s respect. Now they want one more win to go with it. It’s Genji. Pacific versus Pacific. The battle for bronze is on. And here we go, everyone making their way out onto the stage. One big huddle between the two teams, Pacific United, as they get ready to once again go up against each other, vying for a spot, a finish in third place. Got to love it here. the two Pacific representatives that made it this far looking to get one more win. But if you look back at the history between these two teams, it has been Gen G, who has often had Paper Rex’s number. In fact, Genji, the only team to beat Paper Rex at Masters Toronto. And even going back, the last time that Paper Rex defeated Genji was in the stage one finals last year on Genji’s path to winning Master Shanghai, which could be interesting. Map picks here. shouldn’t surprise people too much. You can see yesterday that Paper X struggled on Ascent. Uh so Genji feeling like that’s going to be their more comfortable option. Sunset of course is, you know, Paper X’s playground. And then Lotus will be the decider. I was kind of curious uh if that one might go split instead, but Paper X opting to just man split out after kind of a weaker showing against Fnatic yesterday. The sunset is going to be the battleground here to start things off. And it feels like Genji, if they’re going to be able to find a win here, could just very much lock up that second place position, barring a big run back from Paper X, who did look very out of sorts on Ascent. No changes to be seen. Still going to be seeing Foxy 9 bringing out that deadlock. He was amazing on it the last time out. big matchup that I’m going to be looking at individually I suppose here is going to be texture versus jin. How’s that impact going to be coming through? How does paper X try to play around this? Operator the texture is going to be bringing out. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think this is kind of the most important matchup of the day for me in a lot of ways. Uh because both of them kind of struggled yesterday. Uh you know, with texture not finding uh that form that we had seen that, you know, top five uh player in this event so far, performance that he had been putting up up until yesterday, I expect him to kind of pick it up a little bit. Jing as well in the same kind of book. We need those duelists to step up for both of these squads if they’re going to have a chance of winning here today. You would think so. That’s kind of where my eyes drift. You like you mentioned the Foxy 9 divide match up. I think both of those players utilizing their very different walls in very different ways is going to be really impactful. But who knows, maybe Gen can sneak away Sunset from Paper Rex, a map that they have been just dominant on and it could prove to be a challenge. Like you mentioned, that composition that Geng runs is really annoying to deal with, especially in post plants here on this attacker side. So something that, you know, Paper X is going to want to get ahead of as best as they can. And Genji, are they going to be ready for some of these surprises? You would expect so with how many times they’ve been able to best Paper X in recent history. Well, looks like everything ready to go. So go ahead and hop into this one here. Two more series at EWC Valerant 2025. Let’s see which one of these squads can take that first step towards bumping up the prize pool for themselves. Couple sheriffs in hand here for Genji first on the attack. Oh, Munchkin can use the orb here. Try to hide their presence. Forsaken. Going to grab one of his own texture out in the open. Can’t win the battle. Dvai with the classic going to be good for it. And even with the damage dealt because of the sage will just go ahead and be able to heal up. Forsaken sliding away. Avoids any follow-up damage. Munchkin on the lurk through alley. Doesn’t manage to get the jump. So, Forsaken going to be taken down. Nice damage however suffered here by Geng. Munchkin continuing to deliver. Finds himself a second loading and quickly dispatching Patman. Geng now spike planted. Tough retake coming up here. Walls been dealt with though. So now you got the sonic sensors on sight to contend with. Back up from Ash. Didn’t like what he was seeing. Trying to open them up a little bit to a flank angle. Cod Munchkin himself a third. might just be able to find even more. Cart will be able to find the kill. Divi going to be taken down. Bounce around the corner. Something will fall. Gen behind the opening pistol. Yeah, pistol rounds continue to plague Paper X. It has been the real bane of their existence throughout this event despite and even going back to Master Toronto, despite them having a lot of success otherwise. It’s something that they would certainly like to correct. But, you know, with Munchkin still being sharp, picking up right where he left off yesterday, I’ll never forget that spray transfer he had on Bside on Lotus. It’s one of the most disgusting plays you’ll ever see. Car on here. Good for it on site with the classic jumping right click to finish the job. Couple Guardians, a bulldog, and two pistols. This paper X though going to try to control the alt orbs. Here they both going to be sent. Jing trying to escape. Damage suffered but Divi nice shot there from the sheriff does manage to put down texture. Guardian going to be on the floor now recovered by Foxy 9. Paranoia sent from K just to try to dissuade any further aggression from Paper Rex but for now just be happy that they get the player advantage. I mean again Dvi is going to outduel texture. It’s going to be two first bloods for Dvai going up against the star duelist of Gen. Not able to convert even with all that util there to make Jing uncomfortable. still able to escape. As you can see, the follow-up plan here for Paper Rex is to group up, make a push through mid, try to hit the backside. Well, a little bit of attention going to be created here by something. The SOA util has a sheriff of his own. Full flank coming through. Ash too many targets for seeking able to find it. That’s going to be an upgrade on the classic. Paper Rex against Rifty here would be monstrous. Kan however able to go ahead draw some blood against paper rexaling takes out something heal over onto forsaken pushes him back up the full play advantage still there now equalized as Foxy 9 mo down two forsaken will find one finds himself a third and suddenly it’s just Karen and already this is such good damage dealt no smoke available both players here back behind the box no tap of the spike ready for the swing some more damage dealt with the tag up finds the first repositions, narrowly loses his life, but Karin with three will pale out Gen G. What an eco round there for Paper X though. Really felt like they were maybe going to come through, but Karan standing tall. Another player you’d love to see step up for Genji here today by just so good with those sheriffs. Forsaken then showing off some sheriff skills of his own. Car able to work that back sight. Nice plant spot there on the outside of Jen. Can’t diffuse it from the back of it. Have to win that battle against Karon out in the open. Cannot get it done. Dvi go with an outlaw here. Couple players on Genji going to be one shot to that, but Foxy 9 texture will not be. They bought the full armors. Tight angle and a win for DVI. Been so damn clean with the snipers. Now Omen on the floor. Pretty catastrophic casualty to suffer this early on into the round as the VI fishing for a little bit more. But they are able to avoid the shots. For now though, remain control very firmly in the hands of Geng as Munch can take some shots over towards something, but connection will not be found. They’re just going to try to work their way to the other side of the map. Forsaken is taking a ton of space. No util here. Check this position, but the smoke a little bit odd. Not set up for the oneway. They’re wary of it. Wary, but are they going to be prepared enough? Dragon cross finds the first. Forsaken gets the second. Spike now going to be dropped. Munchkin and Ash have their work cut out for them. Still very far apart from each other. Forsaken making plenty of noise. Just go ahead and rotate back. Ping reveal and Forsaken still finding value. Hyperex looking to get themselves a flawless antibonus. That’s just brilliant stuff by Forsaken. The way he utilizes smokes on Omen. So creative anticipating that they were going to clear the smoke first. Ash gets one. Wall is not to be found, but tag down low now to 31. Reposition. What is that shot? Ash suddenly has three. Is going to be walled in. Is desperately trying to break this one down so he can survive. Forsaken going to be looking for the 4K here it would seem, but my goodness, Ash, fantastic damage in reply. Won’t be able to win the round. It does stop the economy from Paper X from ballooning. Yeah, absolutely disgusting shots. Divide by the way. Three first kills in three rounds. Having an absolute belter to start this one. He has been sharp so far. ACS going to be through the roof for him. Forsaken. Brilliant maneuver around the smokes. Has proven to be one of the best in the world at that. Oh my god. That’s third. Disgusting. Very crisp. But still the brakes hit themselves on the board. Shadows traveling. Outlaw very much able to find value. Every single player on Gen G at risk. And with the way the divide’s been shooting, definitely going to have to be concerned. Push forward. Forsaken does get traded out as Karen finding one. Jing just keeping it quiet trying to remove move that net. Snaps back. He’s able to find Fox9, but Karan that Vandal able to just go ahead find the kill here on the Jing. So 3v3. The Omen down low. A sight for the moment. Completely wide open. And now you got to be cautious. Crossing mid. Textures there. And he’s going to get the first divide. Good for the second. two and that’s going to be the res it so instantly puts them in with a player advantage. Spike not yet even planted already in a forward position here. Our paper Rex thrown over the top going to be able to spot both players as Ash does get ping revealed here. Pulls back away. Spike swapped over. Karan considering going for the push clears the recon out into the over there for a brief little moment. Slides back over onto the site. Shock dart at his feet puts him at 15. TP reposition as the heal will be picking. Divine getting back up towards full health. Ash going to need to deliver once again. The double wrap comes in, tries to go in for the base. That’s just going to be him taking down. Karan now in such a rough spot. Pman will just be able to get the wall bang shot off the jiggle beak. Yeah, this is really nice work from Paper Rex being really aggressive off the rip in all of these rounds at taking one of the alt orbs or another. They’re doing damage along the way. Able to get even trades most of the time. One of the few battles that you’re able to win, but with Dubai just absolutely clobbering Gen right now, he’s able to get that res early and put it to good use. Gives them that extra man advantage. They do a ton of damage as well with that SOA util. Got a tip by Cap to something in that round. A great recon to reveal Karan’s close tuck position followed up with the shock dart. Do a ton of damage. It’s exactly what you want out of a SOA player. Ash here bouncing one in deep onto the B site. Doesn’t get any reveal. Patman able to scoop behind his smokes. Hey for X though bouncing around closing the door. No fast hit on to B. So a reposition there. More of a default setup. Dai though moving over with Jing right now. Gen trying to work the map a bit. Trying to take some mid control. Foxy going to set up a sonic sensor. Check the box just in case. Saw that work too many times the other day. Just start being really aware of that spot. Grab that does catch but the reveal forces Foxy 9 back. Can’t punish Pac-Man for it. Heading across the way. Munchkin lingering forward here at Tiles. That be maybe a double face into mid. Showstopper is available. So any inkling of presence here that could certainly be coming through. Give Paper X a very solid start in this round as they look to gain the lead. Push forward. Forsaken going to be taken low now. Take it down. But Ash actually does manage to find it. And then Munchkin continuing to swing out. They fully break this hold at top mid going to be taken down. Pman trying to hold Marquette. The fadeaway shot catches on to Karan. One v2 and at this HP so unlikely but Patman. Can he be that guy? Can he be the hero? Beacon is there in the sky. 10 seconds remaining. Spike in transition not in position to try to cancel this push. Get the catch. Spike planted. They’re going to know because of the deadlock util where he’s coming from. It’s a slow creep if you can continue to just try to walk past this one. Here’s the sonic sensor behind him. Toxins going up. Changes position. Pushes forward. Gets over towards the spike. The wall, however, has to push out of it and Munchkin will be able to collect the 3K. Gen back in the lead. Yeah, nice little trap play set up here by Gen G just waiting out Paper X knowing they’re going to get antsy to try to recle mid space. They’ve got a crossfire set up him and Ash. Oh my god, Ash. He is looking really sharp today. Batman coming alive. The beautiful 3K there at the Phantom Munchket the 3K of his own. going to answer right back. And again, getting into that post plant can get that deadlock util up. He makes it a lot easier to figure out where the enem is going to be coming from. Even though Patman tries to dodge that sonic sensor, still able to hang on. Reng G taking a one round lead. You do have the Hunter Fury available. Annihilation Pit, bunch of big alts like you mentioned. Still that showstopper for Jing. So, a lot to work with here for Gen G to try to get an execute going and that helps when you can win out with texture. Gets Pman through the box. That’s a good early kill to be found here. Texture bit of a softer start of it. Seems like Genji overall getting to find a solid sense of where Paper X are going to be positioning themselves. Five ultimates to work with here. See if they come into play already. Heavy rotations. The stack is here from Paper X. Showstopper into the corner and that’s going to be texture damn near taken down and something will have the follow-up shot. A good kill to equalize. Let’s see what Paper X wants to do. They’re going to be pretty aware of this rotation already. Ping’s coming down. Anticipating Forsaken to be right around the corner. Can’t win against Munchkin. He cannot Munchkin. 30 seconds left. Off to the races already. He’s having an incredible performance yesterday. Looks like he wants to try to carry that one forward here for the team this time into a win. Recon bounces forward into the pit. So not even really needing a clear something. Line it up. Still able to find Ashes on a timing, but at the end of the day, it’s just going to be a nice shot. Nothing really more. A bit of damage dealt, but Genji now up four to two. Yeah, and now you’re getting those early round advantages that you need as Gen getting texture to win some of those opening duels. Very very crucial game like this. And Patman trying to play the tight angle gets punished. Showstopper dodged but something there to clean it up. Two with the sheriff. Not bad at all but Foxy 9 behind Jen. Good to go. Get Jen G up by two rounds. See no timeout called just yet. Still a weaker buy. Economy’s a little bit shaky. Four paper racks going to buy down in a couple of these rounds. Everybody paying attention to mid. Oh my god. Able to find the one. Finds a second as Jinx similarly going to be eliminated. KN dead again making for a potential more difficult approach to one of these sights. But as we can see a widely evacuated here from Paper X. Forsaken will swing back around. Batman going to be lingering a little bit longer forward here in mid. Just looking for them to try to maybe lean towards B because of the toxic screen. Munchkins util going to be pretty important potentially you were talking about. No car on a little bit more difficult being very aware. RNG every one of those boxes that somebody could be hiding behind is being checked. Never know when one of those Paper X players is going to show up with a judge when you least expect it. Should be able to make their way through here. Again, being very cautious about this corner. Seen Forsaken in the early part of this match. Doing a really good job there. Making it nasty. Annihilation at the ready. See where he sends it if he can get a grab. Looks like he’s going to cut around and Forsaken does end up getting roped up. pulled it forward towards his demise. Hunter’s Fury a hit on a Foxy 9 but the kill not found and that is something now all alone cashless as Munchkin is going to be swinging in the head shot found looks for the followup but texture will be able to collect three. Gen now up to five. Paper Rex might have to pull the trigger on that timeout. Yeah, absolutely. I But now you’re starting to win some of these opening duels for Gen. Opening up the map a lot more for you. And again, a lot of what they’ve been doing well so far is just being very aware some of these off angle positions, some of these hidden positions that Paper X is going to want to try to use. Even though nobody’s been there sometimes when they spray the boxes, it’s better safe than sorry. Can’t believe that annihilation. Jason was looking at his feet trying to dodge it, but could not escape. Hunter’s Fury trying to open up some space on the site and texture good on the backside. I think Foxy 9 is even impressed that that annihilation landed that I mean he got it through while he was just dancing around that Hunter Fury. He took two separate pulses but guess they were separated didn’t get fully eliminated. So yeah, the timeout call will be coming through here from Paper Rex and our own Ian Chambers teeing it up. A massive gap in the prize pool. A big jump forward if you’re able to secure that third place finish. Paper X certainly going to be wanting to take home as much as they possibly can. Oh yeah, something mentioned it in the pre-match interview. He’s definitely got his eyes on that prize money. So far, Geng really has a decent read here on what Paper X wants to do. They’re on a full eco this time. All sheriffs and Batman does have his alt but wouldn’t really normally anticipate that this would be around it feel comfortable using it take control of some space so spot there from the SOA util does eventually get cleared but little bit of info garnered for paper racks wary now of a push towards the midpillar Foxy 9 having to be the guy to try to contain paper X at B No util used just yet for him. Toxic screen going to go up for Pac-Man. Fishing. Seeing if anybody’s going to try to peek on him. Going to set up the high low for now. Genji being extra extra cautious. I think taking some lessons out of what worked for Fnatic yesterday against Paper Rex. And that’s just making them making them sweat, making them wait. Drone can go up and over the top. Something on the peak there. Top man able to find one. Traded back and traded up. However, just Munchkin the casualty. Divine. Sheriff at hand needing some clean shots with the pivot call is going to be coming through here from Gen G. Quickly sprinting over towards this a site. Only forsake in there here for the moment. Onus now on him to try to deliver. They want any hope of pulling off this thrifty. 20 seconds remaining and try to play around time. hears the footsteps, but it’s just going to be overwhelmed. It’s too many targets around the corner. Yeah. And with texture just dancing in there, breaks the crosshairs momentarily to try to readjust to go for the players coming in behind. Cannot quite do it. Something did scoop up a rifle. See if he can get some magic to go. I’ve been so sharp with the sheriff early. Surely this time, Genji seemingly has this round in lockdown. A bit of an awkward recon there. Stuck into the flower pot, I believe. So, doesn’t actually get the ping reveal. Either way, Divine trying to soften up the targets here where possible. Something should be watching for exit. See if he can put a bit of a dent here, but already Jir such a great financial position. finds two and okay finds them all as Ash and Texture cannot get out from the spike. So, nobody’s surviving. That certainly does a lot more damage than I could anticipated. Yeah, that’s for sure. Take whatever little wins you could get at this point is Paper Rex. You’re down by four rounds now. Usually defender side of this map pretty strong for Paper Rex, but they really haven’t been able to get it going. So, now it’s the operative eye to try to be the difference maker. You said earlier he’s been sharp. Can he keep it up? Can he maintain that form? Not going to have to duel anybody with an OP on the other side. But you just send the pit off the rip here if you’re Patman. The answer is going to be no, which does allow for Genji to continue to scale forward and avoid that operator for the time being. Given Munchkin investing the poison orb now seems like they want to just go ahead and try to execute on this side. Paranoia coming through. Texture sat here. It’s Forsaken lingering within the smoke. It’s got a bit of a caterpillar attempt as Karan able to find one. Quick little peak out. Texture loses his head for however tank down the 10 HP. The barrier mesh goes up cutting off that market access. Spike planted. Drone going to be cleared. Saken wanting needing to be the hero. The push forward but cannot survive. Doesn’t have the read. No one in front of him. Ash on the cross angle has the shots. Nightmare’s over. Jing able to collect one. Wall falls. Smoke falls rather as Ash similarly putting them down one by one. Divide with the operator able to find a bit of value but Jing now noted. Net coming through. Divide having to remove that Foxy just staying still. As there’s the sun, there’s the cleanup and there goes the OP. I mean JG’s just having a whale of a time right now. Just nullifying everything that Paper X tries to do. And and I love this start here for them. use this fast lane to get texture in. And then you use the TP for Omen to get them both into this corner. And then it’s a bait and switch. Texture runs out. Karan follows up while Pac-Man’s trying to keep track of where texture is going and gets the kill. Just breaks open the sight. And yeah, that’s that’s about the reaction I expected at this point. Yeah. Toxins or it’s not at all going the way that they wanted. I mean, you talked about it over at Masters Toronto. Paper X hates playing against Genji. Yes, they absolutely despise every single time that they have to match up against this squad. That has not changed. It’s Munchkin finding one looking for a little bit more considering the re-switting. I wouldn’t advise it. Instead, he’ll call for reinforcements. Yeah, that’s that’s very wise. I mean, I think one of the things that’s impressed me about Munchkin uh in this event is how he doesn’t greed for kills unless he absolutely has to. Uh he’s done a really good job of just getting the one and not giving himself up to a trade. So, that’s a really valuable skill to have. He’s done a tremendous job with that. Even though they are playing for the third, fourth position, he looked really good, especially on Lotus yesterday. Showstopper here for Jing in the corner. Dead Pac-Man just can’t escape. No way to try to evacuate. So the showstopper isn’t going to be able to come into play to try to turn the tides of this round. Munchkin again just lingering. Looks like something suspicious about it. But will reroute will recheck over towards Tiles as well as a main. You just have no hope. Just no idea as well. One more shot from the divine. Would put down texture. All made for him to back away. But I mean, what are you really meant to do? Could just stay piled into market, I suppose. Very much will expire. So, it gives him a little bit of an opening as will lose his life, but the trade is going to be there and it’s just cash of plenty. It has been this entire map long. Great shot from Divi per usual. Gets himself a second, but then the trade is going to be there. Genji continuing the trend upward here on Sunset now. 8-2. Free him. Free him. H so good. A lot of the Paper Rex fans probably starting to sweat. This is just Genji in a nutshell. Start getting the read on you. Munchkin’s got you figured out. He anticipates when you’re going to make counter moves against him. He read that push out from be made very nicely off the start. Yes, it’s a weak buy for Paper X, but kind of felt like they needed to get one of those. They were going to start making this half more competitive. There goes Jing bounding forward looking for target. Chooses correctly and Munchkin this time does get taken down. That is a big piece of the puzzle found here for Paper X. They look to try to run this back to an 8 and four half. That’s a deep smoke from Forsaken. He is wanting to take aggressive space over at a main. Meanwhile, Genji just worried about a followup off that showstopper, but ooh, Dubai just missing her off a skirt back to safety. Forsaken setting up the oneway trying to run this clock down a bit. 54 seconds now. Foxy9 with the operator. Does also have the annihilation goes for the peak. Forsaken with a nice shot. Takes his head off. Ultimate no longer a concern. This way. Trying to linger forward. Another shot flying. Forsaken finding the hit. Ash going to be taken down. And there you go. I’m getting deja vu. It’s Paper X getting battered and then suddenly pulling out a flawless. Classic Paper X. This is really nice stuff from them though in terms of just the macro game. You’re going to get Jing with that Showstopper out early. Not much that Geng was in position to do about it. Just had to try to hide and he’s still able to find a target and then some nice crossfire setup outside of a main forsaken there with a nice shot on a Foxy 9. A very good sniper in his own right. Able to take him down with the Vandal. So Dvi going to be able to hang on. See, Paper X can make this an 84 half. Their best hope is Jot. What in the hell just happened? Please explain. If we don’t have a replay of that, I’m walking out of the booth. Yeah, I’m just leaving. I’m done for the day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Boombot double kill. Stop. at this level. Certainly not. Yeah. I mean, in rank, sure. Yeah. In like iron. Exactly. Down a it’s okay. It’s damn near another flawless. What? And I am so confused. Please have that replay after the break. Please. Okay. Hey, it’s Halime. Uh 8 and four is the score. We’ve lost the plot. We’re going to go to a break and when we come back, we’ll get into the second half and see if Paper X can try to rescue this map. One enemy remaining. 30 seconds left. One enemy remaining. Sensor activated. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Okay, we’ve had a little bit of time to collect ourselves and we are going to be getting a look back at just what the hell transpired in the previous round cuz that was absolutely crazy. As you can see, some scenes of stress for Paper Rex, some scenes of joy for the side of Gen G. Eight and four at the half as we’ll take a look back. The boombot set freight. Oh, the Hunter Fury. I think the Hunter Fury softened him up. I think I saw the assist come through for uh for something there. I’m pretty sure. I don’t know cuz the Hunter Fury wasn’t even angled in the with Eddie. Oh, wait. No, no, that wasn’t their Hunter Fury. No, that was Ash’s. So, maybe Snake Bite from Batman. Was that Maybe that was what it was. I didn’t get to see it fast enough. I’m going to rewind it on my phone uh when I have a moment to try to check back cuz that was just insanity. I mean, maybe they pushed through the wall where they came down like Yeah, that could get a great look at the setup cuz it happened so fast. Regardless Jing to be pressured out, but he’s fully blinded up and texture is very snappy with a head shot. And that’s going to be a big punish off the rip. Yeah, and this wall super annoying. So Patman going to try to clear it as fast as they can. It takes a lot of bullets to get through there. I mean, you have to use so many. Doesn’t even have a full clip behind this now. Does Pat has to be pretty judicious with that ghost. Sonic sensor still there for Foxy as well. Toxic screen to maybe cover. Both it clears it. Net. That’s going to be a big catch, but Batman still able to go ahead and stave off disaster. spams or swings out rather and will be able to find Ash. That gives a player advantage now over to the side of Paper Rex and finding more than he can chew. Swiftly dispatched for now joining in here with Munchkin. Spots out the wall. Really only have a couple options for recourse. Shoot him in the face. pretty much going to have to be the strategy here. Tempted a poker fraud the push out of the smoke. Pacman immediately gone. Texture sliding forward. Nothing spotted. Forsaken holding his own. Has the right click. Punchkin finding the one but can’t find anything more. Paper Rex get the pistol they needed. Bring the gap now. Just down to three rounds. Yeah, what a nice win there for Paper Rex. Needing that pistol desperately here. They’re going to get it even though Texture finds the opener. Catman again I said he needs to be judicious with those ghost shots and boy oh boy did he make the most of them enemy down to just one bullet behind his last clip with after those two kills. Really efficient stuff there like that toxic screen to set up that hit even though Foxy 9 hits a phenomenal crab net. Not much that he could do off the back of it. I rewound there. They did have their own hunter sphere. We just couldn’t see it from Jinx POV. that gets the initial hit. Boombot then collects from there. So, okay, solving the mystery. Jing, though, is uh tearing them apart. Texture Ash both gone here off the rip. Tuck into the corner from Kron. The boost coming through. Does manage to find one. Stops it from being a flawless, but need two more kills for there to be any real damage. And then now comes down to Foxy 9 who’s going to be on the flank. Just a classic in hand for Foxy. probably just going to wait this one out. Maybe look for an exit. See if he can die to the spike. But Forsaken with the bulldog be the initial challenge potentially if he keeps holding that angle. See what he can get done. No doubt that Foxy could do some damage here. Oh, there’s the hair off. Seems like Forsaken maybe not seeing him. He’s getting a sense of it. Foxy pushing forward. Maybe able to find a climbing here, but no. Rotates back. Going to have to start making some noise. And Dubai is there to say thank you very much for the extra alt charge. Has three out as Paper Rex close out the anti- Eco very cleanly retaining their weapons. And now look for a bonus conversion on top. Yeah, nice entry here for Jing. Got to get him online for Paper Rex. That rays rolling. Got him. Nice stuff there. Karan tried to answer with a paranoia, but it doesn’t hit Jen. Dubai able to clean up the tucked in position of Karan. And all well that ends well. Paper racks going to carry over couple of those rifles buy up a few more. So a pretty ferocious bonus coming in here on their attacker side to try to get them within one round of Gen G who looked like maybe they were going to run away with Sunset. Paper X’s other plans. Up and over the top. Forsaken catching them off guard. Karan barely able to tra that one back. But that is such significant damage dealt. Extra end Munchkin now gone. The remaining players fanned out across the map. He’s just so creative. Is Forsaken. I mean, you see this so many times with him where he’s just tricking opponents. by spotted. Not much Karan could do. Boxy able to go ahead and note the flank. Batman going to be taken down. Spike planted. Now a 3v3. Paint shells find a tiny little lick of damage and Karan finds himself a second kill. Boxy now pushing in from market. Jing left alone. Finds the first, tries to remove the net and Ash will counter swing in. Still good damage here from Paper Rex, but they cannot close the gap any further. Yep. Nice hold there. God, what a start as well. You have that five to3 advantage, but Foxy able to nullify the extra angle early. Trap attempted to be set up and Forsaken just having none of it. Foxy there. Big win. Karan as well holding the angle on back sight. So nicely done. End up going down, but Ching just screwed there. Still good. Munchkin still fired up trying to rally the troops here. Not enough money though for Divide. They invested in that bonus. That’s going to put him down to a sheriff, but he’s going to usually be at the back line anyway. So, somebody dies in front of him could just scoop the gun up. Well, that sheriff shots have been disgusting that too. So, not going to be feeling overly concerned, but that’s a great peak from Ash Bowser’s immediate reward there. Car down to 85, but nothing more to be found. The spike gets passed over. A recycle of this oneway. The wall on his face though does make it very difficult if not impossible for K to really try to play off this one. Pushing the drone there onto Batman. Swings in. Finds the first looks for the transition. Cannot get it. The bloody battles. Forsaken. Fights back for two. And now suddenly he’s going to be teleporting forward. Himself in towards the defender spawn. Smoke out. Foxy. Knife out. Dead. 3k for Forsaken. It’s a Munchkin still trying to work his way across. A weapon scooped up. Something around the corner. Still pushing the wide swing attempt. Munchkin using it against him. Goes for the staple. Guardian still here. Boost position for Safa. Not watching for that one, but does get the pivot. A 4K from their IGL. Paper X continue to fight back. Man, this is a frustrating round for Gen. I like the setup they have. They’re able to get Munchkin tucked in to B main with the judge and they’re able to lean their heavy side over towards A and they still can’t win out the battles. Ash with a a great shot as well to start a 4v5 conversion after losing the rays, but forsaken just absolutely outdoes them. Foxy9 no read whatsoever on the positioning. a decent go of it, but just another huge round here for Forsaken to keep Paper Rex’s head above the water. Yeah, that was a tough one to read on that TP. Although that’s kind of been the corner that Forsaken favors with that ultimate. Foxy 9 just not quite aware enough of where Forsaken was going to end up. I mean, maybe he thought he had gone over to Boba or into spawn, but he wasn’t really checking spawn either. So, I think Fox Box 9 was just committed to try to sneak his way into the site, maybe see if he could gamble and it didn’t pay off. Forsaken has those rounds, those difference makers. So, Geng wants to slow the momentum that Paper X is starting to build. And I thought this might be a trickier attacker side for Paper X because of the util that Foxy 9 would be bring. It’s really annoying to get through some of it, but so far they’ve been doing a good job of dodging it or just not really having to worry about it too much. It’s been a lot of a pressure. Ash did a good job to get one, but in the previous round and maybe called upon again. left to see, but HyperX has a showstopper and they like to go mid with this and then swing into a better could be a market shove, but as you called it, top approach. There’s a head shot collected. Swing onto the corner. Ash able to find one with the sheriff. Does leave the hero rifle now down on the floor. Foxy 9 slowly creeping into position. Looking like they will be able to recover this and potentially Jinx as well. So that’s going to be a decent little boon here for them. Try to get over the line in this now 3v4. Paper X didn’t really have a lot of information, so they had to pull back. They realized that they were going to be a little weak to some flanks, so they had to reclear some space, readjust, and they’re making a good move again. Making a good read while Gen is convinced this was going to go A. Is going to be a pivot over towards B. So last minute change of plans here for Paper Rex is working out nicely. Giving themselves a really good shot to come through. Phantom for Munchkin. Guardian for Foxy 9. Still a sheriff for Karan. Heading back over now. I think the orb was actually left. I think that if somebody had just taken it from B main, they they could have had two ultimates, two more ultimates online rather. Something got his off the plant. could have had a res alongside. This might have missed the grab of it, but now wall just going to be pinged out. Boxy pointing those outlaw shots there on the swing. Munchkin trying to creep down finding the first looks for the transfer. Cannot make it happen. Pman able to go ahead save them all. Counter sprays back through and now it is just Kon will get taken down. Decent effort here from Genji in the thrifty attempt but cannot make it happen. And Paper Rex are now one round away from tying it up. Yeah, I mean again I feel like in the beginning part of the round Genji is a pretty good read on what Paper X wants to do. You know I saw two players in market two at it top mid. So they expecting that mid pressure but they still couldn’t stop it. That’s kind of a problem against Paper X for just about everybody. You can know what they’re going to do, but they’re just going to execute better than you sometimes. It is going to be the Defy Operator once again. Tons of alts across the board. Everybody swimming in him right now. Old Forsaken. Oh, he just barely got out. Thing revealed. TP over to the side, but that sets up the Hunter’s Fury as texture just eats some friendly fire as the regen shield behind it. And that is a big crunch play here from Gen G. They look to maintain this lead. Boombot this time. No double kill to be found. Enemy remaining. Something will try to stop it from being a flaws but cannot. Caron will go ahead and shut it down. Very swift round here as Gen G up to 10. Yeah, they turn up the tempo and they’re able to read the positioning here. A great combo with texture dashing forward. The Hunter Fury absolutely ridiculous off the ping reveal. Yeah. Yep. The recon dart very nicely set up. sticking heads up right on top of it. So huge crunch to come in and that very much weakens the the buy here from Paper X. Still that showstopper, still a res standing ahead take flight. Still opportunities to try to make it go of this, but Genji for now reading this position. Well, can they clear the drone fast enough? The answer is going to be yes. As Munchkin going to just play dodge ball here. Texture saying tucked into the corner. Munchkin going to be taken down, but it shows stopper. aren’t going to be able to find one. Texture looking for the triple transfer and he will be able to find it. Mows them down and that nullifies this double alt investment here from Paper Rex. Gen barring something going crazy on the clutch. Going to stretch the lead up to three. The Genji fans love what they’re seeing. See Something has anything in store for us. Counter swing angles set up here from both texture and Ash. This should basically be impossible. Needs to make it a one and done. But it’s going to be texture. Mr. 4K goes ahead and seals the deal on the round. Two more and it’s going to be Geng taking Paper X’s sunset away from them. Just just brilliant patience here. Hiding in that corner for so so long. Even with the showstopper coming through. able to just keep himself obscured. Do tons of damage when Paper Rex least expects it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re going to see another timeout here. Paper Rex needs to find some kind of counter. Here you go. Just waiting it out. Hiding behind the toxic screen. Spike down. Strikes at the perfect moment. Yeah, DVI. That’s got to be frustrating. Kill here for Forsaken. That was the 4K from a bit ago. Yeah, it was a good play, but looks like the timeout is coming through here. So, final timeout call on this map used by Paper Rex. Trying to rally this one back. Still an opportunity to lock up the victory here. And a lot of the ones that they’ve had at the tournament, you know, they didn’t come easy. A lot of uh a lot of overtime play. Yeah, you can see the economy still going to be in a rough spot. And as previously mentioned, two ultimates were invested in that round. There’s still three available here to Geng. Uh it’s just painful that you lose some of the the ultimates that get you kills. That’s what really hurts. standing ahead off the rip there. Pman gets ahead of it and Jing finds texture in mid. The Phantom will be watched, but Pman finds Foxy 9. Seems like whatever Alex had said might just be working. Khan does make this a little bit more costly, but now Ash is going to be taken down. Pman on the lurk forward and Kron is snappy to get the readjust. 2v3 opportunity. They’re going to try to make a go of this one as Paranoia gets sent across. recon to hold him at bay and Munchkin reads this beautifully. Looks up above before he even swings the corner. It’s not even a flick. It’s just a clear read cuz now the pit to come through paint shell to try to delay. Damage avoided but now the spike engulfed something flanking in around the back. Karan trying to scout forward. The munchkin finding the flank. Jing getting one. Getting out the diffuse. Just being held. He’s sticking it. Pulls off it here at the last moment. The retap pushing, killing, securing. Nine round wins now. Paper Rex. Damn close to losing that one out, but the timeout ends up working. That is tremendous awareness of space there by Jing using his util to buy time at the beginning of this Viper pit. I just great read from Munchkin, but then the way that he moves to the edge and just kind of keeps last player standing making Munchkin have to guess and he committed when Munchkin had to stick when Munchkin even if it was half already, he had to hold it down. Phenomenal stuff from Jing. Texture does have the OP, does have his alt. He’s holding back an alley. There’s two players on the approach. Forward over to Tiles. Just going to be a break of the door here from Forsaken. Just trying to create some attention. Aron first one they have to try to contend with. Finds the kill. Paranoia not clipping on the Pac-Man but that final shot. The fadeaway will and texture looks for the followup. Rez brings Jack into the res brings Jing back into the fold. enough Jack as Overdrive is now going to be popped and texture alongside Ash will be able to go ahead and quickly squatch this attack here on the aside. Map point now in hand for Gen. Man, they’re just really holding on. I guess JJ stands for Jack Jack. He’s going to Yeah, start calling him Jack. We got David and Jack. Yeah, David, Jack. I like it. Have to come up with some better names, but Ash there. David, Jack, and Jason. Yeah. David, Jack, Jason, Ilia. I know. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. It’s infuriating. It’s weird that like we’ve known Alex for a very long time. Yes. And normally you don’t like to see your friends suffer, right? But there’s something about it, you know? I know. It kind of just I mean it’s just content. I got a feel for him, but at the same time it is it is entertaining. Yeah, the drone getting the spot here is Forsaken pushing forward and that is a full cluster and a full flank. Gen have every bit of information they could possibly need. This crunch getting ready to come through and I don’t think they’re reading this one at all. The push back now striking. Munchkin gone. How much do they see? unclear, but Divine now similarly taken down. Everyone stuck within the pit. They bound forward. Car able to find one. Forsaken. The stinger bringing out. Finds himself a second. Showstopper set. Ash dead. And Munchkin gets cleaned up. Genji make every right move. Get him to every right position. But they just get massacred within the pit. It’s hard to think of a team that’d be better in a chaotic situation like that than Paper Rex. And Fors think it’s just running around. Just the edges of the the pit. Remaining Jin gets a showstopper immediately deletes Ash and Forsaken scoops up a Vandal and cleans things up. Unreal. He’s just checking the mouse. Is there dust in there? All right. Making sure the battery life on it is going to be good. Don’t want to have to plug that one back in. Final timeout call here now from Gen G. Everything being expended as Okay, it’s going to be a little bit more. I thought he might have been kind of showing off a little bit there, you know, but no, it actually looks like he’s having a little bit of an issue with the mouse. Well, hopefully uh if that’s the case, hopefully it’s going to be something quick. The Genji fans quieted a bit here. Almost certainly feeling like that was going to be the finisher. This has been so many times, a little bit less so at this tournament, but still so many times where they get to the finish line, but just cannot cross it. At least not without extreme effort. Vapor X are looking to make that happen again. Opai versus texture. Opening shot from texture. Not going to Well, it flips onto Jing, but it doesn’t get the kill. The heal is there, so he’ll be right as Rain regen armor as well. Similarly refilled. Not too many alts that are close up other than, you know, Karan has his deploying drone. Still a bit away from another hunter’s fury for something. Obviously, the showstopper just got used in that previous round. Two more in a row. It’s what Paper X needs here to send it to OT. They’re just deathballing around the map. I think wary about those quick flanks that almost cost them that previous round. See if they can read this position. Oh, that’s going to be another shot. Forsaken now tagged up. Decent damage exchanged onto texture. That heal still going to be a ways away and Munchkin does get flushed out of this lurk position. Great readjust from something done as he’ll get the heal. Giving Forsaken down to five off clears the recon. Caron 30 seconds left. Planted forward here at Alli with the judge in hand. Looks like Widley. They’re going to avoid him. No attention being paid to that position at all. Ash going to be spotted out. Paint shells landing right in front of his face. Free swings out. Cannot get the readjustment. At the same time, Fox9 able to find something off screen. Oh, Karan took a peek out. Now they know he’s there trying to use the smoke to lure them in after those last 9 seconds. The plant comes through. This could be dire straits for Gen. The money not going to be in a good spot. Pman able to find the first. Karan rushing forward. Taps the spike now alone. The judge striking. Pacman here around the corner. The jump out. The kill. 5 HP on Forsaken. Swaps to the classic. Cover going out. Spots him. tries to hold it and just fires it through the smoke. Khan with a 4K will bring this map to its end. Sunset stolen by Gen G. The bane of Paper Rex’s existence has been Gen G and they continue to make them suffer. They’re going to take their map pick away. One of the strongest maps Paper X has and it’s going to be Ascent coming up next. a map that has befuddled Paper Rex for some time and it’s a very different setup. Obviously, Genji play a a different game on Ascent compared to Fnatic, but it was a 13-3 score line that they suffered yesterday. We’ll see if they can have an improved performance and still get this to three when we come back after the break. Grenade Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yay! Nah! And you could even hear the incredulation off the voices of Paper Thin and Achilios despite the fact these two opponents know each other so so well. It is Gen G and Paper X giving us a new chapter in their rivalry. 104 Gen G on Sunset. 13-10 in that last one. Don here alongside Baby Bay and Kaka. What a good one that has kicked us off here in the third place match. Yeah. I mean the double boombot kill again. Yeah. Never seen that. Not even in my rank games. Obscene stuff that we’re You know about iron a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Iron three. Iron. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh love to see that Genji knows their opponent, knows them very very well. Not many teams can do that to one of the biggest comforts the Paper X has currently in this game which is Sunset. Um, also very surprised to see that Genji picked out Ascent, but we we’ll get to that in in a minute. I think that we had very stellar performances from players that we expected and players that we did not expect. Good to see that that individual prowess is definitely going to be there. But I don’t think it’s a good sign when we see that many multi frags, that many one player has to be the hero for you to close around. Yeah, I think the scary thing for me is Kon is now activated. This guy was kind of AFK a little bit for the last couple of days apparently in the back. We’re being told that he was kind of under the weather a little bit and now he’s Yeah. Yeah. Right. And now he’s coming into form in the third place match. Uh it’s it’s going to be worrisome for the side of PRX when this guy is activated. Yeah. Again, always love talking about stars on this team. We’ve been saying texture’s name. We’ve been saying Munchkin’s name. We’ve been saying Foxy 9’s name. But then Karen being able to step on up and then Ash had himself that uh double hunter fury kill as well. So Genji firing on all cylinders. That’s what you got to do up against the reigning Masters Toronto champs. 13 to 10 there. And uh when they got the spike down, it was successful here for Genji. Early on in that game, they kept going A and then rotating on over to B. And they found a lot of success in that. We see also the the clutches at the bottom. Both of them going the Genji side that we saw throughout the game. the the opening kills. I think that uh was going to be a little bit different because we saw a lot of situations coming and turning around. I think that goes back to what we were saying about them knowing their opponent. Genji know how to be aggressive and when to stop Paper X’s uh aggressive aggress aggression. Yeah. And and that stat line exactly shows how momentum based this game is. It was a back and forth affair, but it did come down to those clutches that you were talking about. It’s highlight that those match plays in a wins you the actual map. Yeah, let’s take a look at some of them off the back of Foxy 9 who has been the standout player for Genji throughout the esports world cup. Does it yet again here in map number one? I am an absolute loser for a deadlock and I think that he is the perfect representation of what the agent can do in this map. Do not get me wrong. I do not think that every team can do what uh what Genji are able to do with the um with the deadlock and specifically in this map, but his utility has so much effect. He knows exactly how to use deadlock as an initiator and have that much presence. We see those posts, all of those stuns, all of the um approaches as well. Like he uses deadlock to perfection in this map. Yeah. And then even his anchoring on the defensive side. I mean, he just knows exactly when to use that grab net and just basically delay for his the rest of his teammates texture to come on over, maybe get a flank in. He is such a mechanically standout player when it comes to retaking. And then the round that we wanted to shout out here was round 18 on the SOA. This was such a big big moment here. Look at that value. And and and this kind of chipped away at the economy of PRX, but it’s momentum based game. I feel like when you get this hunter fury kill online like that and it makes it so easy for your star duelist to follow up on it, it puts yourself in a really really good spot to kind of further that lead against PRX. To me, it’s more the moment where this happens. We see a full buy on the side of Paper X, we see a lot of ultimates already online for them. They not only invest the Hunter’s Fury, we also see the Deadlock ultimate being like if there is someone coming here, which would be a very paperex play to make like they have the um Tumiva’s um showstopper funny enough that the Spanish one uh the showstopper um they know that Paper X like and especially when the score is so tight on an 8 N that is the moment where Paper X would be doing those kind of rounds. That is common to know in your opponents. All right, let’s shift our focus to map number two here in a sense. Remember, for the stakes here are those championship points and the prize pool. It is a little bit more important to Geng as they have multiple different teams across game titles here at the esports world cup. So, we go to ascent here. What do you want to see Kuka as we move to map number two? Maybe a new composition coming from the side of Paper X. Again, I’m very surprised that Geng decided to go for this ascent. Um, they have won against Paper X, but they have not won against many other teams, they’ve been struggling a lot. The same way the Paper X has been struggling. The thing that I’m saying about the compositions the last six times that they’ve played this map. They’ve played five different compositions. They’re not finding their footing. They’re not comfortable. We saw what happened yesterday against Fnatic. Not having a sentinel ascent, it’s definitely not paying off. You’re you’re absolutely correct about Genji picking this map. They run the default comp. It is very very awkward and it’s very obvious what you’re going to do, but they do have footage from yesterday like you were saying. Yeah. All right. Well, with that again, the stakes here, the third place match, the champ the the STC club championship points uh and again the rivalry between these two squads that know each other so well, not only at internationals, but Pacific as well. A little bit of a preview what’s happening in stage two. It is Gen, it is Paper Rex. Will the train be able to get back on the tracks or will Genji be able to vanquish their foes? Let’s find out. Map number two starts right now. Thank you very much, Desk. Yep, here we go. Map number two. Paper Rex going to be looking for a bit of redemption, a bit of a rebound here as they make their way back over onto the stage. Taking their seats ascent needing to get through this. It’s the map pick of Gen G to take us over to Lotus, which would almost certainly be an alltime banger of a map if they want to have a chance at those points at that increased prize pool. Otherwise, Genji will be able to collect it all in third place. Yeah, what what a story line that would be. You know, this is a map that like the desk was talking about. It’s been a little bit of a struggle for both squads, but I’d say more so for Paper Rex and Geng. Uh, you know, this is more them picking this map to pick on Paper Rex’s weaknesses than it is necessarily playing to their strengths. So, you never know here. You know, Paper Rex, if they just kind of throw caution to the wind, throw play loose, play aggressive, they might be able to take this away. You know, Gen G looked a little shaky on this map, so definitely something that they can exploit. It’s just a matter of are they going to be able to find that form because on Sunset they just, you know, they had some moments for sure, but Genji again really has good reads. I mean, even on some of those rounds that Paper X was losing, I was like, man, Genji has great macro here. They have a good idea of what Paper X wants to do. No, they really do. And I mean, Desk is talking about it how well these teams know each other at this point. I you think about, you know, if you think about rivals, like who would you say is the biggest rival for Paper X? Off the top of your head, you probably say from the years past for Gen, you probably say RQ. These two teams have played against each other as many times as Genji has played against RQ. Played nine times in VCT. And if you count nonVCT events such as this one, it’s been 11 times, right? It’s insane how much these teams have played against each other. And the lion share of that has been from the last 2 years of play. And we’re not even done with 2025 yet. We still have stage 2. still have another international on the BCT circuit to potentially add even more matchups between these squads. It’s been a huge jump where they just consistently clash because both teams have continued to trend around the top of the standards. Absolutely. I mean, I think you would feel like these are the two best teams out of Pacific right now uh for the last couple of years, you know, between them. They’ve each got a Mast’s title. You know, T1 has one in there as well, but they weren’t able to qualify for Toronto. These two teams were. So, right now, I think this is the biggest rivalry we have in our region. One of the biggest rivalries we have on the planet right now, and Gen G just swept the feet out from Paper Rex. And they’re falling to the ground. Are they going to be able to get their arms out, catch themselves, and rebound here and send us to Lotus? It’s the big question for me. It’s going to be a lot of sheriffs here for both teams. Three for Gen, two for Paper Rex. He’s looking to maybe duke it out with the pistols. And I mean, both teams probably feeling pretty confident about it. They were hitting some good ones. They’re going to be ready for him to be slid this far forward. The answer is not quite. Jen does manage to get the readjust something here in mid. Tag down to 34. Sheriff still an opportunity to try to do some damage, but Ash just going to be a little bit quicker on the draw. Finds the pick there. Dash at the ready from Dexter. cuts across. Switch going to be hit. Dubai just tugging along this Viper wall here. Quick rotations coming through. Shots applying protector. Finds a head shot on Forsaken Dubai. Gone as that is going to be the cleanup. It’s another pistol going the way of Gen Z. Two to one in the series. Yeah, I mean just some plays trying to be made here on both sides, but Munchkin at least able to get one from his off angle position that he creates in a main and then something tries to make a hero play in mid and he was already so low would have to just hit a quick head shot around the corner and they’re just ready for it. Karan and Ash both combining there to finish the kill. Ash through the smoke gets Jing. It’s a good start again for Genji winning the opening pistol just like they did on Sunset. It’s just going to be couple little buyups for Paper Rex. Divide with a sheriff. Forsaken with a ghost and Forsaken is already almost dead. Yeah, Forsaken with seven health. Chest shot, leg shot immediately getting tagged down coming back. Do a much safer position. And it looks like he’s going to slide forward onto that B site. Heavy stack. I mean, A is just completely abandoned at the moment. Munchkin was playing more lurk heavy character and probably already be within that A site and calling for the rotation to come through. Now though, will play this out patiently. Gambling into the stack here. This does give an opportunity for Paper Rex to potentially turn the tides a bit. Try to pull off a thrifty. It’s a good little play from Paper Rex. See if they can convert on this. They’ve got an opportunity, that’s for sure. Keeping it quiet here for the moment. Recon goes in deep. Shots flying. Something able to find one. The jump. Ching bouncing forward there with a right clicks in hand. Is able to find Ash. The weapon’s going to be scooped up. Carried forward here as Munchkin now joins in. And it’s just Dvai still making his way across in towards market where the door is going to be shut. Get one more here as Dvai. You’d feel great. Drop one of those Guardians or Bulldogs away from Gen G going into the next round. Going to be a two tap here on a Foxy 9 or a head shot. And high low setup at the switch and will put Foxy to nine but cannot get that kill. So the weapon’s going to be carried over as overall fairly clean anti-eco here from the side of Gen Z. now up two zero. Yeah, I think Gen G, you know, Munchkin second guessing himself here, maybe anticipating that off of the contact, you know, that Gen would rotate away from the stack is what he thinks Paper X is going to do. They don’t do that. And there’s a toxic screen there that backs him off. Uh created by Divide. Just that little wall makes him second guess that maybe A is actually open. He has to back off. That just keeps Geng plowing forward into that stack. A little bit of damage done, but Genji able to recover nicely. Shut them down. They’re going to come in with a pretty strong bonus. Plenty of weaponry to try to utilize here. Just slowly drifting into wine, but oh my god. Seems like just they’re none the wiser. No clue about it, but he can’t find the punish because of the flash. The timing on that is just ridiculous. going for sure. Flash over the top is just gorgeous. And both players forsaken by in the open. Gunned down. Spike still a ways away. This could allow for the quick pivots to come through. That’s going to be so difficult to try to get a retake going here for the side of Paper Rex. Gen very well could seal the deal here on the bonus conversion. I mean, this might be a safe consideration already for Paper Rex. Z. This is a very wide recar that they’re going for. It seems like the safe call is the most likely outcome as Padman won’t be allowed to do that. Nor will Jing something going to try his odds and will be able to come away with that kill dodges damage. But Jen Gene now circling going to be on the hunt. Ping’s coming down precisely towards where something is advancing forward. Just great reads. Something going to have to come up huge here to keep this gun. Sat here in Gelato Texture. The first one to try to go on the fight. Foxy 9. Night night. The next one as Old Tail went forward. Wasn’t ready for somebody to be coming through the spawn. Nothing retained here. Minor damage dealt. Paper X. The rocky start already on Ascent. Just I mean that’s a real gamble setting up that high low out in the open like that. The flash is perfect for Munchkin. You know, just maybe anticipating that you get a player to peak around that corner first and you can maybe get that kill and then kind of scoot away to safety. Yeah, cross that one off the book. It didn’t work. Not that I’m entirely sure that was Alex’s idea. That one might have been a on the-fly player decision. on finding Karan. Noise made here in mid. Sheriff’s a Bucky. Something trying to find the shot. Avoids the spray here so far as Munchkin forces out the tailwind. Something does get a very nice head shot before getting taken down. So gets his the rest of the team to try to do the same. And Vi will be able to deliver on that promise. Lucky value though dwindling. Last player standing. There’s Ashes down the two there at Alli. Jeff going to be picked up here by Jing. Plant now going to be coming through. Doesn’t pass this one over to K. Despite already having the alt online at 40 HP if he can just get that first elimination and then scale forward. There’s a world where he could still clutch this. Paranoia, however, going to be going wide. Neither player hit by that. Four TP trying to close the gap. Cannot bite Ash. Gets himself the 4K. Four rounds for Geng. Yeah, some damage done with the pistols. Some good individual moments for Paper X, but with their firepower so weak. They just couldn’t get the job done. And Gen G Ash already out of Hunter’s Fury. He’s having a pretty solid day overall. Really nice map for him on Sunset. Stellar moment. It’s 8-1 and zero. Yeah, he’s having a pretty good one, eh? Now swallow your fear. It’s going to be a fast hit. Texture rushing forward, but Jing able to go ahead shut him down. Hunter Fury now coming through. Ash trying to see if he can get any tags, but all of paper rex have scattered. They avoid the damage. They get the kill. That’s them now in a good position. Genji have to abandon this side of the map. Rotation immediately coming through. Forsaken just going to go sprinting over towards mid. Checks to see that pizza is going to be clear. Yeah, this is solid rotation here from Gen G. Paper Rex had committed a lot and that operator is going to be on the other side of the map. So that’s a tool you’d like to have to stall the attacks. Not necessarily as good in retake, but something darn good with it. So might make me eat my words with that one. just waiting this out. Genji unsure and have no information about what’s going on on this side of the map. So gonna have to use the drone. Going to have to wait give away the script a little bit. Now looks like Hatman is going to shift a little bit over call for a rotate again. Maybe just go for a two split, but it looks like they’re going to try to cut back over to Cat without a Sentinel. You know, this mid is going to be weak. Okay, looks like they want to not go into the potential crossfire setup from Alli as well as sight. So he’ll push in from market. TP however is there. Jing now arriving at boats. Time ticking. Foxy 9 able to find one. The spike being brought forward. Jing still sat here. Plant coming through. Ash finding one. Jing getting the other. Pac-Man now in responses. That’ll be the cleanup and that’ll be Paper Rex getting themselves on the board. I thought for a second here this might work out pretty well for Gen G. But some good plays there. Able to get some kills and stall them. And with the time ticking down had to force the plant. That worked into Patman’s favor. Was able to wait that out nicely. Not checked in boats by Foxy 9. Foxy paid the price there. He’s able to just tear Genji apart. remaining. Nice opening kill as he shifts down there. Really nicely done. Man, paper wrecked. Finally gets around. Didn’t even have to use the operator. It’s going to go into mid. Fills forward, gets himself in front of the wall. Recon quickly cleared out. Looks like he’s just playing alongside him trying to play him in. Flash is going to be dodged. The peak. The flick not going to be connecting. They drop down. They hide in behind stairs. Flash over the top. Batman able to find the head shot and the spray down. Munchkin going to be bleeding out on the floor. Foxy 9 however in response able to find forsaken as the res gets ready to come through. And Foxy is right there to barrel stuff keeping them protected and keeping them in with a monstrous advantage. The rest of the players now slipping the net getting past Jing’s line of sight. We move over crew. Market and Karan still here on the late. Linger cleans things up. Nice nice round here for Foxy. Didn’t clear boats previously, but this time he’s good to bail out his team in mid. They react quickly here. The dash from something puts him in an awful spot and Genji wants to capitalize on that quickly. You see the flash came out from Pacman to try to bail him out, but Genji just a step ahead of the curve there. A great reaction call from Munchkin and and company. Now you got to take a timeout here as this defender side is crumbling again for Paper Rex just like it did on Sunset. I mean just it’s far too costly. We’ll see what they try to piece together going into this next one. Losing out on the operator, having these rounds be so close in the wind for Paper X. This means that the economy is not going to be in a very great position. Let’s see if they’re going to have any kind of real set strat to try to pull off here. Can you get the read? It’s just so tough on this map to play defense without a Sentinel. No Killjoy, no cipher, no deadlock. Just trying to get something going. You do have the blades. You also have to buy glass cannon. Sheriff doesn’t want to buy lower than 1100 as looks like there’s going to be some reassessment. Okay, so still some firepower if the shots can come through. We know that something can be deadly with these blades. Quick push over getting ready to come through. Knives up and over the top. ing him behind that first blood. Cloud burst down as Caterpillar for texture finding one. The shorty comes out. Something going to be traded. Brings it now into a 2v2 with Pman. Tagged down to 16 here at backst not really going to be a viable option as well as they just spam him down. They guarantee it. Kar with a 4k. Geng to six. Yeah, even though Geng kind of walks into the trap that Paper X has set up, they’re still able to fight their way through it. The blades not really able to find the value that you’d like. Smokes here from texture. Really, really nice to help block his team from the angle that something was trying to take. One enemy remaining. And Caron absolutely disgusting with the Vandal. Really nice reactions. Really nice recovery for Gen G. It looked like that round might have been able to swing into Paper X’s way, but instead it’s Genji up to six, up by five. Kyle’s crunch attempt here keeping forward and the haunt reveal is massive and something quickly collects two. Catman coming through something with a 3k and forsaken with the cleanup. I was wondering if they’d go for it. The conditioning was there. Genji deciding to try to attack that B site once again and Paper X perfectly read it. Yeah, love the combination there with the fade util as well. The haunt to really set things up. Change some angles. It’s just a quick dash out and there’s that haunt finding value just spraying through. Even finds Foxy 9 there. Unbelievable. The dash up works a treat. The crunch from the Omen TP as well from Jing on the other side. It’s a nice little variation on a classic. Jen going to be trying to do the same thing now here at the B site. gets a tiny bit of damage onto Ash, but cannot collect the elimination. Stays alive for now. Pit at the same time now in play here. Yeah, tough situation now for Foxy that he’s facing. Shutting them down. Not really able to get good info inside of that pit or do much about it. Genji just holding the line looking for another aggressive play from Paper Rex to chuck Jing into Wine. They’re looking to try to kind of just box out the entire map other than mid. Try to force the Geng players through there. But if they break through, do have Forsaken now backing up something. Genji can get the read on this might be able to get in and get something tagged up. You should run Jason coming through. Nightfall in exchange. Padman scaling forward trying to clear this out. But Foxy 9 holding his own. Finds the kill. Finds a followup. Something can only get Munchkin trying to crunch. Trying to scale forward against an audioless Kalejoy. But Foxy 9, it’s just been too damn good. The VI will find one to bring it now into a 2v3. Now, not even a full HP bar here between the two remaining players. There’s on the long flank of Foxy reading it decently well. Cannot win this fight. Ah, this is time’s just running out. I don’t think you can get this going as Paper X. Ash gets antsy, which he does, goes for the check, but Karan has been a bit of a beast. Looks to try to rush them down. 4K found for Divide, but the time is just not going to be there. Gen still with cash in the bank. Get themselves the clutch and get themselves now up to seven. Yeah, I’ve been really crediting Gen G’s macro, but I really like Paper Rex’s macro on this round. They’ve got good answers for a lot of what Gen G wants to do here. They have an answer for this lock down. They just can’t quite get there. Patman’s got Foxy 9 blocked in. Knows he’s there. Should have the advantage in that situation, but Foxy 9 just outplays him. Gets two to boot. That’s just how good Foxy 9 has been this event. Truly one of the standout players. That right there is why able to fight his way out of bad situations. Sees snake bite combo attempted here by Paper X, but nobody home for it to catch. Something again to be tasked with trying to take mid control. They should know he’s pretty far back. Given the spam, given that the knife didn’t connect, they don’t really seem keen on challenging this. I think still some of those aggressive crunches that Paper X did where they were able to get around in their hands again has got Gen G trying a very different strategy here playing a little bit more slow, a little bit more methodical. Oh, this time they challenge Foxy and win. Saken there got the read off his util opted to go for the swing. Fragment at the ready here from Patman trying to hold them back on this approach here into the a site. Forsaken swinging around rejoins. Fragment will end up going over towards main. Texture trying to entry forward out of tree getting taken down. 30 seconds left. Critical kill found here to try to stretch this lead. Transfer attempt and Munchkin gets it done but cannot get the cross. The spike now going to be dropped a here at something’s feet and Patman helps hold the door. A third round win here from Paper Rex as they look to try to rescue this half. Yeah, they’re just able to match Gen G here in their movements. Munchkin looked like he might be able to pull off another miracle for Gen G, but didn’t quite come through. Paper X this time making better reads. kind of adapting now to this slower pace of play. Gen wants to try to counter them with Oh, ridiculous stuff. I mean, Forsaken there just can’t get the spray controlled in time. Had a good nice play set up. He’s attempting He’s attempting to follow up off of Munchkin’s kind of wild early spray, but just not able to get there in time. This looks like it’s actually going to be a pause for Gen. They want to consider how they get a few more rounds squeezed out of paper racks. And I actually find this a little bit surprising cuz Genji has been one of those teams is a little bit more reserved when it comes down to utilizing these timeouts. They’re already a decent enough position here on the attack, but looks like they want to try to get everything that they possibly can. Figure, well, let’s just not have to save two for the second half. Let’s just go ahead burn one now. and obviously gives that opportunity over to Alex. Get into the ears of the players, try to come up with a strategy. Last time it ended up working out very, very well. The thrifty didn’t come through, but then they go for the tiles crunch. And it worked a treat. Yeah, I mean I think here with the blade storm available, you want to try to figure out a way to see if you can sneak this eco through and then kind of have an idea for the final round. big push out over at short for paper Rex. Last time that Prowler was cleared, it was a challenge of the angle. It’s actually Dvai who’s just kind of jiggle peeking it over there. Meanwhile, Geng looking like they’re going to sell some kind of fake with the bladestorm. Okay, no, they’re actually just going to make a rotate now. No real contact though. Knife about to come back online. Genji also has Munchkins. Turret cleared. Little bit of additional spam. Quick push coming in from behind. The rush coming forward. Texture able to collect one forsaken going to be knocked out of the park. Draft still available as well if he wants to try to go for the window peak, but it’s going to be the null command to start things off. Divi sat back over towards the site. Pure ready to go up and over the top. Divide however mowing down two, but one of those is going to be Munchkin with Resol now brought back into the fold. But the spam out from Market something collects Foxy 9. It’s the one rifle in hand here for the moment. Spike planted. Pac-Man something. Jing all clustered together. The drone trying to chase. Karan playing off that flash gorgeously. One enemy remaining. Find a timing on the Pac-Man. Cover. Karan looking like the monster we know him to be. Jing trying to play off a pixel, but nothing can be spotted and he just has to drift away. A monstrous round win here for Geng as they secure eight at least at the half. The timeout call working to deliver. It’s on a knife’s edge. Divi almost spoils this round for Gen. Something as well. That spray after the res back onto Munchkin. Get it connected on one more player. Could be a very different story, but man, Karan has had some huge rounds. Impactful multi-kills. And that right there, the timing to swing up the stairs. I mean, the flash first right as the paranoia is expiring. Vi has a great sense of it. Flash go. They didn’t have a full connection on something. Was widely able to avoid it, but still just a little bit too accurate. There is Kron. That is a Genji Thrifty. The likes of which haven’t been seen for quite some time, but we were plenty used to him just last year. Glass cannon operator now invested into the final round of the half as it’s going to be a triple face out and Ching helps to shut it down. Pman the only casualty here on the side of Paper Rex as they similarly look to pull off a little bit of a lower buy. Yeah, this is the first time it’s worked. Hello remain. Goodbye. Still immediately found Munchkin now 1v4 to try to clutch this one since the pop flash. Jinx caught by that zero point will fly some real time to try to shut the door and now going to be tethered as well. Loses his audio for a brief little moment to drop down. Needed to snipe that one out of the sky. Forsaken from behind will be able to find it. And at the half it’s going to be eight to four. Yeah, another strong start here on Genji’s attacker side. Paper Rex has a lot of work to do here on Ascent. Certainly do needing to deliver, needing to find that other pistol round win to jump start the half. We’ll see if they can get it done as that map three is still looming in the distance. Paper X trying to reach it. We’ll see if they can after the half. One enemy remaining. Oh my god. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. here at the half. 8 to4 on ascent their map picker X the ones at risk of being denied a third place finish here EWC. Yeah, and what a hot start for Geng and Kon in particular, 14-7 on that attacker side as the omen. That’s bananas. What a half he had. And you know, we used to think back to this map and Kon being an absolute menace on a site, but I’ve had many people tell me about how much they hate playing against him on this map because of how good he is at his positioning. Now, he struggled a little bit this year. Uh, but we’ll see if that’s going to give Paper X some grief still. They’re maybe going to be able to find some answers. Very, very important pistol run. And oo, Ash takes a bunch of damage, but Forsaken going to take a head shot. Texture just counter swinging from catite opened up though. Something trying to push forward. Has that shorty as going to be a poison cloud here in his face. Doesn’t want to try to scale through that one. Wary about some additional presence. So opts to just hold the door here for now. Has fallen down to 66. The push coming in but thinks that he’s going to confirm the kill there onto the first pump but cannot make it happen. Munchkin Moe’s down three as he often does with a ghost in hand and Paper Rex cannot find the pistol that they so desperately needed. A that’s brutal. That’s brutal for Paper Rex. You can see they know it. Munchkin is just fearsome in these pistol rounds today. It’s been just devastating. A nice shot to open things up for Texture. Something trying to catch him off guard. He kind of does. He just thinks that he’s going to get the first and tries to turn for the second. Can’t find either. So again, the the conversions here. Normally Paper Rex so good in their individual play. Just not able to find those moments. So it is going to be the Outlaw scooped up for something. Couple players do have full armor. Texture and Munchkin both going to get that. It’s a big buy up here for Genji on this bonus. Three Bulldogs, two Guardians. Something though for the punish and he got it with a nice followup as well. Gets rid of texture. Getting a thrifty win. Dropping the pistol certainly would be nice. Pman with a good shot. Finds Ash. Brings it now to the 2v2. Outlaw tags Munchkin to 10. Doesn’t confirm the kill. Rotate can come through something with the classic drawn out. Finds the shot. Now it’s Foxy 9. Left to his own devices. The market door closed. Patman already forward into B main. Seems like Foxy uncertain if he’s missed the timing or not, but we know that he has. See if they get the read on this. Something is repositioning. Seems like he’s going to be decently aware. Wouldn’t expect the turret to come out here. I don’t think Foxy’s going to want to reveal where he’s coming from, but it’s already red with just the 25 health. Have to be instantaneous. And it is swings past the shot. Pumps the brakes here for a moment. Patman so very clutch in their road to becoming champions over at Toronto. The drop down and the shot on the peak is gorgeous. Paper Rex. Massive round win. They close the gap. Well, that’s one way to get things going again. That Outlaw is a brilliant buy and something on the jet is also having a tremendous ascent. I’ll find you. Just phenomenal push out there and the crunch from top mid knows that he had tagged Munchkin up already, so switches to the classic. He get the easy kill. Let’s go. All right, still some work to do, but that is a great bounce back for Paper Racks. Destroyed. Crower just cleared here by the Classics. The Sheriff’s not making any noise. Something again going to be set up on the angle as the recon goes in. Not going to be missed. Something eating a bit of damage to the wall. Still some places that you can wall bang. That’s the dash used. Not enough or you could potentially have tossed the outlaw back to Dai gone for the execute but now they’re going to change directions try to find some more picks still could but on these longer sight lines he’ll just hang on to the sniper here for now to try to check doesn’t get the ping reveal up zero point going to be noting textures position as well as Atu would seem tries to catch the timing but will just end up falling down. Second layer is going to be there. Texture fully blinded up. Foxy 9 able to find one as Jing will fall and now it is just Munchkin and Karan to try to see if they can get a bit more damage across. 30 seconds still lurking in mid. Seems not getting a glimpse there of the enemy KO. One enemy remaining. Jot is found. Punkin quickly able to collect the one, but deise there for the counter swing. Outlaw on the floor. Not going to be very costly at all here for Paper Rex as they continue to try to claw back this map. Yeah, it’s that zero point there lets them know somebody’s in market that allows Jing throw that paranoia through as well. Help just scale forward. That’s pretty clean and efficient for Paper Rex after taking the eco there quick to respond. Saken as well swinging in. Now things getting a little bit more interesting. Three rounds away from Gen. Dueling null commands available. All right. Kind of comes down to a timing sometimes with those who’s going to want to pop theirs first. Just depends. Munchkin though way back. spamming through to try to really play this in though. Disguise disposition at Pizza and it’s worked out. Ash now striking going to be no commanded. Munchkin again trying to provide some covering fire. Batman will be able to go ahead and equalize. Finds that kill. Forsaken pushing forward. Pman now on the floor. Texture able to find that one. The peak coming through. He drops down that a heaven ramp. Goes for the res. The tailwind popped. Texture secures the kill this time but loses his life in the process. It’s now a 3v3. Munchkin still got that alt. The null command still being held here. As you say, Munchkin to send that flash over the top. Foxy 9 spike down finds a head shot. The spike on the floor. Dubai trying to join in, but Foxy just drags it across. Munchkin backpedaling. Foxy reloading. Karan lurking as wants to be clutching. Paranoia a bit too shallow, but Munchkin is there on the timing and Geng will reach double digits. And again, it’s Foxy 9 coming up huge for Gen. Just plays that so well from boats. Getting those kills so quickly and efficiently and then not giving anything up for free to Dubai to allow the swing to come from Munchkin. Hard to do it better than he just did. That is really stellar stuff. A little bit of discussion being had there I saw by Genji at the end of the round. Not sure if something went wrong in the beginning or mid part of it, but the end of it was glorious. That went forward not getting caught by that flash at all. Munchkin right here alongside him. And they just tear apart Paper Rex. Jing now last one standing. Have to be the 4K. And Tex says, “Uh-uh. That’s my title, good sir. is ready and waiting. Reads it well and swiftly dispatches the enemy. Yeah, just dealing with that pressure immediately. The double push out the turn of the flash and the responses there from Munchkin and Texture. Jing just had to gamble that maybe they’d stay in a main there. Texture not fooled by that in the slightest. Now he’s going to grab an outlaw of his own. Guardian for Ash. Fur rifle for Divi. A stinger dives behind it as well. Get onto the site. Flash over the top. The peak fully blinded up. Texture desperately trying to backpedal but something going to be held at bay here for the moment as texture does make his way out to safety. Very chaotic start or going to be taken. Forsaken one charge off having that nightfall online. That’s a quick pivot though from Paper Rex. could be fast enough that it catches Genji a bit off guard. Seeing the poison orb placement slate into the round should tell you this is maybe that pivot call coming through. So mid being watched. Munchkin ready to push forward. They’re all lined up mid and in the blink of an eye he collects three kills. Something peaks. He spots the demonic gel on the opposite side and immediately tries to drift away. joining in with Divine. Munchkin, however, continuing onward, looking for more will be felled as Reign of Terror brought to a brief end, but this round is just as much finished. That is outrageous. The timing there for Munchkin could not have been better. You get to see what was left in his wake. the spike and so much weaponry. That is unbelievable. How does he just keep doing it? It’s 10 seconds left. So many of these rounds for Munchkin, you just feel like he’s got a third eye. It’s like he can see the future. Being able to find one, but Ash wins the fight versus Divide. Another weapon lost and something dies. Ash finding the wall. Bang. Had he not fired in response, Mesh likely would have just kept his finger off the trigger, but instead Paper Rex can carry nothing forward. Oh my god. Oh, that’s just that’s just the dream as a KO player on Ascent. They just line up for you like that. Don’t even have to use util. Now he’s got another al forsaken as is the buy as his. Here goes texture their own attempt here at the crunch and ping reveal is going to be a little bit late. Punch can traded but traded up just swings in from tiles. Zero point shows sight is open for the taking. Pman getting tagged up trying to work his way over. Immediately going to look to try to reposition here. Police check in for the flank. But every single player here on Paper Rex needing to pull their weight in this round or else this map, this series is over. J spots on the one. Pman finds the first. Finds the second. Still more to contend with. They’ll eventually be overwhelmed, bounding forward. Foxy 9 down to 50 HP. Has a lock down, but it’s not a good enough position to even remotely try to play this one out. Taps it. The push and something is there. Keeps him alive but barely. Five rounds needed to try to get this into overtime. Oh man, Patman standing tall on site there getting some huge impact kills and keeping Paper Rex in it. I mean, you still need five in a row, but last player standing. This is nice attempt from Foxy9, but that readjust from something well thought out, welltimed and catches him off guard. He thought about it for a moment, but pulled off. Now texture operator Bladestorm so many alts to talk about here. Munchkin grabs a judge. He is identified there, but don’t always, you know, it’s been so solid for them. The economy is there where they could have all rifles. You might not anticipate that the judge is here. This is something that we know Munchkin loves to do. Loves to use this to just do, you know, obviously in this case it would win the game potentially if it’s not caught out, but just do that psychological damage as well. Kind of beta response here though or Paper Rex. They want to figure out what Munchkin’s up to. Has to play in front of the Z orb is able to do so. Texture at the same time finding forsaken. And Nightfall now removed from the equation. But Dubai breaks things open. Something in response as well. A great shot to find Ash. TP forward. However, Karan into the smoke. Noting dealing with Jing. Flank is looking great. Pabin continues to persevere. Pushing forward. Plant just near the base of hell. Foxy 9. Another attempt to try to make a go of it as Divine pulls back. Drops down. Oh, he’s been able to reposition, but three players facing Foxy this time. Can’t even get close. Some smiles returning. Yeah, I mean just Dvi there. I I mean just so ready for that angle and he just dispatches Munchkin in an instant. That breaks everything open. That was the real danger of that round. Texture with the OP. got a kill and in the 4v5 Paper Rex swarms in. They’re able to get another one. Hope still there. Lots of also Kon this time with the judge. Foxy 9 with a hero rifle, but it’s every alult imaginable for Gen. Pit and Nightfall here for Forsaken. the damage trade and eventually the turret going down but up and over the top goes texture and instantly Forsaken has fallen once again getting the read. repositions around towards mid. Creating places here with Ash. The lion share of paper rex. The remainders pushing forward. Karen has backed off the angle. Isn’t playing close on the wall. He’s playing right there in main. Flash avoided. Zero point finding two. Paper X just really unsure about how they want to play this with two there. might think be could be the weaker side or they must might try to set up for a crunch. Worked last round. Let’s go for it again. A 3-1 split, but the timing sense is there. Early fragment out. No command’s going to be popped. Hunter Spear from across the way and Karan now striking. Hatman dead from a great distance as Kon will find the final. Gen couldn’t get it done yesterday, but here versus Paper Rex in their 11th clash. They will take them down and secure third place at EWC. Paper Rex is poison powers past them once again. Gen such a difficult opponent to go up against. So many teams have fallen to them this year and they’re going to get themselves third place here at EWC 2025 Valerant. Another crushing defeat for Paper Rex against a frustrating opponent who just has the read on him. They don’t. They’ve talked about it. We talked about it. They don’t like playing Gen G. They just have a very solid understanding of what Paperrex likes to do. But I think kudos to Paper Rex. They have been through a gauntlet. This team has been nonstop competing since the start of stage one. from that tournament to nearly being eliminated from playoff contention by TFM to making it to Master Toronto to lifting a trophy to playing in the ACL to coming to this tournament to making it the playoffs and placing within the top four. They are in need of a break, but unfortunately for Paper X, stage two is just around the corner. And with a different patch, a different map set, their work is going to be cut out for them. But we know that they are going to be able to continue to contend at the top of the region. But now, let’s send it down to the stage. We have Fancy standing by with Ash. Ash, until yesterday, you’ve had a complete run. It was very clean. But now you’ve secured third place on $130,000. How do you feel about this run? Yeah, I heard uh the difference between the third and fourth was actually double. So yeah, I feel good to, you know, get the money in the bag. Absolutely. Well, no contender wants third place, but you’ve showed up, entertained us all, and crushed so many keys. How would you carry this experience to the rest of the season? Well, every time I try to show up, uh, my nerves actually got away with it. Uh, got the way in. So, in the next stages, in the next matches, I’ll try to overcome it as much as possible. Absolutely. Well, congratulations on securing third place. We would like to present to you the key frame complete with a bronze heart to signify this week’s achievement. Let’s give it up one more time for Jen G. 30 seconds left. 30 seconds left. One enemy remaining. Spike down. And bit of a reprieve, a little bit of revenge, and getting back on the pedestal of winning. Gen 200 pretty comfortably here against Paper Rex. I think Paper Rex, uh, Achilio said it best, exhausted. exhausted going the full distance after bouncing back in uh against DFM in Pacific, then winning Masters Toronto uh to the third place match here. Uh you can understand why both these teams left it out all the line. Don’t have a lot left to give. Uh and we are so gracious and thankful for having the opportunity to watch these two Pacific Titans do battle. Let’s break it on down. Don here alongside Baby Bay and big time uh big time thoughts here on this Gen G performance. You know me, I couldn’t miss a Pacific match up. Had to get here as fast as I could. But yeah, I mean I think this was in a way sort of the expected result, right? Because Paper X struggle against Genji. Stylistically, it’s not a great matchup for them. Genji tend to get their number and as you say, Genji just looked very calm, very confident heading into Paper Rex couldn’t get that momentum that they’re really well known for. Yeah, this is now five wins in a row for Genji against PRX. It just seems like FX has not figured out how to deal with them whatsoever. But Munchkin was on a heater. I don’t know how he keeps finding these random multi-kills. It seems like the universal lines for him in some of these moments, but he was popping off on this ascent map. Yeah, it’s so nice when your IGL is just able to hit these shots. I mean, I’ve been speaking about this guy all year long because he can so consistently do this. This is not a normal thing, right? You don’t always see IGL’s having the performances that he’s able to have while also calling very very solid macro games and just holding up his own mechanical level. So truly a very very great player with hopefully a very long career ahead. Yeah. And on the opposite side for Paper Rex just uh back to the drawing board. We take a look at Karin’s stats from that last one. Another player I mean you go up and down that roster you got the big three. Kin usually in there, not so much earlier, but in today’s series against the Randy Masters Toronto Champs, he was able to do so. Exactly. It’s good to see him back in form because he is a big part of this Genji roster success. A lot of people look at this guy like he’s the best controller in the world. Like when you think of controller players, his name is up there with the best. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, he’s had a slow tournament, right? There’s We’ve been speaking about it the whole time. We needed him to wake up. Texture’s had to do a bit more heavy lifting than he’s used to. But really nice to see a little bit of return to form there for Karon and I think that shows positive signs as we move forward throughout the year. Well, as the Paper Rex’s journey here at the Esports World Cup ends, we have Davi standing uh by right now on stage with an interview. I am here with Paper X Dvi. First of all, nice glasses. Oh, thank you. I want to ask about the the match just now against Gen. They are just so What is it about Genji that defeats Paper X every single time? Even on the international stage, Julie teams have been beating you are our regional teams. I’m not sure. I think they our father now. They keep reading us like a book, you know. So, I mean, yeah, they played very well. I mean, we always have trouble like facing Zenji and hopefully we go back and reset and, you know, try to beat them in state two. Well, you had an incredible run this year. There was a point where you were almost not going to be on any of the global stages. You ended up beating DFM. You made that incredible run through Toronto. Everyone knows about the Paper X train and you placed top four here at EWC. How are you feeling? Are you tired? Are you satisfied? What’s up? Uh yeah, I mean it’s mixture of both. Like obviously I’m very satisfied and also tired, but I’m pretty sure it applies to some of the team. I think they came from Toronto as well, so no excuses. But yeah, I think overall it’s a good year for us. No complaint. I mean, obviously, we want to win everything, but it’s hard, you know, like everyone’s working very hard as well. So, yeah. I mean, I’m very happy with the way how we perform. So, yeah, no regret. And in just 2 days, VCT Pacific starts up again and your first match is going to be against T1. Uh, how are you going to rest for that? Are you going to rest? You going to practice? What’s going to happen? Uh, yeah. I mean, can’t wait to play. So, I mean, probably just going to get try to get some sleep in plane and yeah, good to go, I guess. Yeah, I guess it’s going to be a bit tiring for you guys, but it’s still been an incredible year. And because of this year’s results and over the past couple years, PaperX has been incredible, incredible journey. Do you have any message for your fans who’ve been supporting you since the beginning and have always believed? Yeah, of course. I mean, I’m very thankful. I’m pretty sure some the rest of the boys are very happy to see you guys are here saw today and across the world that staying awake, you know, like at some random timing. So yeah, thank you so much and we appreciate you guys and hopefully we bounce back uh towards stage two. So yeah, hopefully looking forward to play the new map. Yeah, that’s right. We do have CO coming up next. Thank you so much everyone, ladies and gentlemen. Paper X Divi. Yeah, the the the train doesn’t stop there for Paper X. They’re going straight back into BCT Pacific. As you said, he’s going to try to pull the shades down over on the plane and get some sleep. But this squad, we know the heights that they can achieve and they have their sights moving forward over to stage stage two in Champions. Yeah, I mean, it’s still a long year. Even if they might be a little bit disappointed with their placement here at EWC, there’s a lot more time left to watch this fan favorite team play. And if there’s one thing we know about these guys, it’s they can bounce back. Yeah. I mean, that schedule that they’ve just went through is so brutal. I think they do need to find a way to be able to like reset and kind of rest a little bit because if not, it’s just going to be extremely extremely difficult going into that champs. You need to find some time to regenerate. Big money there for the Singaporean outfit and Geng as well. 130,000 going to our third place finisher. 70,000 going to Paper Rex. When we take a look at that uh total prize pool, there’s only two slots left to fill in uh big time. Uh the EMA Grand Finals about to happen here for the first ever esports World Cup presenting Valerant tournament. It is going to be a huge one. We will have that set up in just a little bit, but give me your quick final thoughts before we toss to a short break. I mean, for me, I’ve always been a big EMA believer. I said it was going to be EMA versus EMA finals since the very start. Yeah. Okay. Bea. Okay. Kakuka’s over here to my left time. No. It’s really great to have these two teams here. It is a revenge match for Heretics and I think they’re going to be looking to really upset the top tier outfit that is Fnatic. And I for one can’t wait. Dre. No. No. They’re not getting upset at all. Fnatic are the top dogs for a reason. I got my boy Crashy’s over there. We got Chronicle popping off. And we got Kayak dropping 30 bombs on maps. It’s it’s it’s going to be cooked for I’m telling you right now. All right, we’re going to have a short break. When we come back, the grand finals pre-show into the opening ceremony. Then the big one, it’s Team Heretics versus Fnatic for the title of first ever Valerant champion over at the Esports World Cup. In the third place match, Genji victorious. They take third over Paper X. Don’t go anywhere. More Valerant after this. Heat. Heat. This land is calling. thing. W I Ah, hey. Oh, I am. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. down recovered. Finding a second with a 4K right into the leading arms of Woot King desperately trying to find it. Well, we are on the cusp of crowning the first ever champion of Valerant here at the Esports World Cup. Fanatic or Team Heretics. Both teams have had their moment in the sun before. And uh now the desk is going to get a little bit more colored in terms of the flavor of who is the favorite. Joining myself big time and Cuca is Spanish legend of gaming. It is Mixwell. Welcome, brother. Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure to be here. Yeah. Uh so for people that at home that don’t know, Mixwell is co-streaming the event right now from the arena. How’s your experience been so far? I mean, the arena is insane. uh the amount of production, how the stage is set up, so you can really see everything in a perfect angle with the big um screens on top. Um it’s not the same as other events where all the crowd is on the same angle. Um this one you have a very good view of it. And also the people that came here from the the teams, the super fans, yeah, the super fans are cheering really hard. It’s uh the atmosphere is insane. My my personal favorite has to be the the Gen G because they do the Gen G. Have you seen it? It’s pretty insane. Um I think Do you like the um on the sides you have the uh player cams all the time? I think that is very cool because you can see the reactions all the time. Um speak speaking about Heretics, of course, you were a part of it. What do you make of their run so far in the tournament? I am impressed because after losing the stage one, they didn’t win a single game. So they came back after winning against Titan. As far as I know, they had a big talk between them after the first loss against Energy and that solved a lot of their issues and it seems like it’s something more mental than in game. Uh they are a young team. They they have a lot of experience, but I feel like something was wrong before and if if they have to win a tournament, I think this is the one. So, they’ve had a great run so far, even if it has been a little bit rocky, but it’s a different beast they have to play today in Fnatic. So, no bias, pure objectivity, pure game. Do you think that they have it in them to beat the Titans today? I think Fnatic is the clear favorite. I think Chronicle is the best player in the world right now. I think uh he’s playing really, really well. I also think Kayak is doing an amazing job and it’s going to be Wood and Rian against them both. I think both have to be in their perfect uh game. In my opinion, Fnatic has the the upper hand. Uh it’s probably going to be a 3-2 for Fnatic, but Eratics has a good chance. You’re mentioning Wood, you’re mentioning Rian, but you got to play with Buu uh back in the day in 2023. Um he was IGL back then if I’m not mistaken as well. So, how do you think he’s grown as a player, grown as an IGL? What does he bring to the team now that you you know firsthand I think can give us that information? I think he has a team that everyone really respects him much more than in the first team. And to be honest, there was a bit of a of internal issues in the first roster of team Katics. And I think that the tandem of the coaches and him are a really good team as well. And he’s grown into a much better leader, I feel like. And I think he he has he’s had a really good semi-final that brought a lot of um I didn’t speak English for such a long time that I don’t sometimes I have to think about the word but um yeah he has much more his individual level is much better now. Yeah. Uh she asked about a question from the past about um uh Buu and your previous experience there on camera right now. was that uh VCT EMA finals. What do you think they’ve learned from then to where they are now in this grand finals? I think I think they they are a team that they always play good. Um they’re the question is what did they have learned from Fnatic? Yeah. Uh, Fnatic is a team that is really polished with a lot of players that do little to no mistakes. And when it’s time to win the game, when you have a moment where the player is in the spot to win the round, all of them are capable of understanding what’s going on and reacting fast. Uh, sometimes in in team herics, if they are choking a little bit, those three seconds that they have to take a decision are not as good as Fnatic, I would say. and if they want to win, they have to be on the same level today. Couple more questions, y’all. Yeah. So, to follow up on that, so you’ve been in esports for a very long time. You were a very successful player. How would you personally approach the sort of mentality side of this of the fact that Fnatic have been able to best heretics a lot recently and now it’s that kind of comeback. What do you have to change kind of in your mind to be able to get that win today? I think the most important part is understanding that Fnatic is a really good team and that you will face a really good a match and it’s going to be tough. So, you have to already accept it. So, when you get into the game, uh you don’t get really shocked by whatever happens and you have to go round by round and have a really positive mindset. Even if things go wrong, you can still win the game, especially at BO5. The map video also is good for them. So, I would say they are not the favorites. No one is expecting Team Heritics to win anyway. So just have a positive mind positive mindset and enjoy enjoy the moment. Um also you know going up about how the heretics that we met not only last year but I say more at the beginning of the year where they weren’t able to qualify for the international definitely miss them now they’re leaning more into that double dualist. Do you personally like those coms? Do you think it fits them? Uh do you think it’s something that works for them? I think it suits them very well because Wood is playing amazing. Yeah. He it reminds me a little bit of Shangai Wood when he was playing Incredible. And Minibu is more of a role dualist where he creates the space. He doesn’t dominate that much. And Wood is a player that individually he’s probably the best player in the game when he’s on. So if they both play together today, I think teamics has a really big chance of winning. All right. Uh mix well everyone. Thank you so much for joining us here as we set up the uh grand finals and Mixwell will be streaming that from the arena. Now, let’s take a look at some of the stats that we have there for Woot who has been in Mixwell’s mind one of the best players on the team who’s been super super good uh so far and has been a standout player for Team Heretics. Yeah, I mean he’s just looked electric this tournament. As Mixwell just said, it reminds me so much of the Shanghai Woo. I mean, when he was put onto that jewel list, nobody really expected too much every there’s, you know, there’s a lot of hype around Mini Boo, but I think as he says, this guy is the one that we need to pop off if you want heretics to get that win today. There’s so many massive players on the side of Fnatic, and you have to be able to match up in firepower, and Woot is certainly the one who can best them. Yes, definitely. And you know what? You would know because you had the opportunity to chat with some of the players over at Team Heretic. Let’s take a listen to uh Big Time’s interview with Team Heretics. Hello, it’s Big Time here joined by Riend from Team Heretics. So, I wanted to ask you initially, you guys have had a little bit of a bumpy road here to the final, some close clutches, some 1v ones to keep you in the tournament. What are the vibes like right now in the team? Does it just feel like everything’s on your side? I mean, right now, the vibes inside the team is amazing. Uh we had a rough time before and especially the first game we lost against energy and then like we had really deep talks with the team and then like every single game we won like it built confidence in our team and fun. Vibes are amazing in our team right now. Perfect. So today you’re playing Fnatic and when you played in stage one they bested you twice. So have you learned anything from those games? Do you feel more prepared heading into this grand final today because of those losses? I mean, of course, uh, we learn something every time we lose something. So, I believe we learned a lot of things from those losses. So, it’s time to win now. And finally, we saw you put up a monstrous performance yesterday against Geng on that initiator role, but on the other side are Crashies and Chronicle. How are you feeling for that head-to-head? You think you’re going to diff them today? I mean, hopefully. I respect them. They’re really good players. Um, I think Chronicle is the goat of all. I would say they like him as a player and as a friend as well and crushes as well. I think he makes his team like comfortable I feel like and yeah I mean hopefully it’s going to be a good game and hopefully I’m going to leave them. Thank you so much Rian. Best of luck for today and back to you in the studio. Big time. You can go ahead and take it from yourself. You you tossed it to yourself. That’s so cool. Back from me in the studio over there. No, wait. I’m in the studio. Back from me wherever I was. Yeah, there we go. Returned. Well, you know what? you’ve returned, but so has Mr. Matthews. Welcome back, brother. Good to see you here. We can’t only We can’t just have one team before the grand finals. We’ll have both here. Uh Mix was on here saying Team Heretics are the underdog in this one. Do you feel the same way? Do you like being in the favorite mentality or do you like being in the underdog mentality? Well, I mean, if you think about the script, uh Paper X obviously hadn’t won anything uh on Masters and they went on to win and then Heretics haven’t either. So, I’m hoping that we don’t let that script play out. I think we’ve beat them the last two times in the grand finals we played against them. I hope that continues. Obviously, our team is really wanting a trophy, having not won a big trophy internationally in a very long time. So, hopefully today’s the day. I mean, maybe hopefully today’s the day that the Heretics breaks the curse. No, it’s just so sad to to see them coming so so close. But as we see and of course for for Fanatic even though they didn’t have the strongest start of the year and they missed out on that first international first and of EMA at the end of stage one and that runnerup position at Masters Toronto. Sam I wanted to ask you have you had a chance to like I I assume you have but um how would you say the team is feeling right now? We know that the turnaround time has not been a lot since Toronto and that final to be in here. They’ve been flawless so far. Yeah, I mean I think you can see it. They’re super hungry. They really want to get back to the top and ultimately win champions. That’s the main goal of the year. I think every step along the way and this is a big one. If we can take this down, we can prove we can win a championship again. And uh I think you know players like Kayak, they’re coming in like super hot. Alia’s on form, Chronicles on form, Crashies, you know, everyone has their day, right? And that’s what I think is amazing about this team. Yeah. And and it feels like they’ve been able to perform in all types of settings. Whether it’s a small match, just a regular season match all the way up to grand finals, they always put it out on the line. I I love that DNA that they have here in the team big time. What do you have here? Yeah. So, I wanted to ask, how do you and the whole organization, I suppose, deal with being the big dogs. You are, you know, a huge massive organization, especially here at EWC, and a lot of people want to take you down. They want to get your key in that trophy. So, what’s your kind of approach to that? even from like a behind thescenes level. Do you know you’re the big dogs? You know, uh I definitely wouldn’t call us a big dog. We take everything seriously. Performance is very important to us and you know we’re trying very hard. Colin and the team, you know, there’s a big team behind the guys. It’s not just about the players on the stage. I think, you know, Boster is is an incredible leader and charismatic personality that lifts the morale and lifts the team, which I think is really one of the the special sources of of of all of all pro teams is you need to find that person to build around and Boster is our guy. Um, I would say that, you know, we’re we’re good at Balor right now, but we haven’t been so good in other games. So, all the fans out there, I’m sorry, we’re trying our best. Could be a great day for you. Um, I think you bring up a very important subject that I would also like to ask you about. When you have a team that plays so much internationally, that wins so much, I believe that there’s that point where the burnout becomes uh concerned. What kind of resources have you put into making sure that team is in a good form when they come out that they feel good mentally to take on everything that happens during the year? Yeah. So, we’ve been pretty consistent um with having a performance coach behind the guys. They’re they’re obviously doing things like you’re in the gym every day whilst you’re at the tournament. they’re eating relatively healthy as much as we can get them to eat healthy and you know getting that sleep in you know is really important but I think ultimately it’s all about like that mental reset getting yourself ready for game day they’ve already proven they can win in championships and I think they’re very experienced you know Chronicle Alfia Boa so and even Crashies you know has has won internationally so it’s it’s really about you know just resetting coming in wanting to take the victory and taking heretics down all right people are watching all around the world to see who The first ever tournament winners of Valerant will be the arena can hear us as well right now. You’ve got the super fans in there. What do you want to say to them before we go into this best of five grand finals? Thank you for all your incredible support. Once Fanatic, always Fanatic, we love you guys so much. Thanks so much and keep keep rocking us on. Yeah, Sam Matthews, everyone, thank you so much for joining us here. CEO of Fanatic. And right now, I think standing by, we have Victoria uh with one of the arrival interviews. So, take it away. And now we have Fnatic Alire. What’s up, man? Great game against Paper X yesterday. What did you guys do different to make sure you were going to best them this time? We were more ready than Toronto final. And on Toronto final also, we couldn’t b the maps. We don’t want to play. And today, yesterday, sorry, we banned and that’s why we win. Yeah. And today you will be playing against team Heretics. And right now you guys have played eight times. You’ve won four times. You’ve lost four times. Obviously the last two times you won against them. Who’s going to win the fifth time today? I think we showed multiple times. We are the best team in AMA. And I think it’s time to show again. All right. And you have a lot of fans here in Riad in Saudi. Do you have any words for your fans who are supporting you? Um, thank you everyone. Aa to who is supporting me. Yeah, that’s it. All right. Well, thank you so much. Good luck on today’s match, your grand finals. Thank you. See you. Keeping it nice and simple, focused on the match, we welcome Baby Bay back on in for our pre-match. Four minutes before we go and celebrate the greatest matches that esports World Cup has seen in Valerant. And uh I I think we have to talk about the stars now and we have to look at Chronicle. He was our MVP from yesterday. He had those pop off moments and he’s wanting to get over the hump here. Yeah. I mean, Chronicle is the players player. Chronicle is the goat in many people’s eyes. You know, he’s up there in the prize money. He’s up there in the championships. And, you know, he won his first title, what was it, 4 years ago? I mean, the longevity is absolutely insane. For him to still be playing at the top level, putting up the numbers that he puts is absolutely absurd. How could we not talk about this man as we head into this grand final? So, you’re saying Chronicle is him? I I would say so. I Good. I was That’s good because earlier you were saying you said a lot, but all I heard a lot of people said, but you’re now saying he’s here. I mean, just look at the stats, right? Number one, number three, number three, number two, number 49 this time. Not going either way. But yeah, it this guy has been lights out in this tournament. I mean, he he is really in contention for that MVP of the entire tournament, trying to win that extra little prize himself. All right, but that’s not our only matchup that we’re keeping an eye out for. We’re looking at the IGL’s here because they’ve had quite the boon I would say so far in terms of the tournament looking very very good. It’s Boster and Buu in this series. Both of them having standout moments. So Boo has that had a boom. It’s good. I think that yesterday when we saw that Lotus that final map in the Heretics versus Genji and I would say throughout the entirety of it, not only in overtime, boost performance took them to where they are today. Both of these players have had some, you know, a little bit shaky performances here and there, but it’s good to see that the closer we get into closing this tournament, they’re giving the best out of themselves. It was really cool to see him pop off because I feel like it’s something that we haven’t seen in quite some time. And for the side of Boster, yeah, it’s not always the best mechanical display of talent, but his mid rounding and the way that he sets up everything and his reads and adaptability is what really puts Fnatic at a different tier against the rest of EMA. The world dre world. Oh, yeah. Well, the world now. Very true. If if you doubt Boast, you don’t know Ball. That’s all I’m going to say. All right, one minute before we head on over to the stage. So, it’s time to get our final predictions here from the desk. Let’s start with Kakuka. I think it’ll be very interesting to see which way you go. So, you’re not letting me say just the MEA, right? No, absolutely not. No. Big time. I I sense some saltiness here. It’s not my fault. It is not my fault. Uh, I’m going to say that I uh love the story line of heretics being always the bridesmaid but never the bride. So, Fanatic, yo, let’s go. Fanatic all the way. That’s that was really awkward, but all good. Can we go? Yeah. Give me a score. Fanatic all the way. Give me a score. Give me a score, Dre. Fanatic all the way. 3 0 the same way in EA big time. Quick. Insane. 3-2. Heretics. It’s their time. They come back. They make it work today. There we go. It has been a long wait to get Valerant here and now we have them. The first ever tournament winner for Valerin is crowned right now to kick it off the opening ceremony. We’ve played Heretics quite a few times in the past. Uh most recently in a final where we did win against them as well. I think they might have something to show us today. I’m hoping so. Uh because I won a good game. The only problem is I do think that we are looking really really good right now. We’re on good form, consistent, and the map pool is pretty good for us. So, I say good luck to them. We are here now. So, I’m super happy that like we can make it again into the grand finals with that team. Being the first winner of the volerant in WDC is really really huge for us because there is four teams from every region is kind of like champions and he’s going to prove so many things. There we go. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. The very best of the best have graced this stage this week for a chance at history. A chance to etch their names in the record books as the first ever Valerant Esports World Cup winners. They came from every region, every play style, every kind of pressure. But now only two remain. A European clash that has it all. These two teams know each other so well. But this time, the stakes have never been higher. They are fighting for the lion share of $1.25 million, the club championship points, and this trophy. Just one best of five separates them now from it all, including a spot in Valerant history. This is it. This is the grand final of Valerant at the Esport World Cup. So, how about we welcome our teams? Wait, before we do, can I just ask Riad, are we ready for the final? Wait, wait, wait, wait. The teams are standing right there. Riad, make some noise. All right, this is it. And for our first grand finalist, a team that stood the chase for the trophy and they have survived every test of time. But now they are chasing another chapter in their legacy. Please welcome Team Fanatic. From consistent finalists to winners in waiting perhaps here to end their final finals curse and lift their very first trophy. Team Heretics. This is it. EMF. versus EMir for everything. The grand final of Valerant at the Esports World Cup is here. Boy, each strike of the drum. Destiny’s drawing closer as heretics defeated the ones who cast the curse. Now they must face their demons. But before we get into the grand final, as the teams ready themselves on the stage, before the headphones go on, Riad, one more time, make some noise for your EWC Valerant Grand Finals. As we get into the veto, Lotus up to start. It’s been a staple of Fanatic Sunset, no surprise. is and while with Pearl and Split going, it’s a map pool that seems to have a lot of balance within it, the stories are ones of almost complete opposites. You have a a team known for taking titles, known for wins, known for getting those trophies. You have the greatest player to ever do it in terms of winning those titles in Chronicle. And on the other side, you have a team that have had many opportunities. This is their sick chance at a trophy. And when and when you talk about the likes of Fnatic, you’re not just talking domestic. They they’ve done that. You’re not just talking international or offseason. They’ve done it all. They have every single accolade under their belt other than maybe a champions and of course this one. That is what they’re gunning for right now. And the team that stands in their way in heretics, they’ve got the potential. They’ve had more than potential for years. When this roster was built at the very beginning, we were talking about a team that ultimately if they did okay, they would have been happy. Making an international was a dream. Getting to the final of two of them was a miracle. But now we’re past those miracles. We’re past the oh, this team can do it. They can be good. And now it’s all about if they can actually finish the job. As said for Fnatic, they finished it many times. Sunset in there. A good sign for Heretics picking up a map, but they need a little bit more than that. Their chance to finally break the mold and set themselves free from the story that has haunted them now. Going all the way back to Master Shanghai. They’ve tasted revenge. Now it’s their time to do so again. A regional rivalry set up on that stage and it all starts on Lotus. Fnatic’s pick. They come in here historically as favorites, but between these two, I’m expecting a close match. Yeah, we’ve seen them play a few times this year. Obviously, the last two were very dominant in Fnatic’s favor. Uh they’ve won 30-0 200 in the last two games. The one before that in the group stage where the pressure wasn’t on, that was where Heretics took the win. And I think that’s going to be the main thing going into this match. Sure, you could talk about compositions. You can talk about the superstars on the stage, but ultimately the difference is pressure. One of these teams thrives, was in it, improves as the tournament goes on. The other seems to blitz opponents, and the second they get into high pressure matches, that’s where things go wrong. Yesterday, we talk about the likes of Buu. He’s not the man that you’d expect to lead the scoreboard. You have Woo, you have Mini Boo, you got Rian. Babu was phenomenal yesterday and won them so many important rounds in a match that went the distance, went all the way to OT. And that is the map that Fnatic have chosen as the initial battleground. That is a map that has been their bread and butter for an insane amount of time. Never really adapting, never changing their composition because they are comfortable in what they’re coming in with. Oh, Lotus set up for us as the drum fades. It’s time for the pistols to make some noise. The barriers about to go up for Team Heretics a chance to correct the history books and how they’ve been written so far. Fnatic on defense. A quick start for Heretics as they group up towards this a site. No control behind. not playing with that Sentinel. They need to be a bit more direct when they set up these plays. And Mini Boo, that’s exactly what he goes for. But a quick shot from Chronicle puts the numbers in Fnatic’s favor. They need to trade this one out. Crash is looking to upgrade, but it’s technical already. We’ve spoken about this man as a potential MVP. And he looked to try and ace the pistol, but he’ll be shut down. Cover now. Woo looking to try and match him on the 4K. He’s taken a lot of damage, however. And his reposition is being watched, Mitch. Oh, they’ve come back together. And it’s the sheriff. Only the one body shot needed to close that out, but it’s all eyes on Chronicle. That round was unbelievable. It said they need to trade it out. And he got a one for three after that initial fight. His teammate going down. The flash only blinding him for a millisecond. spike down. Even a collateral in the mix. Round one and we almost got an ace on the board. And that’s a strong start for Fnatic. He’s probably the one man in this server right now that doesn’t feel pressure. I I don’t believe he’s ever felt pressure in his career thus far. Obviously, the most trophies under his belt, but he has had a crazy individual tournament. Normally he’s very consistent in his manner, putting up decent numbers and having a few good games, but he’s currently the number one rated player in the entirety of the tournament. And I think he’s number two in ACS. Number one is woot, so that at least makes things a little bit more interesting. But as we sort of talked about for Fnatic, I have high expectations that he will perform today. We’ve seen it the pistol round 4K already. It’s the other side I’m worried about. Is the occasion going to get the better of them? Well, talk to me as we have a technical pause on the stage early about the expectations coming out of this first half. Fnatic on defense now already with a pistol round under their belt. Where’s the goalpost for them? Or more importantly, where’s the goalpost for Heretics on the attack? Yeah, I I think that’s the more interesting point because although in recent times like their game versus RQ for example, Fnatic had a very good defensive side and the same can be said in their recent matchup versus Paper X over at Masters. They’ve always been incredible on the attack. I I think Bosters calling maybe second to none on this map. So good at pulling those rotations and playing. So I I I think that ultimately a minimum here for Heretics is you want to win the half or you want to come out on top because you know going into that attack Fnatic are going to be incredibly comfortable. Yesterday they ended up dead even versus Genji and the game ends up going to overtime and that was with them winning both pistols. They’ve already not won the first. The bar set high for the attacking side coming into this one as the barriers go up. You can see that there’s nothing crazy going on. It will be classics and a frenzy for that attack and a very direct a very direct approach from what we’ve seen of Mini Boo when he’s on this agent. He is throwing himself at the opposition. Damage done to Buu already decayed deeply and eliminated immediately after damage dealt by Chronicle and two picks. Not bad. Let’s see how much more Riance can get though. 60 HP stuck in the corner and an easy tea up for a closer two to zero. Fnatic starting strong on Lotus. Yeah, not much expectation in that round. Of course, it was a minor investment with an attempt to get onto the site and get that spike down. Something that was very difficult in that last match as well for Heretics to deal with was this Centi Viper combo. I I think Munchkin played a fantastic game yesterday. And they’re already, you can see they’re testing things out in this low round of let’s try going through this util. Let’s see how far we can get, how quickly those players will trigger that utility and if maybe there’s a cheeky play to be had because that’s what worked for them with this more aggressive initiator comp. It was disrespecting that double controller. Well, this wouldn’t be the round to follow up in it. You typically want to play that bit slower, but with an offin play for Kayak, there’s danger lurking. That danger’s on the C site, though. Leaving Crashies little in the open here on a caught by the contact play, but Heretic still spreading the net. in the spike around the middle of the map. They can take this wherever they want. I think a B split most likely with that space conceded. Fnatic have already filled in that space towards the A site. So, a push there be very detrimental to Heretic’s chances indeed. And you know, seeing that operator in play, if they can manage to crumble the site, there’s a good chance for an early save call out of Fnatic. Oh, that’s not pretty. I’m out of here. Alpha up against a fellow countryman, but not a teammate. You can kind of expect slightly more risks being taken in this round for the defensive side with the lowby, but the remaining weaponry I don’t think is going to be thrown into the win. The Guardian can go. Boaster can try and make this one interesting, but the operator alongside that phantom are likely just to be kept. the time for spamming very much over. 11 bullets left. Nothing to reload back into that rifle. And the Guardian could be thrown away, but also decently useful if they can keep it for the next the other players. Most certainly, as you said, they’re they are much more passive. And this is what we were highlighting. You make that bigger investment, your margin for error is much lower. And once the early game doesn’t go your way, it’s all about the save. For Fnatic, strong economic start. They gave themselves a chance at this one here. But for Heretics, the same can be said. Five players alive. That’s a great bounce back for the attackers. Yeah. No, they’re going to be very happy with that. It’s an opportunity to get that extra economy early and not have thrown too much away in this sort of round and have uh vulnerabilities. And then the other side of things, it’s you have a little bit of a buffer. I also just think for heretics that getting on the board early is fairly important. you know for a fact that Fnatic lose a map, it’s not really that much of a worry. Like they are very resilient in their mental. I I think the other side of things with Heretics, we have seen them crash out in finals, especially they can go from a 300 victory in a lower final and then go straight into a match up versus Fnatic and end up going 0 and3. That’s exactly what happened in EMA stage one earlier this year. The more painful ones of course where you go back to 2024, the three 3-2 losses in a row. There’s nothing more painful than that. A squad that definitely should have a trophy, but as of right now don’t we saw in that previous the Guardian saved over gives a lot of economy to bolster. They can afford a full buy around and up this round and the next. An uphill battle for Heretics even with that full fiveman left alive in that previous cuz remember they managed to dodge the OP. They didn’t go towards the seasite where the expected hit was to come through. They spread the net. They played their default and they got a pick off the back of it. Won’t be so easy this time around. The danger of that OP going to be lurking for a few rounds to come. That’s the man we’re really wondering at how strong his performance can be down on that stage. We’ve seen it before. Kayak can singlehandedly turn close maps into clean ones. Team Heretics still feeling hopeful after looking at their series yesterday. Managing to best Geng sets them up for a real chance. But this is the final boss. Well, the the fun thing for Kayak that sort of will remove a bit of that pressure is he he’s done it at Ascension. He’s done it regionally. This is the next level. This is the next step. They made it to a Mast’s grand final. But also, well, I kind of agree with the sign. You You have experienced veterans who are still incredibly young, explosive players and the likes of Alfia Chronicle himself. like it’s easy to forget he’s still in his early 20ies with how much he’s already managed to achieve and then you have a leader like Boer as well but I also think that’s something that heretics have sure they they don’t have those accolades to go with it but it’s these four youngsters Rian’s who I think just manages to play way above his age like looks like an incredibly experienced player but then also Buu I it was a very interesting interview that we saw in this tournament where he was stating that what was it? Mini Buu cried for an hour after losing that defeat and in that mean in that time he was laughing he was laughing at his brother and the emotions that he showed because for Buu he believed that once it was done it was done. So even yesterday’s victory is not going to be playing on his mind. We we mentioned the stories of curses and the stories of overcoming the team that set them up for failure. But for Buu, that’s never really been a problem. The man is ready to get right back into the server and play once again. Fortunately, it does seem like he is the man that maybe is suffering a little bit at the moment from this slightly extended break, but at least let’s get us out of the way in the first lap. You know, get it get it get it sorted. We can get back into the action. Well, exactly. smooth out those issues early on. Looking down at the shots we’re getting at the crowd there, listening to the noise early. It seems like certainly a a pretty heavy lean in the audience towards Fnatic. I think Heretic’s one of the better and quick teams for dealing with that. They don’t need to have that crowd on their side. As the rounds build up, you think about the video that we played before we got into this. Even Boer said it himself. When it comes to the map pool, it just looks stronger for Fnatic. But if you do think about where Heretics can find that dub, you think about Sunset, that map number two. Yep. Solid for that still being in the pool. You go to Ice Box afterwards though. Favor goes right back to the other side of the stage. It it’s a weird one because I I I think no matter what the map pool for the most part I’m going to be favoring Fnatic like everything seems to lean their way. You’re talking about experience, you’re talking about depth of map pool, you’re talking about performances this year. They are the favorites. There’s no doubt about it. And for Heretics, they have all that additional pressure. They are quickly becoming the team that couldn’t quite make it. Oh wow, we got celebrities in the crowd. Very handsome celebrities as well. Wow. Pal and Yumpy, of course. Or Yumpy and his pal. That Yeah, that would have been better. They’re going to be keeping an eye on these two teams, of course, in a very short amount of time. We’ll be back in EMA and they’ll be having to try and beat them out. But we are back into the game. We’re ready to get this grand final back on track. And if you’re just joining us, it is the first fullby of the match. Yes. The entirety of Fnatic armed to the teeth. Guardian saved over from the previous giving economy and I said it was to boaster but he actually dropped one of his teammates. Chronicle still carrying forward that healthy bank account and Kayak roaming around early on ready for the C fight. They set up the oneway smoke now. Bosters left to hold that control. Kayak comes into position and with this contact play, Heretics haven’t taken the space. Good thing is that wall should provide them a bit of protection. That OP not giving away. I don’t think it’s fired a single shot. Heretics might not know that it’s in play, but certainly could suspect it. The steps heard here. Minioo knows there’s a player on the other side of this wall. Shouldertosh shoulder and it’s Minioo to topple Crashies. Good space now for that beast split if they want to go for it. The rest of the players shifting into position, but they weren’t outside the gates. He’s alone for now. And Alpha takes advantage of that isolation. Yeah, this time winning that battle. That was the toppling domino of the previous round that ended up forcing a save. instead winning that fight. But the time is against her here. 30 seconds left as they look to split in towards the site. Smoke will be coming down. Kayak will try and hit the timing shot, but nothing found. Postpoint looking likely, but the nade could make things awkward. It’s going to force a reposition. Time is low, but not low enough with Fnatic not being able to push them off that plant. The question is, do Heretics keep pushing, keep taking space? And they do. It was into the OP for a moment, but once the stun fades, once it subsides, they give that space right back up. Boaster grabbing himself one alongside Chronicle, they can now press through that door and really put the pressure on from almost every side. The thing is, Heretics have found the one angle that was open. Benji gets taken out by the OP, but Rens standing strong. They’ve got a firing squad set up, but a swoot left to do the damage. Kayak can’t take him down. 12 HP left. The defuse taft and Kayak drawing him into a fight, but it’s W firing right back to equalize. The Turkish duo already on fire. That was what a two versus four scenario. Reads with Oh, we were watching for Woots POV, but he was just a passenger. It was the immediate double tap of players as they looked to try and round that corner and even then it was left down to Woot and he just about managed to escape. I think he may have even used the blast back to his advantage just to get away. An early high impact round for the side of Heretics, but with that save just a round or so ago, Fnatic are still buying here. Not going for the OP this time. Just seeing how disruptive that utility was. They’re not going towards C early. That wall’s robbing them of any real angle. Heretic’s taking the space in the back of it. Instead, it’s a idea to punish that space take with the Odin spamming through the tree. And Heretics are taking this in the other direction. They’re moving towards what was previously either a one-way smoke with Ber holding or an operator on the angle. Instead, they will have an easier time getting up the first choke point, but into the sea site. They’ll be diving right on top that killjoy utility. And now Chronicles rotated in a snake fight ready to bloom alongside his orb. He’s definitely under pressure, but it’s the other side of the map where the fight is coming in. Chronicles early numbers have allowed him a Viper Pit and they’re walking right into Alfie. Maybe he’s walking right into them. Woot winning that battle once again. The Viper Pit Chronicle. He’s had to leave it and will only get the one. Heretics have dealt with that incredibly well. The question is, I was going to say, are they still going for it with that amount of damage? They don’t know about it, but it might be the right call. That would make things much easier, but as you said, they don’t have that info to fall back on. You hit tab. If you’re on Fnatic, you look at the credits and you realize we really don’t have enough to invest into this next one if we lose all these weapons. Heretics then build up a lot of momentum early on. They can’t afford to take that risk. Fnatic are on the other side of the map. the weapons that will be carried through and attempted by in the next, but already the danger dealt with. They went into that sentinel and quasi sentinel hold. They got past the Viper utility. They dealt with Alfie before they even got near his. And then the Viper pit is stood alone, surrounded. They push around and through it. And that’s enough to cause the save on the other side. The lead now there for Team Heretics. Well, I I think the big thing as well is you’re going to look at Boo’s stats right now and go like, well, it’s not really done too much. But him sort of just being on the other side of the map held three players there. There was no normally you’d see that rotation through back through B fairly quickly allow them to get into position and and help. But realistically, the second Alfia went down, it was can Chronicle hold on to a pit that they’re already past. And the answer was no. You could see he tried to retreat. He tried to get away. So Buu managing to hold them there. Did so much. Now they’re going to challenge for this control again. Fnatic continue with their purchases. Alts dissipated, but Alfie at least is close. However, the same can be said for Rian’s. A rolling thunder in a late round scenario would be wonderful. Could work wonders for this squad indeed. Heretics now. The lead is theirs. The economy of Fnatic still under threat. They lose this one. Boo’s been drawing their eye consistently towards this angle. He’s been spotted now, but Crashy’s wins that. He got pushed out by the door. He was isolated. And that one duel gives them all the space. And now you see the rotation. That’s exactly what I was talking about. They’re able to get back into that B site a little earlier. And now they’re waiting for these plays. The thing they struggled with in the last round. Fnatic have immediately adapted to. And now you look at the difference. Last time they ran into a site, wiped out the two players and had a plant. This time they get caught on B. They’re being flanked on as well. We got there in the end crashes. You know, first few rounds, we’ll forgive you. And what a flawless round for Fnatic. That shows the difference. And Boo staying alive and Boo dying. I like the the Odin for this reason, right? The first bullet accuracy doesn’t matter as much. You got a little bit more time with the spray. Look at this. He’s being forced forward by the door and still wins the fight. And that’s it. Exactly as you said, Tom. the fact of them taking that space. Crashy’s pushing up, having all that rubble control, the numbers are already shifting to the other side of the map. A two- two setup there, and especially with it being Killjoy and Viper, you’re pushing into on C. Where are you? Ready and waiting. It’s an uphill battle. Team Heretics. Three and three. The numbers even. Fnatic building up that little bit of extra credit. Economy right on them. And even with the stun, Crashes is good for one. Immediate play by Boaster to grab it and get out. Even though he gets hit by the stun, he’s able to make it to safety. Yeah, if anything has helped him around the corner a little bit. Fnatic happy to take the retake. Ultimates unlikely to play a part for Heretics, but a singular kill for Alfia. Could get the lock down on line and really put the pressure on them. They’re taking things slow though. Still wary of a player being outside of the sight on the flank. And that is taking time to clear. But the fact is heretics are all boxed up playing these crossfires. The Viper scream will fall. And that will be Fnatic’s Q to go already. Benji lands that first shot. It’s evened up. He’s bounced away by Kayak, but that time is ticking. And they don’t have enough. That’s crazy. They clear out every single player, but it just took them too long. They clear them out so fast as well. Just too much posturing, waiting to get back into that angle. Waiting, I think, for the Viper wall to go down. The TP goes across and and sure, Boaster falls, but the trades come in so quickly. I I I’m surprised they waited that long. It’s just a little bit of a misread. But then you think, what if these players lasted that little extra second? get out of that moment or two longer even on that fight and then there would have been no time had they have went a second earlier. It’s a strange one and Heretics have to feel like they were gifted that now coming into this round with quite a bit to work with in terms of those ults. I guess their economy being tamed a little bit. Yeah. Oh, this opening though that smoke they were already ahead of it. Yeah. Alpha trying to get a little bit spicy with it has been punished. I think you saw the real value in that round of that Viper screen, but more so just the ruse it sold outside the site. Fnatic took so long clearing to see if there was anybody back towards Rubble and they just run out of time. Mini Boo, he’s going to try and challenge. He’s going to slide in on Boaster. Well, already a twoman advantage. He’d probably like to just dissipate here. Instead, he’s forced into a fight and the rest of the team coming to base for but he has managed to come out with three. A one-man army and eventually Kayak brings the cavalry. That’s unbelievable, Tom. The only thing he whiffed was the Prowler. He couldn’t get around the corner. But once he got himself in there in the mix, it was a flawless solution. Even dodging the flesh and picking up to buying the time for Kayak, you can see he wasn’t really committing to that fight. He was allowing them to have that little bit of cover to delay that little bit longer to close the round out cleanly. That’s a great round for Fnatic. Like you said, they might have lost the round before, but Team Heretics lost all their weapons, all their players, so fully investing into the previous. They have nothing to work with now. And this is rough. You’re almost hoping for a mistake. They’ve spotted a couple of times out here up close. They’re going to try and put the pressure on running through the utility. Minioo gets the job done. That was the goal. Get into the site, get a plant, and try and put the time on their back. You also have to bear in mind they do have a Viper pier, but the nade coming through with the seas has actually not dealt a killing blow. Should allow them to plant and they are going to commit the viper pit. This is now a hefty investment. It is. It means they’re starting to believe that they have a chance. Benji Fishy’s gone down. It was a snake fight from Chronicle alongside the Nightfall and Chronicle just rolls over them. Woots left alone and dove on by Kayak to close. Fnatic winning out the round. And sure, there wasn’t a lot invested, but dealing with the Viper pit so quickly, so easily, that’s got to sting for Heretics. Of course, in the crowd, Sam Matthews probably having a great time watching Chronicle play like this. It’s got to be one of the best signings Fnatic have ever made. His performance already, I think that was 14 and four. And Kayak seems to be right there with him. Someone who clearly is hyping up the team while also putting up those crazy numbers. And you said it, that snake bike made all the difference. You’re running through a Viper’s pit. You’re trying to make it worse with these weak weapons. It’s tough. You kill that Viper immediately. That round falls apart. And that goes from oh, it’s some pistols and a neon. Who needs a neon overdrive? It’s good sometimes. Sometimes people use it to get one kill, but then you put in a Viper pit and that’s a little bit more costly. Tactical pause taken. First of the series. Of course, both of these sets of coaching staff have one thing in common, that is they are looking for an international trophy. Fanatic have had them in the past. The Fanatic coaching staff have had the domestic ones, but none of them have managed to get one on an international stage. That is the goal. And for Fnatic, I mentioned it at the beginning. They get to six or seven rounds on this defense. They are going to be feeling very confident on their map pick. It has been a bit of a back and forth affair so far. And the Nightfall alongside the snake bite really turning the tide in their favor in the previous only secured them around that they should have already had. It only counters out the one ultimate for team Heretics though leaving them without much to fall back on in this. More importantly, Kayak showstopper available. Players outside his sight. This will be a split on the B side. This will be the showstopper put in early. Minioo takes no space. Paranoia from Boster is perfect and the nade to slow some more. The advantage building for the side of Finale and it’s all thanks to Kayak. Unbelievable defense on that side. Heretics, they tried to put the pressure on, but they were the ones to crumble. Yeah, they’re looking for gaps elsewhere. They’re hoping that maybe this has left additional space, but it wasn’t like that was a B stack. It wasn’t like they had the whole team there. It was just once again one of the individuals and then the combination of that Viper screen just allowing those isolated fights for Kayak. Woo is all that remains. And while he tries for two, ends up with zero. It is now six already on that defensive side. And I am not surprised he’s smiling. This is beautiful. Just the placement of Kayak immediately up. The reaction was there. The blast pack to boop boom out of the round and it was done from this point forward. Utterly clean. And we’ve seen this kayak reposition. and he’s been towards C a lot of the time. You expect to see that race contesting early on A throwing the nade through alongside the C’s. This is the standard play, but he was in the right place at the right time. Now team Heretics left with pistols. They are targeting Alfie. That has been one of the plans for Heretics. It is a plan that most teams have failed at, but they’ve done reasonably well so far. An early stun to force him back, but this time not committing off it. maybe hoping that it will bait some rotations out, but again, the difference in buys is hefty. Post is actually sat with 8,000 credits, so they will be comfortable until the end of the half, even if he’s buying his teammates Odin’s. They’re going to try and put the pressure onto him here. They got that deeper Viper wall looking for the split straight through, but Boo’s going to use it as cover up close. It’s hurt. Crashy’s detecting him immediately. No jump from that Omen, but his smoke is still there. It allows Mini Boo to get up top as the smoke fades. Chronicle the one left with the challenge. Took a moment to get there, but not long enough for the pick to come through on the other side and the recovered weapon. Enemy remaining. Well, it’s it’s on a 49 HP player. It’s an Odin, and that’s usually where you need a little bit more time, spraying away. Another round for Fnatic. It was slow. It was back and forth. Heretics had the lead at one point, but now Fnatic have the reigns. Yeah, their round losses came with a few saves. They were not willing to gamble into some of those disadvantaged retakes, but once they got going, they have been very difficult to stop. And I I think Crashy’s as well. Like an incredibly slow start to this match, but now he’s back online. Chronicle never stopped. Kayak up there as well. It is a recipe for success. And now even starting to have a little bit of fun with it. mentioned if Heretics were going to compete in this map number one and I felt like they needed to win the first half they’d be lucky to be close with two a pistol and follow up and that’ll only put them even. This has gone from a daunting task to perhaps an impossible one. This is what made the difference against Gen that TP from Buu but it doesn’t change anything this time. He’s shut down. Mini Boo follows his brother to death and Benji Fishy trying desperately to hold that mantle high, but he is put to bed. 8-4 at the halftime. Fnatic have found their form and for Team Heretics, it’s looking bleak. We’ll see if they can find hope after the halftime. Nice. Nice. Heat. Heat. when I need it. I need you. I need you. Well, before we went to the break, Tom, you said that you wanted to see Heritage ICS win out that first half. Now, unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, it’s a it’s not quite a victory there. Half the rounds that Fnatic put up 8 to four. Moving on to their defense. Fair to say that things aren’t looking too good for Team Heritage. Look, it’s map one of a best of five. It’s your opponent’s choice. You kind of expect to go into that one and struggle. Obviously on paper, I don’t think it was too bad a map for them whatsoever, but Fnatics have been the masters of this map for a long time, especially when you look at these regional matchups. They have played it in a similar fashion with a similar comp, even with different people on the team. And the thing that really always stood out was how they played this attack, the calls, the reads, the misdirection of Boster. So unless heretics have been one of the few that have managed to clock on to how Fnatic are playing down, I think they’re going to have to hope for sunset. I mean, there’s quite a bit of hope there, but six out of the last seven have been losses. And even the victory was an OT against KC. But for Fnatic, if they come in on form, it could be a different story. Heretics, they the mood looked low on that side of the stage coming out of that first half. going up. Let’s see if they can find something to bring morale up. It looks like a decent read already. You can see this rotation towards left side of the map and a B push coming through. Chronicle could be in danger on the rotate back. Yeah, the problem is you kind of have to be aggressive with this composition. And something Fnatic are masters of is holding that ground. Chronicle is going to spot the push, but already having info of another around that area means that they can continue to pressure in towards this seasite. Yesterday versus Geng. It was five out of six pistols for Heretics and they just about managed to get through that series. Right now, they are struggling. Kayak with his third kill of the round already. And Rian’s wounded, battered, and bruised, but he will still take the fight versus Alpha. Rian. Yeah, like you said, very, very low indeed. And once they know where he’s coming from, it’s over and done with. The scary thing here, you think back to yesterday and and Rian was this the standout player on Lotus up against Genji. But for most of the game, up until those last few, up until your OT, Buu was the one putting in so much work individually. Kayak just found more kills in one round than Buu has in this game so far. Yeah, it’s definitely been difficult. And you could see that he attempted one of the same plays that he pulled off many a time. It was that TP to the back of sight in the first half. And you could see how ready Fnatic were for it. They were watching. They were keeping an eye on that match. And again, it brings the value of their staff. Aggressive push coming in. But Alfia comfortable in his hold. The Outlaw finds him too. Mine now falls into Boster’s hands. He pulled out the operator at the end of the last half and was connecting. But realistically, there’s only two players to be found. One of them, Woot, only has a classic and the other one’s on the other side of the map. I think anything here would be impressive for Woot. we start to play a game of narrow margins if we’re talking about damage to the economy and bringing this one back when Fnatic are on the cusp of double digits. Well, Woot is okay. He gets Wang down to seven HP by the Outlaw. Has a classic in a corner and still walks away with one. Impressive indeed. Hey, one more would be nice. One more kill and this is costly. Yes, Rian has found two. Somehow has made this interesting. It should have been a done deal already. He doesn’t expect the position of Crashies, but he started to make that realization. There’s so many angles to check that he can’t quite find the last one. But wow, it it was dropping weapons was the goal of the round. He’s definitely done that. The only worry is how far behind they are. If this was a close score line, that would be an incredible round. Unfortunately, it’s not. If this was the start of the game, this is a fantastic start to the half considering the loss of pistol, considering the opening triple kill from Alpha trading out just one of his teammates and the weapon recovered. But ultimately, it’s this position from Crashies that gets any danger and discards it completely. The plant not for him and that’s what wins it. Now in another fight. Okay, Benji Fishy, he’s been good on this angle. did the same on the attack side when the shoe was on the other foot. It’s a valuable pick with Kayak down. That’s the guy that would be diving on you. The problem is is he doesn’t have that same sentinel support. So, they’re going to put the pressure on and then they deal with him very easily. They also lost the aggression of Bill on the other side. Mini boo’s going to try and make a play through. It’s solid, but he doesn’t find the frags. And now Woot is all that remains. Fnatic looking set to absolutely dominate this first map. And the hero of Woot from yesterday, the number one in ACS this tournament may just have to scurry away to live to fight another day. He’s hearing the doors open. Damage would be nice, but the reality of the situation is him having a hero rifle for the next round holds far more value than doing damage in this one. Still, where is he going to go to save this? As we can see, he he has nowhere to to go safely. The aside would be at least a solace for a moment, but they would have caught up with him eventually. The net was spread thin and they were clearing the map section by section. This is full control for Fnatic. And like I said, the next map there’s promise there. Fnatic had first ban, so I’m not coming in thinking, oh, well, maybe they left Sunset open. They had to get rid of Pearl somewhere. Heretics are good as Sunset. Somewhere Fnatic have struggled consistently is Sunset. But if Heretics come in cold like this, I mean, there’s a lot of fights we’re seeing here, Tom. The Boo Brothers, they’re not activated. But even just across the board, this is looking weak from Heretics. Yeah, the early success. They’ve lost eight rounds in a row now. Sure, with a pistol in the middle, but it doesn’t make the site any prettier to see from what was a close back and forth start. Fnatic found a gear that we don’t know if Heretics have and that is grand finals form. It takes a lot to get to a grand final, but it’s a whole different full game to win one. Well, just look at the buy. This is to try and stop Fnatic getting from Matt point. And they have got stingers and some shar save credits for the next. The flash decent, but they were safely behind the mound. Benji Fishy down. Losing your Viper on that seaside hold. And we saw how much value that brought from Chronicle being there. obviously was alongside Alpha Air and the Sentinel certainly helps out in that battle. Even just having the alarm bot to tell you when to put the snake bite through now with 30 seconds left, they take it in the other direction. Paranoia and the haunt scene. Buu even spots the pack. He knows that there’s players coming his way. Mini Boo gets aggressive on B, finds one upgraded rifle. Okay, this is looking recoverable cuz there’s only 15 seconds left. The spike is making its way to the site. All eyes on Buu. If he can drop this spike, they may well be in with a chance, but he’d have to get past Kayak instead. Oh no, it’s disastrous. He’s missed the shots he needed to land. And this has just been every round. They’re set up with an opportunity. That blind was perfect. He couldn’t see a damn thing, but by the looks of it, neither could Buu. I Yeah, this this has just not been their map. We are not seeing the heretics of the last few days. The initial games in this tournament were rough. No. No. It’s Pulp Fiction. We didn’t need a replay standing. But they were coming. Oh, no. He’s even getting He’s even getting caught out by Chronicle. He knows how much of a whiff that had to have been for him to survive. Well, it needs to be eight rounds in a row. And already it is a straight dump of utility and ultimates to take over that seasite. Benji’s had no choice but to fall all the way back. Even still, he’ll take a bit of a tag. They’re now going to immediately repress for that control. The stuns dodged by Kayak. The space now going to be contained with this lock down put into play. It needs to be an aggressive play. It needs to be quick from Team Heretics to get through this choke point to break that lock down. And they’re being spammed out. 3 seconds left. Boo tries to round, but Chronicles watching. And the lock down comes into play with two detained. This round should be done. There’s only one man who can really stop them from retaking the space. And he’s already dealt with time ticking away as Ri’s finally let go from his prison. But they’re about to be set free from the map as Fnatic claim this one dominantly. A 13-4. What a start to the grand finals. This is a squad that we know are known for tournament victories and they have shown that they come in today as favorites. It was their map choice. The first of a best of five. It definitely isn’t a seals deal, but we need to see so much more from Heretics if they’re going to turn this around. Sunset will be coming up next, and we have to hope that they’re going to be back in the server. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. This land is calling. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. It is an overwhelming start here for the side of Fnatic as they take care of business early on and leaving. No doubt who was the ones who were the favorites after map number one. Deon here alongside Baby Bay and Kakuka joining us for a little bit more EMA inside Pal for BBL, the head coach back here. How’s it going, man? Thank you very much. Not exactly where I was hoping to be sitting on the grand finals day, but uh more than happy to be here regardless. Thank you very much. Yeah, your insights will be uh sorely sorely missed once you depart, but I’m glad that you’re able to join us here. Uh that was pretty one-sided. Give us the quick coaches talk right now if you’re on team heretics. Again, it’s like what we saw the other day. If you’re heretics, you know that you’ve got your map pick coming up. You’ve just played Fnatic’s map pick. It’s the first in their best of five. There’s plenty of time to recover the series. Brush it off, move on, go again. I I I think the interesting thing for me was that alltime record of like Heretics versus uh Fnatic on Lotus specifically is actually in favor of Heretics. They’re 4- one against them. So to see such a dominant like bounce back for Fnatic here at EWC in such like an important time in a grand final to me is insane. And it’s because of that man on your screen. Chronicle had a crazy highlight. Not only Chronicle, I think that we saw it all through and through. I think everybody from Fnatic had their moments. At the beginning, we actually saw Alpha a little bit uncharacteristic, missing those shots, actually going down first in so many of those rounds. These rounds that actually Fnatic managed to turn around. But we have to be realistic. Lotus is a very, very good comfort pick for Fnatic. They mastered this composition. They know exactly the length that they can go to with it. And they also have very well spotted the weaknesses in the side of heretics that I think are struggling to deal with it a little bit after not knowing exactly where to place Minioo or how to like play around him, changing the initiators and whatnot. I think the biggest difference that we’ve really seen is that individual level of comfort from the Fnatic players so far. We see rounds like that of 34 Crashies wide swinging straight into tree to trade mini after he gets the entry from the support. The chronicle couple of multi-kills very early on in the half makes a big big difference. as these guys are super comfortable on this stage on this map. Maybe a little bit less so on Sunset. Yeah, only one player on the side of her is had a close-up look there at the mug of Sam CEO. He’s intense. He was in there just like that. But only one player, Benji Fishy getting into double digits in terms of kills. And uh the slumps are tough. But now let’s flip the side over to Fnatic. I mean Dave looks so dang good. How do you keep that train going? I mean, you’re going into Sunset. You got nothing to lose on this map. It’s been rough rough showings every single time. I mean, you’re bound to win one eventually, right? And maybe this is the opportunity, the golden opportunity to get that 3 0 like I was talking about against Heretics here on Sunset. I mean, I don’t know. Boster was looking pretty good compared to Minibu. I I have to I have to shout something out. Minibu did indeed pie on that first map. He pied. He pied. Oh no. I didn’t know he was on pie watch. Sorry. Booted. Booted. Not me. Apologies. You sure? It was It was the sheriff. the sheriff with the slow-mo. Um, in my opinion, if Fnatic is to win this second map, probably it gives them some answers. The same way that I think Heretics still have not completely figured out what they want to do with Lotus on how to make themselves stronger. Fnatic has the same struggle with Sunset. For team, Heretics is a very easy pick. Last year, Sunset was their map, their home ground. They’re flawless this year when the m with the map back in the pool. So, as Paul was saying, the first picks are usually the most comfortable one for the teams. All right. Well, let’s take a look at a couple of the rounds that you guys were highlighting here for Fnatic. Round one, eight, and 10. What What made these stand out the most to you? Um, well, this one is definitely Chronicle. Remember, every single stun is cosmetic in this game. He gets one, he gets two. Um, why not? Akala as well with the ghost. We know that he really wants that MVP that we’re going to be giving away at the end of the um at the bottom part of EWC. So yeah, uh good luck team heritics. If Chronicle, this is the first round that he has in a match. Yeah. And and when your MVP is the one that’s doing stuff like this, it kind of gets the rest of your team fired up. And if you looked at the score line at the end, you saw big performances out of even Crashy’s. Yeah. Yeah. Taking this one v one by the way. Hower at the beginning and I’m like oh no. And then oh never mind. Yeah. This is just insane. Just completely locking it down and then he buys enough time for Kayak to come through that broken door and just clean up house. But I mean the confidence you have to have to like turn that flash and still be able to hit those shots. And also the recar in the beginning was is is what was most impressive to me. That’s the biggest thing for me. Just seeing someone with that much experience both in Chronicle and in Crashies as well. Feeling so comfortable on a stage in this kind of environment to go, “Yeah, do you know what? I’ve just lost my IGL in this part of the map. I’m just going to dry swing this, win that 1 v one, and then he goes on to win the rest. This was so so impressive uh by Kayak and this is where the composition reaches like the full potential. We see the utility scattering and how the wall goes up, how the rest of the supportive utility comes on and he even though he’s doing a lot of things, he’s in a very comfortable place. We we’ve got our first best of five here. So, how did how does how does the strategy change? We have a minute left before we head back on over to the stage here, pal. It’s something that you’ve got to be open to things not going quite as expected. You need to take your time. You need to pace yourselves. A lot of people change have sort of different protocols for the vetos depending on when they want their strongest maps to be in the five map pool. Um so it’s interesting that both of these teams come out with their big guns, their heavy hitters straight out. And I think they’ll kind of now Fnatic will go, I’m happy, we’re good to go. Sunset, let’s see what happens with a double jewelist. All right. Give me the player who’s going to stand out here. Go ahead, baby B. And then give me the player who’s going to stand out here. I I think Rian is going to be a standout player for Heretics on this map. I think he needs to be I think he needs to be able to like uh initiate for Minioo to have some success and really pop off. But I wanted to get your thoughts real quick because Heretics last time in the grand final dropped 3 0. How do you kind of get that out of your brain when like those similar thoughts that PTSD is creeping up on you cuz you’re already down 1 Z and it was just so dominant. Energy, good leadership and a bit of motivation from everybody on the stage. All you need is one good moment from a man like Rian’s and that will just set you going. That’s That’s pretty good. That that leader is the person that you need because right now I think we’re waiting for Boer on stage so we have a little bit more time. Uh go ahead Cuckoo. What do you think? Uh who do you think is the key player that’s going to step up in map number two? Uh to me I think it might be Benji. I think that all of those the double dualist and whatnot coming in from the side of Fnatic. If you manage to put Kayak and Alpha in that combined synergy having a blast of a map you need someone to stop them. To me, it has to be Benji Fishy. And remember that three 0 that we saw in EMA, it started out the same way with a 130 with a 134, sorry. All right. All players are back to the stage. They’re getting themselves into the lobby. Map number two. Will it be a 200 lead for Fnatic or will Los Nos be able to fight back? Let’s find out for map number two. Well, Los Ninños certainly need to extinguish the flame on the other side of the stage. That first map was dominant, but the second is somewhere that they stand a much better chance. Perhaps they even come in as favorites. Fnatic losing six out of seven of the last sunsets they’ve played, defeating KC in overtime. This should be anything but easy. But after the performance that they just put up in map number one, momentum might be enough to change the course of history. Yeah, I I think that’s the real danger is is thus far all the players that Fnatic really need to be hitting are hitting. I don’t think we saw the the maybe the best out of Alfia, which if anything is terrifying if he can also be added in, but Kayak was on fire. Chronicle is keeping up that number one rating. I I I think he’s gunning for the MV MVP of the tournament. And thus far, there was nothing to really write home about when it came to the other side. This map though, this was their first battleground. This was their first biting point. The map they looked to try and take away from Fnatic. I’m looking at Fnatic down on the stage with well a fair amount of of notes. They were well prepared for the last map. We saw even the few ideas that were very successful when they played against Genji yesterday. Fnatic were ready for all of them. They have been watching. They have been waiting in the shadows after winning their match. I’m off for Heretics. This is where they have a point to prove. Lose this map and it’s safe to say there will not be many believers in a clean sweep of three maps back in the other direction. win this map game on. And realistically as well, when we talk about the successes of Heretics, the failures of Fnatic on this map, it’s worth mentioning, at least in my mind, this should be the map that Fnatic prepared for the least. Not to say that they didn’t do any, but when you think about the series, it’s a coin flip for who bans bans first. If it’s Heretics, they take out Pearl and you can remove the sunset. But if it’s Fnatic, they remove Pearl and you probably play the Sunset. coming in. What’s it as a 50-50 chance you even play it? Probably the preparation goes elsewhere, but you have some core ideas. Maybe you haven’t had a chance to put them to practice just yet. But for Heretics, that might be even more dangerous. Fnatic coming in on form, some new ideas to play with, some unknowns that they’re up against. But the main thing they have to do before defeating their opposition is defeat the issues of the previous map. I mean, there were shots just not hitting. Yeah, I don’t think that was anything to do with the color of the walls behind the players. They have to come in hot to the touch or this could be a very quick grand final. Yeah, and I think although the the critique will be on someone like Buu, it’s his brother that I’m looking at here. You’re going in as now that solo jewelist Woot’s impact a lot of the time on this map is a bit more diminished and you are the focal point of so many moments. And well after spotting players up mid, they’re going to try and fight forward directly in towards this Bside. Fnatic, they’ve already rotated. Chronicle in position with Alpha. The numbers flooding in the eyes on Crashies, but round the side they go. Crashies even gets one with the shock dart. Eerics are crumbling here in the pistol round till Rian snaps up to the plate. He’s got four and he could knock this one out of the park. It’s a shot to both needed and it connects but not for enough damage. 20 HP away from an ace. Both pistol realms have been pretty much the same. A good chronicle cosplay. Oh, that was desperately just got saved by the shields. Was that the difference between a round win and not the last player you came up against just happened to have shields? Like that that was almost one of the greatest pistol run. Yeah, it was. He hits a hand. I I think it’s purely Yeah, it is. It’s the shields. The difference is the shields. Rian hits the shot. And if it’s on anyone else, he wins the round. That is so brutal. That’s heartbreaking. He did everything to put his name in contention for play of the tournament. And oh, Boasted just those light shields made the difference. Buu has managed to get a little bit further than maybe he should have done. But I I’ll be honest, I’m still reading from the last round. Your heretics, that felt like your hope, your chance. What a shot from Alpha. That was a head shot on Minibu. They just come flooding on through. He’s even downgrading his weapon to slide on in and close this convincingly. He’s risking the swap before the time’s up. Two-0 start for Fnatic and they look confident here for Heretics. They must have felt like they had a real shot. Putting their best foot forward at stepping onto this stage and forgetting the previous map. This coming round is where they need to do it. It’s early days here, but after what we just saw, Heretics can’t afford another slow start. But this is what is terrifying. As said yesterday, they won five out of six pistols versus Geng. Right now, they’re zero and three. They are not getting those early boosts to rounds, but they’re going to try and break back immediately. A pacey start for Mini Boo, but he’s being shot in the back. Just doesn’t have the support to play with. Rian, by the way, has already caught that Hunter’s Fury, but even while throwing that in alongside a mini boo push, they have found themselves in a deficit. Arans is the only player with kills on Team Heretic. So that kill distribution the deaths easily getting that Hunter’s Fury across the line. One man down, a weapon upgraded as well. An Outlaw I believe left on the floor, which means Alpha now has that Vandal to work with. Got the pick off of a classic thanks to the damage done by Kayak on the other side. But the rotations to A. It’s the wrong read. Team Heretics are walking into a mostly open B site. They’ve gotten rid of the trap, gotten rid of the cam in a moment, but the rotates are coming in from Fnatic already. Yeah, 40 seconds, but they are to make a move back. It would have to be off Boo and cover. He’s already managed to catch one. They’re going to try and pressure him, but saying he’s holding his ground, but Kayak still picks him off even with 6 HP. Chronicle also finds Benji. This is looking like another bonus round that might just be going the way of Fnatic. And all the stands in their way as Riad this time. He can’t even make it too costly. Fnatic off to another hot start. 3 and zero on the one map within the pool that you would put in Heretic’s favor. They need to wake up and they need to wake up fast. Even the yawning breach spray on the floor. Fnatic are letting them know that they’re asleep at the wheel right now. And look at some of these fights. All of these fights in fact, they’re risks being taken. their individuals dueling when the advantages are already found. And I think that just goes to show where Fnatic’s head space is at right now. They are the better squad. They’re hitting their shots. Their opponents are not. They’re taking the fights and they’re winning them. For Heretics, it’s hard to find a solution to that and they’re going to take their time to try to come up with one. Fanatic matches are known as some of the most stressful in history. Some of the greatest comebacks we’ve ever seen are off the back of this team, but this grand final so far has been a walk in the park. They’ve had tougher scrims than this. a 134 first map, a pistol round that came down to just re-ends and a three-0 start on their opponent’s map choice. And normally a pause this early would be a surprise, but with the manner in which this map and series is going, you understand why Neil Zeno and Weber feel the need to get in there early. They know this map is integral. With Ice Fox up next, I think we all know what is coming. But this round at least is going to be a lower purchase. Couple of SMGs, couple of pistols. If they could break back here, it would be huge, but the likelihood is slim. Alpha taking a risk. That’s been what we’ve seen from Fnatic, but they haven’t been punished most of the time. This looked like the time they would, but no Kax got them all. It just keeps on going in favor of Fnatic. And Heretics looking like they didn’t even show up to the stage today. The 2024 Ascension winner moves to Fnatic. They win a domestic. They get to a final. And now he’s styling, breaking the back of Heretic. Sure, it is a low by route, but that’s one of the cleanest aces you will ever see. Didn’t even need a reload in the middle and even standing up to tell them to sit down. No surprise Kayak’s got his ultimate. Had so much information as well. Three players, four players spotted. Alpha’s going to go walking elsewhere. And even with Benji Fishy waiting, it will be four. They don’t check the angle, but luckily Rienz is there. They’ve managed to take an advantage. They’ve managed to stem the bleeding. While Kayak’s confidence should be the death of him and will. They cannot lose this one. 40 start for Fnatic on the map that Heretics are favored on. The only map in this BO5 that will confidently say they should win. And now a 2v4. It’s teed up. The flash is good. And maybe the only reason that doesn’t go to Alpha here with Chronicle left alone. A man that you have to respect in the clutches, but who might just call it quits. 1v4 is too much to ask, but damage here would be valuable. Playing for the exits, but Rian gets ahead of the curve. Four to one. Heretics are finally on the board. Yeah, the manner in which they’ve lost the rounds have been painful, but this one was important for more reasons than one. Firstly, getting onto the board, but more so it’s going to put Fnatic at least back in the box a little bit. But look at the way this round started. It was hyperaggression. A lot of information and even an opening pick onto Benji, but they recover and they catch the aggressive positioning of Fnatic. Even look at the way Kayak played. He was disrespecting his opponents and at least now might have to respect them just a bit already. Alfier’s aggression punished once again. It’s a solid Hunter’s Fury that has done so much damage from here. Kayak in the corner will just get out. He’s made the right call. Like you said, Fnatic back in the box playing that respectful play again. It was around before he’d be swinging wide, looking for a pick. Spams through a little early. Shock dart. Shock dart. A little deep. Heritics are avoiding some of those early pitfalls, but they look to push. They’re going into the spawn. There’s three players. Fnatic are waiting for it. They’re beckoning them in. Crashy’s already with two under his belt. Triples up. The drone going through, but a player caught in the corner. It’s poster still winning that fight through the walls. One round for Heretics off the hubris of Fnatic, but that has faded and they’re right back to winning ways. Yeah, the the hunter’s fury. Well, just the utility in general. Go back to the pistol round. Crashes with shot dying them all to low HP and then just the reveal just constantly pinging them after the alt hits. It is just disturbing. how much damage he was able to do. He’s even getting an assist there onto the Woot kill as well. That is a Crashy’s round through and through. Now for Heretics, they still have a buy for this one, but a loss here is already the half escaping them on the attack, which again normally is where they’re strongest. They can still show it on the defense, but right now I don’t think it matters what side of the map they’re on. Oh no, look at the mini map. Look at where Fnatic are. Look at how many of them are towards that B side. And it looked like Heretics were looking to accelerate into a B split. They don’t, but they have that mid control still as Kayak pushes out. They’re looking the other way. A rare miss, at least in this series, certainly for Kayak. And that gives Heretics another chance. Still in the 5v5, moving towards the A site. Utility online for Whoop, but Cipher on the other side of the map. That trip on short’s going to stay online even if this null command comes into play. Seems like the plan at least initially was to play off site for that exact reason in case it was a pacey hit. Instead though, this has been so slow from Heretics that the rotations are going to be coming in. A chance to spam some ultimates. The steel guard and potentially going to be used for the post plant with that utility being taken away. But just look how fast behind them the two jewelists of Fnatic are already encroaching on their backline. It’s been spotted at least. Minibu’s going to join his brother, try and help out, but the shots just aren’t hitting. Eventually, he will get one. And now the steel gun has gone in. But this ultimate from Alfia still becomes a point of damage. He can keep using this clearing these back angles. Another comes up for Boster. He’s running. He was reloading it, but even still has found the kill. And they take their guns away from a moment, but it makes no difference at all. Six now for Fnatic. The train on the tracks. It’s rolling full speed. This is devastating for Heretics. We said they can’t afford to start slow. And the problem is they haven’t even started. That is ridiculous seeing him run through like that. Can’t even shoot as he makes it through the smoke. But the shots, as you said, Tom, they’re not landing. They weren’t on the previous map. They’re certainly not here. And now there won’t be much to fire with in general. It’s all just pistols. Mini Boo the only player to have a rifle to work with. And Heretic’s likely to go 71 down in this first half. Yeah, it seems like Fnatic are playing a great game, but the pressure of the occasion is making this heretic side look like they are not even in the match just yet. Where is everyone hiding? Fnatic are known for many things, but choking. It’s not one of them. An extra kill at least. Rian’s had the majority of his kills in the first couple of rounds. will at least be able to get one. And Benji’s found a trade. They’re making this one costly. Weirdly, this has been one of the best scenarios they’ve had so far. Second vi to try to deny that space being taken, but Kai’s already ahead of it. He found his gap. He stood his ground. The TP to backside they hope will put the pressure on. Give them that angle to work from. Eventually, Kayak might think that they’re not coming his way, but the patience pays off. Benji’s down. Spike alongside him and Kayak knew that that TP that from the shadows was in play. Tucking in and letting Boer do the dirty work. It’s seven to one. There was some hope, some promise there, but it was broken. And it looks like Heretic’s broken alongside them. They need to dig deep to push themselves back into this map, back into this series. That hasn’t been spike down a weak link, a spot to exploit any safe haven for this squad. They took their first pause in this map at 3-0 down. The second pause is being taken going into round nine. You could join us right now, not see the score line, and know exactly what that means. This squad filled with youngsters, has been in so many grand finals. But when stuff like this is happening to you, one of the cleanest aces we’ve ever seen, but in this tournament, it’s it’s right at the top of the bill. It becomes so much more difficult to try and dig yourself out of that hole. We can go back to previous matches they played. EMA stage one, lost 3-0, Champs Grand Final, Shanghai Grand Final, stage one last year, kickoff. They’ve had many opportunities to finally get themselves a trophy. And although there’s no doubt the caliber of this team, when they get to these moments, it looks different. This is it. Out of the pause. I’m out of here. The mid push was the call. Four players sent that way. Only three remain. An immediate shutdown as the split through market is undeniable. The Bside under threat. Double trips waiting for that full dive. waiting to catch that Neon. But with Chronicle down, those trips go alongside him. Alpha standing alone and he falls just the same. Three versus three as the spike can now be planted. But a deep drone used first to grab that extra intel. Nowhere to run. Oh, an aggressive Hunter’s Fury. Oh, he’s almost hit blue, but that’s about it. Trying to find at least a little bit of information, even if it wasn’t the kill. Two players coming around the corner. Boa has already made it in and now all that remains is Boo and he’s done well but not well enough. It’s close but no cigar. It is another on the board. Eight rounds already for the defensive side of Fnatic. And even though that was a a decent attempt, a decent recovery from Heretics, they just can’t quite get it over the line. It’s always the way for these grand finals, but never quite like this. One enemy remaining. After defeating Gen, a squad that beat them in a grand final before they faced the team that did it twice. Third time lucky. That was the hope. That hope turning to a dream that will soon be forgotten as their flame of ambition is dimming on that attacking side. A deep push from Minioo. But again, they will be shut down. Opening picks for Fnatic. And now just pistols that remain. A stinger for Bansi Fishy. the best hope that this squad has. It seems like Fnatic have places to be. That totem ready to be filled with their key, their name immortalized as the first ever victor in Valerant. Unless heretics have something to say about it. The fact is a best of five is always a marathon and not a sprint, but they have got themselves very far ahead. This round looking unlikely with a man advantage, weaponry advantage. Okay, the alts are about even, but that doesn’t help anyone. The HP of a few players is low, but we’re we’re clutching at straws. Yeah, it’s hard to find hope and I don’t think any will be found. It has to be created by Team Heretics. Ice wall in play. Has to be baited. That could buy them some time. Plank coming through. They’ve got a bit of delay to work with. The thorns on the site already. That shock dart though. It takes down the planter. At least the spike is on the ground already. The four versus two though. Buu and Benji Fishy need to dig so desperately deep to get anything done here. And a double from Buu. It’s admirable. But in this situation, it’s just not enough. Yeah, getting them low like doing some damage in a round like this. Take this round in isolation and it’s not bad. But we can’t do that in the grand final. It’s still 9 and one for Fnatic. And it is a map, as we mentioned at the beginning of the day. fight. If there’s a map that Heretics have to win, this is it. They showed that they were impressive on the defensive side of this map versus RQ in 111 defensive side. They will almost definitely have to repeat it. But can they at least give themselves some wiggle room? These last couple of rounds can help them if you believe in curses. And look at this sprint through already. It is so damning the extra info off the hunter’s fury and one man left alive chronicle seeing him with a hat off his head as team heretics have only rens all hope resting on his shoulders for this half to be even slightly recovered and chronicle the one to put him to bed 10 to one this is looking worse than the map we came in saying Fnatic were favored on than their first pick. I talked about them banning this map, Tom. They could have picked it. Well, the the crazy thing as well is you go back to the analyst desk just before this match. BBL coach pal was talking about how both teams have sort of toploaded this series. They have put their best maps at the beginning. They want to get they want to get off on the front foot. Well, it seems like right now heretics need to win ice box. just to survive in this series. They are getting slaughtered. These rounds are barely lasting more than 20 seconds. And it just isn’t stopping. Kayak with another triple to add to his collection. It will join the ace he got earlier in this game. And while Buu now stands between them and the second most damning half even possible. He’s at least got one for free. Crashy’s a little bit lost in the source, but look at the spike. They’re even blocking it ready in case he tries to TP. Fnatic are so far ahead even just in the mental game. Shadows traveling. He’s not even going for the TP. At least not yet. Now they’ve spread the flash through the smoke. That’s what he’s waiting for. That’s his chance. An angle around that smoke. Chronicle down. But the spam from Kayak is too good. This guy is too good. And Fnatic 11-1 in the lead. The map that should have favored Heretics and they barely got around on the board. Disaster spelled out on the stage. Let’s see if they can bounce back after the break. Shut up. Heat. Heat. Hello. And we’re back with Fanatic. 11 to1 in the lead. They are looking hungry for that international trophy. They want to put their key in the slot and raise that trophy high. And it looks like they are very close to doing it. Team Heretics asleep at the wheel so far, Tom. Five rounds across one and a half maps of Valerant. One of which, this one of which favored them coming in. This is disastrous. Yeah. The difference between first and second place is $270,000. It is a ludicrous prize pool. 500,000 on the line. But the worst thing about it for Heretics is they lose this map and they’re going to start imagining Board twerking while he crushes their key. It is a nightmare that they’ll be living for years to come. And for Fnatic, they are proving why. For a very long time, they have widely been considered one of the best in the world. They are a team that at times are impossible to beat. And the Heretics, they can’t even believe in curses at this stage. They need to believe in miracles. And defeating Geng was a big step, but their demons have come back to haunt them. It could be three grand finals in a row for Fnatic when facing against Team Heretics at all stages, all levels of the game. This won’t cement it, but it will certainly set up a near impossible task if they win this map. Now, Team Heretics, they’ve lost the opening, and that’s not pretty. None of the shots far. One or two land in favor of Minioo. Everything’s going Fnatic’s way. And that causes panic. It causes rotations towards the other side of the map. But the spike is retreating. They are pulling back and sending this into the B site where they’ve taken all the space. At least a punish onto Alfie seems possible. But even that won’t be connected by Heretics. Tom, uh maybe we rely on Rian’s ace in this one. Don’t know what you can rely on other than that. I think he got more kills in that round than some of his teammates have in this map. 10 seconds left. It is a bleak outlook for one that they have to try and dig deep and find something. But all they found is a bullet to Ren. And now another hero is needed. Benji Fishy at least gets one, but a 1v5 ace to take their first pistol. Let’s just say I’m not a believer. He’s going to fall to the force and might to Fnatic. A 121 domination. Fnatic putting on a show of their own, a different class, a different caliber, a different level to the opponent they’re facing right now. And they are just one way from going two and zero in this best of five and heading into Icebox, which well, they’re widely considered one of, if not the best in the world. Even the map that they’ve won in their previous grand final in a 3-1 defeat was Icebox. If you’re a Heretics fan, you better start praying. All prayers to Leo Farrier for this one. Oh, it’s dominant. But of course, they only have the pistols. But it is a force by up. They put the shields in. They tried to give themselves a chance to swing back at their opponents. A bruise and indeed the TP out. Heretics will soon connect the pieces of the puzzle. Boo. He doesn’t know whether to stay or whether to go as they’re about to round the corner. This Sheriff needs to do so much and it gets almost nothing. Fnatic three versus two. A rifle for Minioo. A stinger for Woot. And all hope now sits now rests on their shoulders. Normally they’d be the players you’d want. One enemy remaining. Minioo has no idea. Woot number one coming in, but there is nothing he could do but stand between the might of Fnatic. They have walked into their opponent’s ground and they have left it desolate and bare. Well, it seems like Fnatic’s strength befits the crown and they are now just one map away with their home ground of ice box up next. Who knows what heretics will hope for. Enemy remaining. 4 3 1 0 I can’t Tell me about me. Tell me about me. I can’t be without you. I can’t be without tell. Tell me better. Tell me about it later. Hey heyoo. It is the most lopsided match here in all of EWC Valerant. 13 to1 map number two goes the way of Fnatic and it does not look like it is slowing down at any time. from all players firing on all cylinders and team heretics cannot find any traction quite yet, but it is a best of five. There is a glimmer of hope known as map number three. Dig on here alongside Baby Bay, Kakuka, and Big Time. Welcome back, Big Time. How you feeling, man? I mean, you know, it could could have been a Pacific team there, but not not not quite, man. I mean, I think it’s hard for anybody to feel great after watching that. I I feel for the boys over on her. That’s rough. That’s about as rough as it gets. I mean, listen, I I wanted a 3-0 from Fanatic. I didn’t want them to speedrun the 3 0. I wanted some suspense. I wanted it to be close. We don’t even have any type of fight from heretics. Oh. Oh. Oh, no. We have time to say like a minute of silence. Like, should we take Okay, take a moment of This is supposed to be like the the easier map. We’re hyping it up being like this should be easy for heretics and they struggle to even get on the board. If we take a look at at this, obviously they only managed to get the spike down in four of the rounds and that one that one that you see there is the what they managed to convert. Uh yeah, not the best attacking half. Uh good to see Fnatic very comfortable with that double dualist. I think that it is something that they needed. I don’t think it’s only just because it was against Heretic. Um this play from Kayak in round four. Uh that’s when they knew. I believe we we screamed in the green room. This was crazy. that you so rarely see shots that clean. It was just as smooth as you could get. Look at this. All head shot. It you can’t ask for a better play. And and keep in mind, I know this is against a thrifty buy, but we’ve seen how much damage the stingers can do, especially at Toronto. You see G2 using them. It’s This is the way you eliminate that. You just one tapped the Stinger so we can’t run and gun you. What a solution. Who would have thought? Who would have thought? Professional player right here on the desk. Thank you very much, baby. Yeah. And for those of you keeping track at home, the big time crazy count is at one now. That round deserves it. Yeah, that five of them. That’s crazy. Even the performance coach there, I feel it was like, yeah, this these guys are are winning it. Yeah. And here’s Crashies, who also has had a standout uh map as well. I think that in the first one as well and throughout all the tournament, Crash’s utility has is so impactful in so many ways. We we see him use for example the shock darts in so many maps dealing so much damage. Uh here we see obviously the the recon his ultimates also just grunting in here an opener I believe a couple of kills as well and just just ving he’s so happy now that he’s in the MA right Dre. Yeah and and yeah 100% I would be happy too. I’m happy for him right now. But no you’re absolutely right like this is all of that experience that he has under his belt. It really formed forms him into the player that he is right now. And without all that experience, you kind of have to teach your new SOA to do all this stuff. But you don’t have to teach Crashes a thing. He just knows. He has that internal timing. He has that instinct on the character. Uh if this was a regular season match, as these two teams will do battle over at BCT stage 2 in just a little bit, would be over big time. There would be no map number three. But there is cuz this is a best of five. You’ve been in some tough situations before in the past. What do you how where do you go from here when it’s this lopsided? I like I wish I had an easy answer for you here. I mean, this is about as hard as it gets for Heretic, especially because that was Sunset. That was the one they’re supposed to win. You’re heading into ice box. Every map is winnable in Valerant. That’s what you kind of have to trust and believe. You have to find a way to have that short-term memory loss. Block out what just happened. You come in fresh, you go into new round, it’s a new game, it’s nil nil. That’s the only attitude you can reasonably take to try and correct the ship here. But man, it’s hard. I’m sorry. You talk about some ships, but you ship in some mouth. Okay, Dre. Um, what was I going to say? Oh, yeah. I was going to say I wanted to bring back something that coach Pal was saying, not about the sunset, but actually about the ice and how Fnatic really wanted to dodge. Well, go to the maps that are strong for them, but also at the same time, they’re dodging the maps where um Team Heritage is going to be playing with that double dualist because we are going to ice box. And Heretics, funny enough, play a no dualist comp. It’s a comp that we’ve seen in the past that we’ve seen that is actually very getting very popular with that double controller, but we expect Wood to be in that KO and Mini Boo to be in that Omen. As we’re saying, it it’s uphill from not the reverse sweep. It’s still a possibility, but I think it’s it’s the mental reset that they need right now. It is a possibility and and I think the person that needs to step up here is Mini Boo on that omen. I think he’s been struggling on it. I think it’s kind of hard. We we’ve seen even duelist like second have to swap off Jon picking it up and it it’s it’s it’s awkward cuz everyone’s like, “Oh, Tyson did it. Pens did it right. Like I can do it too, but it’s not as easy when you actually try to apply it yourself. Big time. Final thoughts. You know, he’s got to get loose with it. I mean, they all all everyone on heretics feels tight. They feel wound up. They feel stressed. Just remember this is Valerant game. You got to try and relax yourself somehow. Have some fun. Otherwise, Fnatic are going to run away with this. It has been a one-sided affair so far in our best of five between the two EMA squads. We’re going to find out if this is just the steps before the coronation or the beginnings of a miracle run. Team Heretics and Fanatic. Map number three. Well, this is what it all comes down to. A comeback that would be remembered for generations to come if Heretics can make this happen. They’ve looked deactivated down on that stage and now they move to IceBox. If anything, this could have been the first pick of Fnatic. A strong map for them where a comp that they created has lasted the test of time. But that which is eternal is not always divine. Heretics, they need something to go their way here. They need to start hot on the coolest map in the pool. shut down Kayak who’s just looked surreal. That ace you’ve seen many times now in the replays. The last three one taps. He didn’t even bother firing a second shot. I I genuinely think coming in if if you’d said to Fnatic, give you a map that you can end this series. End this tournament on without a doubt. What would they choose? I think it’ be Icebox. go into this one after playing this tournament beating Genji 100 Thieves in Toronto, beating Paper X Wolves, Sentinels regionally. Do you know who they beat twice in a row? The last team it was Heretics 139 138 having strengths on opposite sides of the map in both wins. They might be sat there and going now these cars are sounding kind of biased right now. Are they on the Fnatic payroll? It It’s just a bleak outlook. If if Heretics come in and win this map, it would be a shock. And that’s what they need to do. They need to shock us because so far they’ve been shocking. They have been battered. They have been bruised. And they have not been themselves. And for Fnatic, they are proving why they are a team that has international titles. They’re proving why they’re the roster that got the the back to back that no one else has been able to achieve and they are proving why they might be the first ever Valerant roster to make it onto the totem. And more importantly, which for Valerant fans is something you might not be too aware of with the the club championship, this would be their first points and first victory, which is so important. If you want to be the club that takes the dub, you need to make sure you win one of the games. Well, right now, they already have half their key pressed in to that totem to be immortalized for history. And Heretics have got to pull them down off their high horse if they are going to turn this series around. Well, the Crusher is calling out to Team Heretics. Their key seems to be set on a path. A comeback needed three maps in a row and they start with what could be the strongest. On the next, Heretics have stolen the old composition of Fnatic. But on this one, a slight change. The KO in play instead of the Sage. They won’t try to match Fnatic pound-for-pound with that comp. With any comp, almost any team will struggle to match Fnatic on this map. Starting out mini boost being caught on the omen. I wanted to mention that a focal point of their ice box when they managed to beat out RRQ was him dropping 30 kills over on that Omen. Thus far in this series, Heretics have won zero of the four pistols on offer. It’s not the greatest of starts in this one. Alier already being spotted but can afford to fall back. Also taking a lot of damage even just from the orb. It makes these kills so much easier for the likes of Kayak who hasn’t needed any help throughout this series so far. Damage done. Snake fight in. Woot gets tagged on the way out. The decay almost drops him. Kayak on his third of the round. Shock kill. and Kayak closing another 4K in a pistol round. It was Chronicle in map number one. It’s Kayak in map number two and Team Heretics. Every round they lose now is a step towards defeat. Kayak’s story as well. It’s one of playing through Ascension, winning it, and his reward is being given the task of replacing the jewelist who was part of the team that had the most sec successful year in Valerant. That was his goal. That was his task. And boy, is he doing a good job. Four kills in the pistol round, an ace in the last map. If it wasn’t for Chronicles tournament success, he’d be a shoe in for the MVP, but it’s definitely still up for grabs. The Heretics, they’ve claimed the orb. Oh, sorry. The defense have claimed the orb. They’re now going to go battling towards this site. Normally the easier to get at least some space, but Crashies from the same spot as his teammate in the last round will find the opener. Oh man, the reveal not shot again. We saw this on the previous map where the hunter’s fury reigns supreme. A few picks back in the other direction, but only classics left in this two versus three. They say in suffering you find your true strength. Will heretics may come back very strong indeed because they are suffering right now. Boom. He finds one, but there’s the wall. It’s popped up and that may prop them up for the victory. The defuse already underway. He’s got to be quick and Kayak’s waiting around the side. Fnatic with another as the orbs build. So too the rounds. That’s not a bad one though. They made it costly. Bu at least managed to find a couple of kills. So the purchase for the next round likely not going to be as strong as it could been. getting off to a solid start on this attack is going to be integral versus RQ. They won in overtime even with nine rounds on the attack side. One enemy remaining. We know that Fnatic are comfortable pretty much on either side of this map. This is where we need to see the last chance really for Heretics to find their footing in this game. Otherwise, the crusher awaits and the curse will live on. Well, the fans in the crowd still flying the team Heretics logo, I suppose, still representing. They won’t back down just yet, and nor will Heretics. Every time they’ve been running into a brick wall. Nice opening by Kayak. Two players there. He still gets one. The rest of the squad armed to the team. Wall up and so is Chronicle. He was on top. Drops down and there’s a gap for him to take the kill. That’s usually where you end up seeing the Sage fall as soon as they’re knocked off that wall. Caught in a freef fall. And still Heretics fail to claim an advantage. Now they look to move it back towards the A site. Fnatic may read this. And even if they don’t, Alfie’s playing passive with utility to detect or deny on the cross. Yeah, the alarm bot is his one blind spot. They’re sending the drone through on the other side of the map as well. That’s the moment that Fnatic realize they have all the information. Will start sprinting their way into support. They’re too slow. 20 seconds. Nice shot from Buu. At least that’s the opener that they needed. Even still, they’re going to have to just tank that utility. W will at least be able to fall back, but they’ve taken a bit of damage. The shock dart with a little bit of extra chip. And Crashes has just found two for it. I think one of them left vulnerable. It leaves only one man standing, but Buu is still fighting forward, giving it his best, not wanting to give this up. Chronicle’s gone walking across. I think he’s seen the ponytail. A little bit of extra information and a crucial round grabbed with both hands by Buu. The in-game leader is not giving up just yet. And he was the one to start this series slow. He was the one that was missing on both of the previous maps. Now, there were plenty of players missing in that regard here. So crucial obviously finding free kills. It’s an easy solution, but the snake bite that landed where Crashy’s is right now stopped them from punishing the the cross back from Woot bought them that little bit of extra time and gave him bodies to play off of. Really nicely handled in that 1v2 cuz it looked like Crashies had just swung it back into their favor. And with the big investment Fnatic made, the confidence to put their credits on the line in the previous and fight for that third means that they don’t have a lot to play with here. But they send everything towards middle. It was the bladestorm. It was the rifle. It’s weird. Everything’s avoided. You’ve got Chronicle full investing. You got the rest of the team somewhat on eco. You got Alfa with a rifle. Definitely a peculiar buy. I love it though. The chances it gives you with that Outlaw. The Classics can still play a key role with just one shot hit at any range. That Outlaw can follow up. And in Chronicles hands, there’s a damn good chance it will. Bladestorm as well for Kayak. They’ve avoided him but potentially walking into that exact danger that you were mentioning. Free light shields too. There’s a real chance for damage. Utility could be taken away. Woo having his alt. Could be impactful up here walking up and the patience pays off for Vu. That’s the opener they were looking for. That’s the rifle on the deck. And now they should be able to get in for a plant. He doesn’t want to give away the outlaw play just yet. That’s a shock guard snake fight combo, but it’s only one and the outlaw is on the floor. The blade storm put down to a classic by this null command. And so they have to wait. But as they wait, as time takes, Benji’s flank comes closer to completion. Heretics. Seems like they’ve gotten rid of most the danger. And well, they finally will. Those shock darts were deadly though. Another for Crashies before the round was over. Crashies. His utility throughout this game has been insanity. Be it the the usage of the shock darts, the darts that he’s setting up for himself as well for the recon. And then the Hunter’s Fury. Well, I I don’t think I need to even mention how good that’s been. It won’t matter in this round though. A round with danger, but a round that ultimately still goes the way of Heretics. They’ve already matched the rounds from last map, and they can start a streak. We know that this team plays well with the momentum at their back. Well, Heritic spotted moving towards this a site. Look how passive Buu is. They’re really expecting some of that deeper rotation from Fnatic through the attacker spawn for now. That’s certainly not the case. The shift takes place in their own spawn. Boaster safely crossing back. No real info around where this play is coming through. A drone goes out in mid. Take flight. It’s clearing all of this space. It’s seen the turret now. They know that they’ll be spotted if they go deep on the A side as they hear Team Heretics put their own drone through. They know that they’ve got players in position. The snake bite already playing a big role with the shock darts. And this time both players are close by to deny the plant. But it’s the Hunter Fury that’s through. And it’s already finding one mini boot. Woot out of the round. And it’s a 5v3 before heretics even see an opponent. So much impact already. And while for heretics, they’re yet to even get the spike down. They’re worried that the second they tap it, someone’s going to try and make a move. and they look to get ahead of it. Fnatic are giving them nothing though controlled in their protocols as now the retake begins. Same backside fight. It’s worked out for Heretics before, but we saw Crashy’s with a big punish on it as well. Leave Benji Fishy to go that little bit deeper. Boers watching for it. Offshot lands. Then in comes the pack swinging off posters contact and Buu doesn’t stand a chance. Some damage done, but nowhere near enough. That is a clean round from Fnatic. A big economy builder and a huge shutdown off the commitment of that Hunter Fury. Yeah, every single time it’s been utilized, it has been perfect. getting a kill, revealing another as well for for boaster to give them that twoman advantage. And then everything Fnatic are doing is so controlled. There is not a foot out of place. They’ve wait patiently to retake as a team and that’s what this squad has become. At kickoff, they were messy. They looked weak. But throughout the year, they have grown into a squad that everybody should fear. Now, for Heretics, there is still a bite. There’s some good alts to play with. Hunt Fury, Viper Pit. We’ve seen a lot from the TPS, at least from Big Brother. For now though, it’s this aight push once again. Flash much more direct fighting for the left side control wanting to take it towards Crashies off rip and that drone going out could be a problem but the rotates are already through all five members of Fnatic ready to take this fight together forced back by the nade that may delay the play just a moment but Boster catches Benji out of position Rian falls and Woot caught reloading has no chance in that fight mini already tagged heavy and the spike down in the open it’s on Buu to cover him on the Shadows traveling leaving us even. But the danger of that OP now traded out for the rifle. Kayak and Crashies. The two players putting up the numbers so far. But they’ll have to fight back through a pit. I like this using the pit to remove any of the risks of reclaiming that spike. But when he goes to plant, that’s when you assume there’ll be a move from the side of Fnatic. They’re looking to take this from two different angles. Crashy’s at the back. can get into this pit of fairly close range. Get himself around the corner and Kayak’s just trying to bait for the time. The reveal is not going to give the game away, but he’s found Boo anyway. That’s the pit dissipating. And now they wait for the decay. This is the chance of Mini Boo to find them while they’re low. But that HP is going back up and he’s not quick enough. The deadly duo of Kayak and Crashies has got them. Another round four for Fnatic. They’re just looking unstoppable right now. Not just Fnatic as a squad, but Crashies and Kayak starting out this map. They have been doing the heavy lifting and you see them in that clutch. You think that’s the best chance for Fnatic with the form players looking for those fights, but Crashy’s on a sliver of HP. A shot from anything would have taken him down. But he’s the one to fire the first bullet. The one to drop the pit and leave Mini Boo in a difficult position. They both have Tom 11 and four right now on Crash. He’s halfway to his Hunter Fury. It’s safe to say for the beginning of the year. The North American import surprise. Mini Boo. He’s found a gap. An important opener in a round where he has the hero rifle. Kayak does not like this idea, but it’s been going decently well so far. Minibu managed to find another Kayak just looking to do this all on his own. Already managed an ace earlier, but this time it will be taken away. It is Alfia to combine. There was moments where you believed for a second that maybe this would be a round for heretics, but Kayak is in god level form. But I’ll be honest, coming into the day, I was like, I feel like Fnatic could win. Chronicle could get two kills, and I’d still give him the MVP right now, Kayak is having a performance where we actually have to start asking, is he going to overtake him? Cuz this is one of the best grand finalist performances I think I’ve ever seen. Without a doubt, especially looking at how few rounds he has to show up in, cuz they just keep on winning. They push them one at a time there, Tom. They found the opening on the site. They said, “Let’s accelerate.” They revealed him with a drone. And yet, they go in one by one, every pick, giving him that opportunity to reset and posture for the next fight. That’s a huge mistake and one that Heretics won’t let go by without a tactical pause. Each of these pauses must get tougher and tougher for Neil Zeno and Weber. The first map 13-4, the second map 13-1 with two pauses in the first half that made no difference. And now in map number three, they’ve had a couple of big rounds. Booed saved them at least once. And even still, Fnatic have looked better for Milan and Scott. I don’t even know if they have to unmute the mic here. More of the same, boys. Just keep it up. It’s about all the depth that there needs to be. Great wall. Great setup. Turret spotted one in mid. They’ll come back to check that soon. They heard the rifle break it. And as they go in to check. Okay. Actually avoid the OP shot. Take down Alpha. And now they can accelerate to this B site. Kayak will be in position in just a moment though. Again, that that little bit slower making their way in. And he’s not going to let that wall deter him. Maybe he should have. But one of their win conditions throughout this tournament, their main win condition has been whooped online. It was mentioned on the desk. The opportunity for his double jewelist hasn’t been there yet, but maybe the KO will be enough. A good catch from Rian as well gives them a two-player advantage. Fnatic after already using a res in this round might have to start to consider whether this is worth it. They’re still fighting, feeling confident in these moments. The solid flash will force Alpha back and another one will leave him completely blind. It’s been a superb round from Woot individually and the remaining two from Fnatic are forced into a save. Head shot. Now at this stage of the game, you can’t underestimate a play like that. The confidence starting to build on an individual like Woot. Chronicles only got four bullets left. But it really is so important for a team that has looked dejected so far. Heretics, the heads have been low. The shots, they have not been on. The thing is, how many times will you avoid that opening pick from Kayak? How many times will you punish that aggression? Cuz in this series, it feels that like that’s a one ina million play. This was a good round, but they need to be perfect to climb back into this series. Yeah, we know as well that Fnatic are no slouches on that attack side. So, it’s not going to get any easier. But what I will say from Heretics, starting to see some of those players online is the main thing for me. Seeing Woot have big rounds, he’s been their best player this tournament. He’s been the best player in terms of ACS up until today. Kayak though has been a little bit better. He was moving through as he finds that kill onto Ren’s. He has been an unstoppable force. Initiated. Counter lock down in play. Wound. Oh, he tried to break it. He tapped twice, but Alpha only needed one. That lock down making it all the way and oh it looked like Boo thought that perhaps that lock down was down below but it was up top. A misread as he’s now been caught. 40 seconds on the clock. They still have the Viper wall but they can’t put it up here and now getting the chance to as the detain subsides. The wall goes up. Their final approach in this round is now underway. There’s a small gap there though. Kayak waiting to get the opportunity. They’re going to need something to go their way and it just isn’t. Benji Fishy with one a second as well, but it’s going to be left on. He’s given them a chance. He still is unaware of Crashy’s position. He is going to be able to get that plant in. Dart sent through will reveal him. Crashy’s now knows exactly where his opponent is, but dealing with him is another thing altogether. He’s going to stick this diffuse at least to half. Boo may just have to swing this one. He needs to peek. He needs to peek. And he gets it just about right. The clock in his head was bang on as Crashies tried to take it under his nose. Oh, I forgot to breathe for a while there. That was a little bit too close. What a way to lose that round it would have been given him that extra split second and this could have been Done and dusted here. Mental in the bin, but a big triple for the IGL of Buu. He went an entire half with three kills starting this series out. And right when Heretics need him the most. He’s online, but so is the utility for Kayak. He didn’t get hit by that knife. He makes it out with the dash and doesn’t even claim a life in the process. Up goes the null command. And that’s going to buy a lot of time and a lot of space for Heretics. Same as yesterday, back versus Genji in the final map. It was where Buu activated and dragged the youngsters through kicking and screaming. That experience paying dividends. The pressure seemingly not getting to him. And now they’ve needed him once again. Mini Buu is going to try and play onto the spike. It’s a a lower buy, but Buu is there once more. Mini Buu running through. He’s been killed out by Rian’s. If there’s a round for that to happen, this was probably it. It’s not going to hurt them too much. And for Alfia and Crashies, removing a gun, stealing a gun would be nice. That will be the case for Alfia. Crashies is just going to try and take them as they retreat, but in the end, he will go down to the spikes. Heretics have found their footing in this map. Five and five and even getting rid of Alfie at the end. He will still have a buy for the next round, but they’ll keep their economy strong as well. Little by little and step by step, Heretics making their way back. As you said, the buy still there for Fnatic in the next. Boo’s been a critical part of these rounds. swinging their way. But in darkness, the faintest glimmer of hope shines bright and it is Buu. A blinding light of hope for this Heretic squad. Two rounds left to play for and there’s a world where Heretics end this half with the lead. They’ve already got as many rounds on this map as they have in the series so far, but they need so much more. Chronicle is already going to deal with one, but Buu was still lurking, dealt with as well. Fnatic just a second. It looks like this is going to be close. Chronicle activates. And while Mini Boo has been spotted, revealed, noted by all parties and is slowly being surrounded, one will go his way, but he is so desperately low. A second as well. This should not be possible and won’t be. Kayak gives the lead back to Fnatic as they look to try and close out this half. Well, Heretics won’t be leading at the halftime, but still possible to tie it up neck and neck. Give them a chance to move into the next more of a battle than we’ve seen. And throughout the last two maps, players stepping up across the board. A good round for Mini Boo. Buu’s been online as well. We look to that second half and if it’s a 75 lead for Fnatic with how the pistol rounds have gone, it will still be a gargantuan task on Icebox. There’s been positives. That’s the main thing. The last two maps, enemy, if you went for a toilet break, you might have missed the whole thing. But this one, Heretics have been in contention throughout. Still looking for some of the pieces to awaken. Benji Fishy has been having a rough series. Mini Boot has been far from his best. And well, Woot the same. Even though he’s had a round or two here, if they can come alive in this map, that’s what matters most. Kayak has been phenomenal from start to finish. And he’s their first point of contact. Boaster is almost just trying to sell the idea that there’s nobody else here and they believe it. They fall for it somehow. He’s survived longer than expected, but Minibu is trying to fight back, but it’s the IGL this time. Boa leading the charge of taking them through with an advantage. Woot will deal with him. But there are still three more players. 30 seconds. No Viper Ward to cross and even a res. Yeah, I told that res is going to be coming through. But well, now maybe Al actually might be safe. The wall goes up. That’s the res play. Chronicle’s going to make it in. Crash is going to cover that cross. 12 seconds left. Plant has to be gone for. They’ve got to look for it. No, they’re looking for the kills instead. They want to win this off the fights and it’s down to a 1 v one. They know Chronicles close. Only 4 seconds left. Woot has found him in the corner just in time. Six and six at the halftime. Woot has given Team Heretics a chance. That’s going to have to be one hell of a turnaround from a 200 deficit, but this is the best we’ve seen from Heretic so far. Fnatic could close it in three, but we’ll find out after the break. One enemy remaining. My head is here. Here we are. Here we are. Here we me up. Here me up. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Riyad, can we see a bounce back here from team Heretics or will Fanatic close the deal. Who’s taking it? Team Heretics or will we see our first Valerant winners crowned after this map? Is it Fanatic? Let’s get back into this huge series. Well, it certainly seems like the crowd is on Fnatic’s side and maybe they’ve even stolen some of the Heretics fans because this has been an outrageous performance at least in those first two maps. But closing out that last half, an ace from Woot. We said we needed to see him activated and if that’s not activated, I don’t know what is. But coming into this half, there’s still a big task at hand. They need this and two more maps to go their way. It all starts here with the pistol round. Something that so far has evaded Team Heretics. It’s been almost 750 days since Fnatic last hoisted an international trophy. They are just seven rounds away from doing so and it could start with this pistol round. Woot though he has been activated over the last few rounds but they’ve gone walking into boaster. He’s run out of bullets. Booze alongside Woot to give them a hefty advantage here. They have struggled with the pistols in this series but this might be the most crucial of the lot. That duo though still stands in their way. One of them already showing some scars. They have to push into him. Kak almost catches one of the cross. They know now that he’s closed. Benji deals with him. His eyes never left that corner. Whoops. Little bit of a miss from Buu, but that’s all right. The whole crew is there to close it out. The first pistol round for Team Heretics locked in and the climb back commences. That’s the thing that if you were looking at the last two maps, you would have thought the heretics would already have been defeated mentally. But maybe the fact is the pressure is off when all expectations are that you are already defeated. That’s where they found their footing. Woot now top of the board 15 and N. He was muted in the last couple of maps. A man who has been number one in ACS throughout almost the entirety of the tournament. It’s good to see him sharp in this grand final. Now they’ve got Mitch’s really favorite second round gamble over on the Fnatic side. A chance to do real damage. And well, you’ve just seen why. And a little heal as well from Chronicle. tending the wounds of Kayak and making this 5v4 a real tangible advantage. This Outlaw is dangerous. The turret still on mid, covering the cross, maybe even dealing 10 damage for the Outlaw. The Kayak maneuvering towards this A site for now. It’s the drone spotting it, but they won’t be seen. And now they fill in the space. Often we’ll see a passive play towards the screens, but if you’re stood out in the open watching it, you’re in big big danger. That’s a lot of info. Two players has caught a glimpse of his life flashing before his eyes. Two, make that three looking to defend this site. The conversion here is so important. And realistically, excluding that outlaw, the weaponry is so weak and so are some of the players. The danger should have dissipated, but Kayak is still alive. He shot both bullets though. The trade still going back and forth as it comes down to just Fu. He’s been great thus far, but he’s very far away. It’s a chance for Alfia to not only get the plant, but potentially even retrieve a weapon to play with. However, he doesn’t know how close his opponent currently is. [ __ ] is the last shot. Ice box has always been a hope for Alfier and he has just put a knife in the back of Heretics. That is unbelievable from Fnatic. The damage was done with the outlaw. A shot landed on Woo. He was so low. It makes it easy for that classic to close him out. But it’s Alpha’s 1v2. It’s the sheriff on angles up high and the high ground. A fight one and a nail driven deep into the coffin of Team Heretics. Seven to seven. But now the economy in Fnatic’s favor just as they win a pistol round. The early half still favors Fnatic. It’s got to be difficult. You fight your way back into the game. You get yourself that early start that just hasn’t been with you the entirety of the match. And the second you do it, Alpha shows up. Ryan’s though off to a a hot start in this second half. Three kills in the last round, even with the defeat, and he started this one off well. If they can find a response, it would be the best case, but Kayak is just not stopping in his run towards that trophy. Still though, there is damage, there is cost, there is players falling for Fnatic. This has been anything but clean. And the denial will at least slow things down. That wall slowly being broken. And Chronicle actually decides, you know what? This isn’t worth the risk. Post are landing. Another careful. Numbers back in their favor. 35 seconds though. They’re going to have to make a move. No flash left for Woot though to try to pop that through. 30 seconds left. Rian’s on 70. A classic in the hands of Woot. It’s certainly not going to be an easy connection. sending ahead for that defensive side. Toxin screen down. They’re out in the open. Yeah, it’s an easy finisher. Another round on the board for Fnatic. A decent attempt by Heretics, at least in that first engagement. Yeah, there was some moments in this round where it looked like they could get themselves back into it, but Fnatic ever resilient, ever diligent. able to turn things into their favor. Screen down moving himself up the board as well. Eight to seven. This is where the buyer comes back up already though. An operator in hand for this attacking side. Alfia prepared and Kayak watching for that aggression, watching for a player on the close angle of the orb. But he’s been a different gravy this map. 18 kills already and he doesn’t look like he’s stopping. Toxins going up. The bside hold needs to be strong from Benji or just conceded. That spam a little so close little close to taking him down. 9 HP left but still drawing breath. Still keeping that mid control, that orange control. For Team Heretics with the turret online, allowing more bodies to be committed to this side holding the tap as they’re clearly expecting that utility, but Hunter’s Fury doesn’t come from the side. It’s straight down the lane way. Free pick on the Chronicle. And that’s unfortunate. He wasn’t even the man with the spike. Boaster tried to fake it, hoping someone would swing and take a risk. And that would be where Chronicle can break back. Instead, he gets slammed by Hunter’s Fury. And well, this is the added bonus of all of that utility without that dualist. They’re able to delay for such a ridiculous amount of time. They’re able to delay for such a long time that the opposing side seemingly have given up on this round. 12 seconds left. I’d be surprised if they’re still trying to hight tail into the A side. No, they’re not. Fnatic, similarly to the first map, willing to take those early hits to keep their economy strong. But for Heretics, this is a big win. You keep all of your weaponry alive after a pretty shaky start to this half. And now level things up once again. Yeah, really the the outcome of that round could play well for either team. It just depends on how this next one goes. They’re both set up with opportunities. eight to eight as well. Neck and neck when you look back previously, it was the defensive sides where Heretics would struggle or more so up against the defensive side of Fnatic. It was what 102 last time. They built up their rounds on the attack. Their defense a little bit more stabilized, but they need round wins. They need to have a a 108 before I feel like they’ve got that safe little buffer to play with. And with the OP already ringing out and landing its mark onto Minioo, defensive side loses quite a lot of their reactionary utility of their space denying utility. A minute 10 on the clock and Fnatic can take this wherever they want. Yeah, and they’re patient. They’ve dodged the drone. Woot was getting ready to get aggressive in that position and instead they’re now gambling and they’re gambling wrong. At least based on the current positions of Fnatic, they have got a fairly open sight. But I think Heretics with how slow things have been, they’ve started to realize that maybe there’s still a chance they go this way. The drone being heard, the fragment well placed will at least stop Crashes from getting that additional information. But he’s going to claim himself a Hunter’s Fury. And now Woot looks to try and take the fight. Oh, Rian has already done most of the work. From up top on Rafters. 25 seconds left. They lose Mini Boo at the start of the round, but there’s no ground seized back by Fnatic. At this point, the same call as before. Save the OP through to the next. There’s no point throwing these weapons away. And Team Heretics, that is it. This is the game swinging back into their favor potentially. They’ll still be dangerous in the next. The hunter’s fury of crashes has been so impactful every time it’s used. With an off and a blade storm in play, Fnatic will be fighting for this coming one. And that’s why we’re getting a timeout called. Yeah. Is this the first one that they’ve actually called? I remember all the others have obviously been from Heretics and the impact didn’t really seem to be there up until this map. I believe they were 52 down and then started their comeback. A lot of it the catalyst has been whooped but in this round again stepping up to the plate. They have got themselves into a position where they’re sat on a map that expectations were fairly low. Not a bad map for them, but an excellent map for Fnatic. And even with losing that first pistol and losing the second round of this second half, they find themselves in the lead. It has taken a long time for the young men of Heretics to find their footing, but they have found it at the very last opportunity. Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d be very surprised if I am. This would be the first tactical timeout from Fnatic at all. The first moment that they’ve needed any form of guidance, the first moment they felt pressure from Team Heretics. And it’s a one round gap. This game has been dominant for Fnatic, but it looks like the torch has been passed over and Fnatic’s light shining so bright not long ago is slowly fading, but we know that that spark can to be kickstart very quickly. To be honest, that might be a confidence boost for Heretics to know that they finally managed to at least make them think about things that are happening. Mini boot going down. still not quite having the impact he desire. Looking for that opening off the back of the operator, but nothing claimed. And Fnatic immediately move towards the other side of the map, or at least the majority. Both are still lurking, keeping the space, but it’s been this duo of Rens and Woot that have caused them plenty of issues. Well, it seems like every time that Kayak’s playing that blade storm, he’s up against Woot with the null command and it’s going to be activated here and now on that a site sending them towards the other side of the map. They have to be so careful here with the OP in play already seen here. Mini Boo could pick them off. He swings in on the side. This is now dangerous cuz Jet is here, but the dash can’t even be used. Kayak’s already dealt with the TP out. He’s actually made it right back to the site. got free. A three versus five that they’re now left in. And Heretics have got all the control. All the players here up top. An attempted fight by Boster. Falls apart. And Heretics, they found their mice. They found their shots. And even though Alpha lands one, he’s got a whole bunch of players to take down. Double digits for Heretics. They’ve beaten the buy up of Fnatic. And great work from them. finally starting to show themselves in this series. It took a long, long time, but they are on the server. They are fighting. They are brawling and the pressure is finally onto the backs of Fnatic. This round is where we saw a lot from the brothers boot. That operator doing so much work, but the support that he had definitely helping out and a three round streak on this defensive side is still going to be met with a purchase. The operator back into Kayak’s hands. The lock down Hunter’s Fury. The ultimate still there. Now, Mini Boot looking to hold onto that mid control, but there might be a closer swing than he would be expecting. Never mind. It’s the rifle shown, but he’s quick enough to catch Alpha’s Peak. Deploying drone. No lock down anymore for Fnatic to defend their space after they’ve taken it or even to get them into that a site. Late lurk coming through from boaster. The turret will be watching it. There’s no space for free. The orb taken though gives them the res. They could commit a lot on this attack side. Res Alpha potentially commit that lock down and it could turn the tide of this aight push in their favor. Woot. Woot’s already walking though. They seem ready for this but he’s very likely to try something around. A flash timing here is going to be everything. He’s a second too late and he could lose his life. He gets it bang on and he might just find three. There goes a smoke that’s kind of made it awkward but he hits the guns anyway. W has taken over the round. His 202 kill of this map more boaster. There’s nowhere left to go. Spike down 20 seconds. Saving a gun is all he can really hope for, but he might just look to try and do some damage. the damage won’t be felt. There’s so many credits now for Heretics. On the upside, I think Boster’s about to get his Viper Pit online, so that’s always a positive. On the downside, he’s going to lose his weapon. And Team Heretics are going to continue that climb on ice box of all maps with five rounds so far in this series before we stepped into this map. This is not where I expected to see. The scariest face of heretics showing up on the server. Spike down finding strength in their scars. Woot activated. Shots landing. Plays being read. And now just two away from at least securing that fourth map from at least bringing us to Haven. But this is also where the series could flip. Haven was a map that we really rated Heretics all the way through the season. People had to start banning it versus them because they were an unstoppable force. They win this map and they get to go there and they would go there as favorites. Now, that didn’t matter when it came to Sunset. That was the one that we thought was theirs to lose. And while when they did, we thought the series was over. that they’ve come into ice box and with our storyline so based around Woot playing that dualist, playing that aggressive agent. Well, he’s been aggressive, but it’s been the KO. He’s been phenomenal throughout this map so far, but as we know, until Fnatic beat, especially on Icebox, it’s never over. all those ulties to play with. One was almost removed with mini boost swinging in. Luckily, the drone goes first. Poor Fnatic. So, that OP doesn’t get the opportunity, but now they know it’s here. Kia doesn’t look like they’ll decide to go back in a different direction using the Viper orb to cross through mid potentially splitting the B side but they don’t need to. They’ve just taken Mini Buu down holding the gap in the smoke was Chronicle. And a nice shot by Buu pulls it back. Yeah, they’re putting him under pressure. He’s trying to fall back behind the screen. Benji is watching and waiting and he will catch Alpha. The advantage that Fnatic had is quickly diminished. The Chronicle at top the wall is trying to find an opponent, but Heretics are being far more patient, but maybe their opponents expect. They’re taking damage on the way in. And the spam onto the wall is an attempt to make things interesting. W already quickly on the scene. Maybe expecting someone in the corner, but now spots Chronicle. He hasn’t, however, seen Crashies. This snake in the grass, this sneaky corner. That one was easy. The rest will be tougher. on his fury for the post plant. Gravy three as they go up the rope. Oster falls and Chronicle does too. But that pick it enables Crashies to use this to deny and he almost catches Boo on the rope. Shock dart through. Boo barely avoids it but time is ticking. He has to force Crashies into a fight and he will but he’s not going to win it. Crashies keeps Team Heretics away from map point as the climb continues now in Fnatic’s favor. Yeah, it’s been a streak of rounds that they needed to end, but Crashy’s calm and collected. The catch on to Woot was important. The dealing with Benji was the beginning of the end. And when it came to the clock, when it came to the clutch, acting, bro, that is where you feel the confidence in this man goes through the roof. Him and Kayak still at top that board. revealing it. Martha Heretics, nothing would be more cruel than coming close. Oh, Crashies doesn’t have his alt anymore. Mistakes were made. That’s what he was saying in the replay. Yeah, he he aled by accident after the round. Oh no. At 11 to 9. That’s going to let the Hunter not the Hunter Fury. That’s D. That’s El Hunter Fury. That’s going to let the lock down go in for Benji. That’s pretty disastrous for Fnatic. What the hell? Oh, we’ll see if see if it comes back to bite them. Flashbang. Flashbang going to be thrown over. It’s left so many blind is perfect for Boster swings back in response. Woot still on the site though. Has kept the advantage in Heretic’s favor. And there’s still two more players to deal with. Buying ahead of the curve. The first comes easy, but Alpha got two there. Will must have been standing directly behind him. And now it comes down to the battle of the killjoys. Benji Fishy seconds left has not had his best series, but this round is more important than maybe all of the rest combined. The time is on Benji’s side. He spotted him. Now they both got the info to play with, but Alpha still won’t be able to find a spot to plant. He’s looking for the pick and he finds it. Fnatic on their feet just one round behind. The difference between game over and one round between them is two one v1’s. Crashy’s winning a 1 v one versus Buu and then Alfia winning this final fight versus Benji Fishy. He had to take down three. But the fact is it was so unbelievably close to already being over in this map for Fnatic. But that is the problem with this team. That is the problem with this map. If you thought them being three behind was an issue. Oh, watch them when they’re 11 three down, eight rounds behind, it didn’t matter. And more for Heretics, this map has been a display of what they can do. A display of the skill that sits on the other side of the stage from Fnatic. But if this map slips away, I can tell you for free, it will hurt much more than the rest. It was a one versus three in the end for Alfier. That puts them one round behind. Missing that Hunter’s Fury could be a a key piece of the puzzle for Fnatic missing. Punish utility sent through to defend the orb. It’s a good job too with Brienne’s one away. But instead, the fight for Team Heretics is on B. Look at the deep control they’ve taken. They’ve already pushed all the way through B main. Knife goes down. Mini boo’s there. Rends as well. But the rotate after orb taken. It’s going to take a long, long time. And he won’t be close enough. Nor will it be worth committing. To try to get rid of that lock down pits go into play. This is everything. Both teams have two players that are currently stuck in the mud. And while Rian is going to try and act off of this using that Hunter’s Fury, he’s done damage. They’d love to have one on the other side, but that was fat fingered a couple of rounds ago. Into the pit they look to fight. Dealing with Boer is the goal, but it’s Kayak that already falls. Boaster hiding in the corner. Up top goes Whoop! But he’s actually going to win that. I thought he’d be dead to rights for sure, but they picked them all apart with ease. It is finally time to say that Heretics have a map point. I didn’t think we were going to end up here. I’m not sure that Heretics did either. After those first two maps, a quick grand final was on everybody’s mind, but your horses say Heretics, what a retake this was. How did he not die? So convincing. Clean in every single duel. The Hunter’s Fury helped. It tagged up some players. It took one out of the equation, but for Heretics now, two chances to close it out. And look at what Fnatic have to work with. Weaker weapons, only two Vandals, a res online at least. And sure, Heretics spent everything for that last round win, but it has set them up for victory. Ah, they should have maybe been there already on this map. The clutches have saved Fnatic for at least a couple of rounds, but the fact is OT is not out of the question. You can never doubt Fnatic when it gets to these late rounds, but for Heretics, it now feels like they’ve deserved themselves a map. The first two, they weren’t even close, but they have found that little bit extra that they needed. And while Mini Boo’s going to go for the first fight and this one’s a little bit shaky. Benji hasn’t managed to capitalize. And that might come back to bite them. Those weaker weapons survive a little bit longer. Flank up now from Woo. He throws a flash in as well just to draw their eye, but they still have an alarm bot behind. As long as Alfie stays alive, they can focus forward. Look ahead at this push coming through. The res online not easy to use here for Chronicle. He’s going to wait for someone to go down. Sheriff in hand for Boaster wrapping around in towards his orb. Reveal goes in, but most of the players are already dead and gone. It’s only Boo tapping, but he seemed to not be on it. There’s no way for him to get this done. And Chronicle with a three-piece brings it down to just one round. The distance being traveled here in regulation and overtime potentially on the cards. Just been a back and forth fight. The third map delivering more than the last two combined. But as said for Heretics, it would have been nice if they could have got it done a little bit earlier because now the heart starts to race. The blood pumping furiously and the pressure even though they’re in the lead is on their back. OT resets everything. Takes away all the hard work. The two poor starts that they had off a bonus or sorry, a force buy of sorts and a pistol loss. All of that is undone and it would come down to just who has the stones to take it over the line. The crusher will be wheeled out. And for Fnatic, we know their goal is to get it done in three. Well, it’s almost back within reach again. Benji Fishy holding down mid. He might have an early flank on them, but that turret’s still up. And on the other side of that smoke is Alfie. I’m not sure if he saw him. I don’t think so, but he’s waiting patiently for this play to come through. There it is. The hat scene by both players. The turret destroyed activating onto Crash. He’s dealt with after one with the res online. This is a big problem. They go pushing on B. Kayak’s there to catch them. Fnatic now in a 5v3 thanks to the res, thanks to the lurk from Kayak, but they’re still going into the A site. still walking into the heavy numbers of heretics. No ultimates to fall back on though. But time on their side, 12 seconds. It’s running out and it’s all Kayak. He’s too far away. They’ve done it. Team Heretics short of the most incredible clutch have taken it across the line. Map number three is not where this grand final ends. We are going to Haven. They look down. They look defeated. They looked like this series was already over. They went to the hometown of Fnatic and they took that map from them. Now Haven on the cards, a map where they will feel at home themselves. This series is going to fall at least as heretics live to fight another day. We’ll be back after the break. dead. My double Reach your impossible. Lenovo Legion. This land is calling. I’m at the Kadilla Esports Arena for the grand finals of Apex Legends and the doors are officially open. I’m Victoria joined by Lace, the reporter here at Apex Legends. Now, how excited is everyone for the grand finals? I mean, the passion is absolutely roaring. I know a couple of like the teams were here yesterday to sort of see the I guess our last chance and they are very eager to see if they can take on that sort of competition and the winner will be on this stage. You guys still have one of the coolest stage out here I have to say. Who are two of the teams we should be looking out for? Look, I’d be lying if I didn’t say Alliance. They did win last year and in their pool play they dominated. They had about 130 points. I think it was like something like 60 or points above the rest. And of course, team Falcons won their pool as well. But I do want to sort of chuck in another name for my teams to watch out for, which is uh Ninjas and Pajamas because they were a little bit lower in the leaderboard for us and then they kind of skyrocketed up. Um, so those three teams are going to dominate today. All right. And do you have a personal favorite you want to share with us? Look, Victoria, I’m from Apex South, so if I didn’t say a team from my region, I’d probably not be allowed back in. So, I’m going to go with Gen G. They did have it a little bit rough, but look, they are a team to watch out for. Most definitely. Very nice. And just to remind you guys, they have one of the coolest key crushers over here. You don’t want to miss it. Heat. Hey, Heat. Fnatic’s clean sweep falls a little bit short as Team Heretics, they were holding on. After 12 round wins, they’re able to get it over the line in epic fashion. A 3v5 clutch, and they push us to map number four. Two to one is the score for Fnatic, but Team Heretics looking like they have some life yet again. Shaking off the past maybe uh uh ghosts of the EMA Finals. Welcome back. This is the Esports World Cup presenting Valerant Diggon here alongside Baby Bay Kuka and Big Time. All right, Coo. We we we were feeling a little shaky after that second map. You know, it’s EMA, EMA, someone’s going to win, it’s going to lose. How’s it feel now? It’s on. It’s absolutely on. Uh I like the way that Team Heretics got their mental back, their minds back in the game. To me, it had to do a lot with the plans that they had on the attack. Do not get me wrong. We almost get to overtime, but even in those moments, even when the pressure was against them, they managed to stay calm, cool, and collected. I I can’t believe that Heretics bring this back after what was such a monstrous performance from Kayak. I mean, we were sitting here saying like this guy might be MVP of the final with the performance that he was doing. He was instying everybody. His movements were insane. They were immaculate, but it still wasn’t enough big time. Yeah, honestly, I just can only echo what you’re saying. It was just a fantastic job from heretics to mentally recover. Sunset should have been this map. This map, the score line was should have been Sunset. Not too late. Not too late. I I’m honestly I’m flabbergasted by the fact that they made this close. Fnatic need to now they’re the ones that had to course correct, right? Because this should have been their map heading towards Haven. Now it’s all up in the air. Heretics are feeling good. They’re feeling like, okay, we’re so back. Uh there there’s a worst prospect if you’re a Fnatic fan. Uh Wood is coming online. Oh, definitely coming online thinking about the next maps is thinking about him on that dualist. Uh yeah, you better pray that he doesn’t keep it up. Yeah, same with Buu. Remember, we saw him have five clean share of shots over at Lotus with the mall. Then they panned to the face. They did it in slow-mo. I mean, we didn’t do him any favors, but he said, “I don’t need any favors here in map number three in Icebox.” Still dropping 20. But woot 300 plus ACS looking so damn good here in Icebox. Yeah, it was just a ridiculous performance from him doing all these KO pop flashes. I mean, sometimes they weren’t even hitting and he was still getting kills through smokes. I mean, he just crept up on that scoreboard silently, but then at the end of the game is when he really, really shined. And you see all of these advantages going in the side of Fnatic, but the confidence, as I’m saying, is back for the side of Heretics. Yeah. I mean, it’s crazy when we think about it because Fnatic’s game plan in the veto, as Pal was saying before, was, “Oh, let’s let’s keep this man up. Let’s keep him away from jewelist.” And now he’s just gone, “No, I don’t actually care. I can just pop flash myself and go.” I he’s pseudo Phoenix at this point. I mean, he’s just did a fantastic job this map. really really great to be able to bounce back as well. I mean, mad respect to this guy. And this is where things get a little bit scary. Yeah, they’re they’re the stats. Look at the difference from map one, map two to this map. Two, and the first one is the last game. So, yeah, he got Yeah, more than he got in this map more than the other two combined. Remember, it was trending backwards. That game two loss that 13 to1 was the worst loss in EWC Valerant. And now now it’s going to be the worst loss in EWC Valent history in terms of maps and it would have been over. It was the best of three, but it’s not. And it’s great to see Team Heretics and Los Nño bounce back in this one. I mean, I’d like to say uh Dre, I think you could be a fraud with that three-0 fanatic prediction. That’s why I was shaking my head in the beginning. I was shaking my head. I can’t believe it. I said 3-2 heretics heading into this. So, it seems like one of us really knows what we’re talking about cuz I got some belief coming back to me now. Woot is online. The boys are awake and I’m feeling better than ever about my prediction. I I can actually see why you you would make that case because what I was going to get into before you where you showed the stats card was the way that Heretics won that. Yeah. 1311. It was it wasn’t pretty. It was gruely. But that is enough to build you enough confidence to like really make this go the distance. I mean, one thing we spoke about before is that, you know, sometimes you can bounce back quite quickly after those big match. You know, if it’s 13-2, 13-3, you’re able to bounce back quickly. We’ve said that before here on the desk, but when that happens kind of two games in a row in a best of five, then it becomes a lot a lot more difficult because the pressure is just ramped up even more. So, I mean, I feel like we can’t talk enough about how well Heretics have done to course correct and, you know, now look like they’re their former selves. They’re confident and the story of this uh tournament has been nothing if not turbulent. Yeah, definitely. Let’s take a look at one of the rounds that made Sam Matthews, owner of CEO, you just saw him on your screen react that way. It was round number four here for Heritage. Uh yeah, and we can see, you know, like the players from Fnatic already pushing just just getting a little bit maybe too to feisty uh to get this one on their belt and maybe just overstepping a little bit. We know that the B is not the best, but maybe just going too over their heads to to to get the rounds. Maybe Alpha pushing, just going too eager. And I think it’s very important to highlight the way that team Heretics needs to play with this composition. You do not have a dual list, but you need to be extra aggressive. You also know that you’re playing against Fnatic and they’re very they could they can be a very um heavy retake team. You know them very well. You know how they play this map and how they’re going to manage to get into this. You have to break that timing time and time again. It’s either with the opposition being extra aggressive or having rounds like that. All right, Dre, you get the map win. We start turning the page here. Let’s start role playing both sides here. One for Fnatic, one for Team Heretics. Which side do you want to take? Well, considering the fact that we’re going to Haven and it’s going to be a mirror comp matchup. And the way that Heretics came off of that, I think we could go the distance on this next B on this on this series. I mean, that’s a real change of tune from the Hey, man. Hey, man. I think we’re still going to win, bro. I think Fnatic are still taking this one home, but I could see a world in which heretics take away Haven. Mhm. I mean, I am with you because I think I the mirror match up, right? It’s the It’s the Yoru. It’s the ISO, right? But Fnatic were so infamous on this composition. They were very, very good. Excel with it. But now we’re going to have, you know, those jewelists come back in for Team Heretics. They have all that fire. They have all that momentum. I mean, I’m still I want to stick true to my guns, stay true with my original predictions. And now this game could for sure be heretics because after after losing sunset, I really wasn’t sure. But I think that last part might have just convinced me. We have to think of the uh the the keeping in mind that when we talked about these veto, we said it’s pretty one-sided for the first maps, but then the deeper that we go into the best of five, the more even the ground is. And it’s not only about the the dualist is it really is about what both of these teams have proved in this map back in the region. Um heretics already said we’re going to teach them how this comp is used and they did. As we’re saying, Woods is coming back online. We need Alpha to step up to him. He was doing it at the end of that last map. He almost, you know, helps him to get to overtime. So, I hope that’s what Alpha has in his mind right now. And speaking of Woot, what an impactful first half to close it out and make it 66, right? He got an ace on the KO if I’m not mistaken. And it was ridiculous. I mean, he was pretty much aimbotting everybody in the server. And I think that that round was so important to make it go into that 1311 win because without that all of a sudden going into the next half maybe Fnatic have a little bit more in the tank, maybe a little bit more confidence to close that map out. Yeah. And quite frankly, like I’m just excited that this happened in a way where like it was a grind, right? And I think if it was an easy like, oh, we return a 13 to1 back at you, it doesn’t quite get to the level of grit that’s needed because last time that Team Heretics played Fnatic in a grand finals, it was a 3-0, but they never got to the championship rounds, right? The the the maps where it wouldn’t exist in a best of three. Now they’re getting to go there on a on a on a high of grinding one out against one of the best teams in the world here big time. Yeah, I mean I think Fnatic have been such a ghost for Team Heretics in the past. Such a spectre haunting over them of really not feeling like they’re able to escape. But now this is just that first glimmer. This is, you know, the clouds are parting. There’s a beam of sunshine there coming in for Team Heretics. So they got to grasp it, have a have a quick sunbathe. Come on, soak it all up, guys. You can get back on this now. Many times we speak about the momentum and how important it is for Heretics. We were seeing it also in the reactions how Benji even though he wasn’t having and he’s definitely not having the best of of tournaments. He was cheering everybody up, keeping up that that performance, helping keeping up the performance for the rest of his teammates. Fnatic on the other side. Um yes, we saw also some crazy reactions. The standing up a little bit cursed at at times, but also think about it. You said for Heretics it’s been a grind. They’ve always had their backs against the wall and this time we knew it was going to be no different. On the other side, you have a Fnatic that has just lost their second map this entire tournament. So, I I now that we’ve gotten this far into map four, I really really want to get into the number five because I feel like ascent between these two teams could be outrageous. Yeah. And then if we did get onto that ascent, you know, you’d have that unique composition that Fnatic have been mastering, right? Alfie on that chamber has been a monster on that map. But yeah, double do this for Heretics. Yes, it it would be a match up that I I actually do want to see now that it’s not a 3 0. Nice little uh cheer there for team Heritage as they try to keep the vibes going. We know how important is to them. We will name a tournament Sony MVP later on. Who is your leading candidate here big time? Oh, I mean I think it does ultimately depend on who closes out this match, but you know, if it’s Fnatic, I’m leaning towards Chronicle. I’m leaning towards Kayak. I think they both had fantastic tournaments. Woot now showing up in a major way and he’s been consistent all the way through the tournament too. Yeah. Then you also got to think about Buu on that side of heretics as well, right Bea? Yeah. I mean, I would agree, but I I side with big time on on this one. Um, if we look at the overall of the tournament, Chronicle has been absolutely insane, but so has Kayak. To me, also the entire of the year has been amazing for Kayak. He is literally he could have made any excuse to not have the performance that he has had internationally, regionally, and he never made that excuse. He always performed and the fact that he’s also doing it in the final is very surprising. Before we head back to stage, Baby Bay, who is your fanatic MVP? I I think I’m going to have to go with Kayak with how he’s been playing in this final so far. I think he’s going to be surpassing Chronicle in terms of that leaderboard that we were talking about because it was basically them two at the top and then Woot is like the runner up from side of her. So, I think if Kayak can keep up the pace because he’s going to be on that duel list getting a lot of those first engagements, he might take the throne from Chronicle, which is so funny because they’re on the same team. And again, for the STC esports World Cup club championship points, it’s more important for Fnatic here. They have went over their total from last year with this team here in the Grand Finals and their Apex team in the finals. But with a victory here, they would double their points and be in good good position for all of the esports World Cup. But will they be able to do it? Fnatic Heretics map number four. Let’s get to it. Thank you once again, Deon. We have a series on our hands. We were worried about the 3 0. Nobody likes a 3 0 grand final. We’ve got at least one more to go. This one, the pick of Heretics. And on their side, how poetic if they manage to win this. The composition they run. All that there is about it comes from the one great on the opposite side of the stage. They’ve taken Fnatic’s comp and ran with it over the last few months, Tom. For Fnatic, they went away from this composition. They abandoned it. Let’s see if it comes back to haunt them just like Fnatic did in those first two maps for Heretics. Oh, you can already see the changes are massive from the side of Fnatic bringing in that chamber. Alfier’s flare on that agent has been super impressive. If we get to the next map of Ascent, we’re going to see something fairly similar in tow. They brought in the Astra as well, which I I think a point when Astra was very popular, boaster was one of the best of the best. I’d also say to be fair, the Bu was as well. Mhm. But this is going to be a very different look. Vice has not become a massively popular pick on Haven. I think we’ve still seen a lot of that cipher, Killjoy, those have been the popular picks. So, anything Chronicle does, I’m going to enjoy, but I’m looking forward to seeing what ideas he has. But the main thing we’re going to talk about is the comp on the other side. Woot helped win them that last map. He was fantastic. is ace to close the half. Unbelievable. And he is the man that we’re now going to look to again. I’m bringing in that ISO. If you’re not fragging, you’re not bringing value. That is your goal. You need to be popping heads, running around, taking those 1 v ones, and winning them. And that’s exactly what he does most of the time. If we were coming in before yesterday’s game, I’ i’d be in the like 70% tile that they’re going to win this map. But they lost to Genji. They showed that they can bleed. It ensured Genji are one of the best Haven teams in the world, but you still came in and had high hopes for heretics, but they struggled. Now they have no time left to struggle. And after Sunset, there has been proven to be vulnerabilities. But Icebox gave us that little bit of hope, that belief that this squad of five players who have now played in five finals and won zero trophies can actually turn this into a series for Fnatic. They win it here. It is done. They crush their opponent’s key. They are immortalized in the totem. Two very different outlooks, but both desiring this map. It seemed like fate had chosen a side after the first two maps. But now it seems to have swept swapped over to the others. Team Heretics already opening up with a double and it’s Woot to claim first blood here on Haven. A solid start as Fnatic no doubt especially putting Alfie on that chamber. You’re coming in and you’re saying okay play comfort. You had some good rounds. The crowd was screaming your name and this is an agent that could let him run away with the game. That’s a shy start. Crashy’s picking back too though. He’s given them a chance but he is boxed in. He’s also but it doesn’t seem to matter. The low HP is only making him stronger. I have the spike and after the double opener, he’s going on a wraparound but so is Minioo. Timing here will end up being everything. And Boa has got the right idea and he’s won the fight. A three versus five now diminished to just Boo remaining. And he’s soon going to realize at least where one of these players is. But he does not know where Crashy stands. Planted. And now they’ve got everything to work with. Garage control, long control. The only difference here, I suppose, no star down from boaster. I don’t know if one’s regenerating as we speak, but there was one pulled back on B. Going down. Maybe they won’t even need it. Blue’s already tagged heavy. The tap comes in. There’s a reveal to fire straight into that smoke. No need to fight, but Crashies is hungry. His taste for blood not quite quenched. And a fourpiece again in the pistol rounds. This time it is Fnatic finding the dub. Yeah, that said that pretty much has been the case in the majority. Only a singular pistol round going the other way. And this one probably should have been the second, but for this man having a worldy of a round boxed in the corner, stuck in the back of sight, position known, and somehow he lives to tell the tale. the Heretics. That’s going to be a bitter loss. Need that back. Momentum with this composition is definitely important. We’ve seen them dominate sides, but we’ve mentioned it plenty of times. They were on the other side of the pistol victories when it came to their semifinal win. That works. And now when they’re fighting for a trophy, the only time they won the pistol, they won. They lost the second round. And we talk about Viper as a controller who bleeds into that sentinel role. And I think for Chamber, you can say the opposite. A Sentinel who bleeds into the duelist for Alpha. My expectation high for him here on this map. I look to the other side. Woot has to deliver. has to be a strong statement here on this map. The same for Mini Boom or this round. They shouldn’t have much to say, especially the gamble early not paying off the seaside open, the plant down. Boaster. Okay, he’s dealt with. He’s one of the players who only has a pistol. The rest, that’s where the real brawn of this round sits. A lot of spams going down. They’ll even take mini. But at this point, they know that spike isn’t being diffused as that smoke fades. This is the benefit of having so many of those rifles to play with. They couldn’t see the spike wasn’t being stuck, but they could certainly suspect it two to zero. Relatively clean for Fnatic. Yeah, they keep all the weapons. They’re even happy to trade out the Marshall, but ultimately for Crashy’s, the goal was to gain orbs, and that’s exactly what he did. No real cost to be endured in this one. And start from Fnatic is one I’m sure they’ll be very happy with. Oh, there you go. But this is where things get interesting. A purchase the first four heretics. We know that their composition revolves around aggression, but for now it’s more of a stalemate. And in fact, this Kayak that’s looking to take space. Great economy management as well from Fnatic early on. They basically have a full buy already and it stands to them in this early engagement. Your quasi duelist and the man himself tagged down to 16, but Kayak still draws breath. The aight taken as a result. The plant soon to come in. Like I said, Fnatic, you know, this is their bonus, if you want to call it that, but it still has so much hope and promise. There’s a gate crash in, but for Minioo to take this, that flash will need to be perfect. I think it will just be faked, and then they’ll go swinging on in the bow in hand. It’s giving info, but it’s not needed. 16 health in that corner. He stays aggressive, and it works wonders for Fnatic. They’re very comfortable in that post spawn. This didn’t look like a bonus round whatsoever. The initial fights go their way. And from then onwards, it is comfortable. And this man, his name is slowly being etched into that MVP spot. As said at the beginning of the day, it was almost set in stone that if Fnatic won, Chronicle would be the MVP. And let’s not pretend like he’s had a bad performance, but Kayak has had an incredible one. crashes as well. And once again, they’re going to start off with a strong start. Heretics have been slow and then the first two maps that was enough to kill them off. In the last they fought tooth to nail for the victory. It seems like this map. It’s going to have to be the same. There’s still promise in these kind of rounds. I mean, nothing is granted, but they would need something to go their way early. And the problem is the info that went their way pulls them towards this a site. Fnatic still have a wide net spread on this round, but they’re giving it up. The mid control being conceded. Boaster moving towards C. I mean, he’s got an outlaw. He’s looking for a pick, someone to swing, setting up smokes as we speak, though. This will be a committ at least to start with. And Heretics have read it. Their rotation is perfect. Four players ready and waiting as their opponents knock on the door. Kick down the gates and then turn and flee. They’ve baited the rotation. Look at the space. If Boster didn’t fill this in, if he didn’t connect the dots, they would have ran into an ambush. And instead, everything is there for Fnatic to play with on this side of the map. Yeah, he’s even spotted the kill trip in the corner and then just pinged it. Didn’t want to break it because that would give the game away. That would tell Heretics that he was here. Instead, he points it out to his teammates and goes looking for the fight. A huge advantage already picked up. And while Alfie’s position, it’s only going to get one, but well, it’s more like one in a bit. Buu is on his last legs. Great shot. And they’re going to need Woot to hit god mode to win this round. Crashes is being nuts. He denied the drone on the way through. Woot though pops down the wall. That could get us to at least halfway on the diffuse. But in goes Hunter’s Fury. A big difference now as Crashies is going to time. Boo left alive. And it doesn’t matter. Live or die. The round has gone to Heretics. They gambled incorrectly and still walk out with the victory. I was almost certain he’d get it to half and let go. He was the man with the rifle, but clearly just the sense from this superstar that maybe, just maybe, I could tank myself an extra hit. And that was all it was, just having that additional little bit to get him through the round. A victory that never should have been. destabilizing. And for Heretics, an extra little kickstart, a turbo boost for what is their defensive side. And all the dominoes fell in their favor. Taking down Alpha, retrieving the weapon. That was Woot. Then he swings wide, catches Boaster getting a little bit too aggressive. That removes the gravitational well. It could have stopped the diffuse. It could have bought them more time, denied that wall from W having any impact. What? He’s just shot to through the smoke and taken down Kayak. An unbelievable early pick in a round where credits are invested on the other side and they’re on the line for Team Heretics after losing so many players in the previous. That’s such a valuable pick. Yeah, with Dimensional Drift now available. That would have been wonderful, especially in tandem. Oh, careful. Oh, Brian’s almost sacrificed to Alfia in the walk up. There’s a player in the corner. The Chronicle has to be careful of. He’s not checking. He’s here in the steps. The shield probably would have saved him anyway. And now the walk up from Boaster with the spike. He doesn’t have any support just yet. They’re only just making their rotation in. Alfia in a good position to try and get something done. He’s looking for the players with the Hunter Fury, but it’s too little too late. who has already closed out this round and even saving that operator. Oh, he should have been dead already. I don’t know how he’s lived that long, but Heretics won’t care. It’s a flawless round after a miracle round. And now they are getting closer to Fnatic once again. That looked like it could have been a start that Fnatic run away with. A four to zero beginning and who knows where it goes from there with the economy looking good and after as you said the miracle round the big performance by Woot they’re able to fight their way back in in similar fashion on that retake of sight unbelievable opening though the fact that Minioo is able to creep up fire a shot through the smoke and eliminate what has been the strongest individual for Fnatic so far it holds so much value. The OP shot not landing here though. And look at Kayak in another dimension, but he will be conceding that fight. What they were hoping for for the last round that he would lead the charge, but was picked off already though. Fnatic not looking like they’re down and out just yet. Two quick picks. The dimensional drift will be used on the other side. Boo, a little bit of redemption. They already know where two of these players are trying to block the bullets, but it hasn’t worked out. And bear in mind, Mini Boot is left on just 10 HP. An impossible clutch. And wo, it won’t become probable. Chronicle will make sure that lead is not going anywhere just yet. The claws are out on both sides. Heretics have found themselves. They took a while to warm up to shake off those grand final nerves. They know that their story not ready yet has so often seemed written when it comes to this stage of the tournament. perhaps being reminded of that if Fnatic find a few more four-2 but thanks to them winning a low by round surviving with so many in the previous the credits are still there but they are now on the edge and it’s a long way down after the climb back on Icebox if the economy slips up here and Fnatic get that early lead you think about the value on defense from someone like Alfier on in that chamber. He’s going to be a nightmare to deal with. They need as much of a buffer here as they can possibly get. It’s safe to say that in normal circumstances, Heretics attack side is normally phenomenal. Like they are normally a squad that are so comfortable, but it is something new. It’s something different and it’s something aggressive that Fnatic are pulling out. So, I agree. as much of a buffer as they can so they at least have opportunities to figure out Fnatic second half in the last map. I think it was 52 down. They took a pause and came out with a pretty decent half. You want to fight it? Fnatic though, they’re trying to sell a ruse. They’ve pulled off an immediate dimensional drift which gives them so much space. The cam though is going to be integral and actually Benji goes ahead and so does Mini Boo. Kayak grabbing another though. Now this is now spiraled out of control. Time to jump. Heretics down by one just moments ago. They held the advantage and now they’re being picked apart. Now you see the value of that early pick by Minibu. He deleted Kayak and they had to fall back on other individuals. But when this man is still drawing breath, you’re soon to run out of yours. Stuck on two rounds. Heretics shut down by the a familiar face on the other side of the stage. And the thing that Heretics thrived with going into last year was picking up young blood. They went into the tier 2, raided it, and brought in superstars. Woot was only just old enough to play when he joined the team. Halfway through the year, Benji Fishy went through the grind to get there. Fnatic this year decided, you know what? I want a piece of that. Picked up Kayak. And why? It’s looking like they’re ready to make history with him as at minimum the grand final MVP. Crash is definitely close behind, but this man has been on a tear. Well, unfortunately for Heretics, that is the end of their purchases, at least for now. But what I will say is Woot’s hero rifle has saved them more times than I’d care to admit. Not only that, Mini Boot on a Marshall we’ve seen before. Great timing. And Woot’s gotten out. Activates his shield just in case those spams through the wall could catch him. It’s just one bullet without that. It will soon be fading. The rest of the squad not so well equipped for these battles. Alier. Oh, he’s gone right into Minioo. A shot from the Sheriff that takes him down easily and gives it off into their opponent’s hands. Team Heretics, they’re now favored in this round. 30 seconds. Woots already. Given his rifle over happy to play the sacrificial land, but they have heard those rotations over into the Bite. It gives them space as they will be able to get themselves into a post plant. And this is where poster I think you could see was reclaiming one of those orbs. A chance to have that post plant set up and buy themselves extra time. And Woot, as you said, he’s going to be that sacrificial lamb. He knows he’s got to go down first, get them around those initial corners. Rian and Vu, they’ve done what was needed to trade out those picks. Kayak’s down and it’s all on Boer. He’s found his first. Here’s the steps. Knows they’re both there. Five on his side. Bolster. An unbelievable clutch. He may not always top the board. He may not always be the man to lead the way. But you put this man in a clutch situation. One that could change the course of a grand final. One that could change the course of any match. And he will deliver. And that might just be one of the moments that heretics are going to live to forget. He chose his moment to perfection. You want to play? Let’s play. And there’s one around that could have been the lifeline. Boo in trouble already stunned up and an aggressive position hasn’t worked out for Mini Boo either. This leaves Ren’s out on an island and while that island is going to be discovered. Oh, Rens, he’s in trouble. The shorty to the back trades out Chronicle. They don’t even lose their flank protection thanks to having an Alpha air in here. So again, all eyes focused forward. The drawn goes through. Heretics are kept back. And look at the credits. Economy so desperately low, but even in the face of a 72 lead to Fnatic. They will be conceding this round. The 2v4 not looking worth it. It’s not like they can dent Fnatic’s economy that much. They would only do more damage to their chances. Putting a few more rounds up before this half is over. Yeah, the save is a must. We’ve mentioned it already, the value of a single rifle in the hands of Woot. came close, but for the boaster clutch in the previous round, the previous map seeming more like a blip than any change of fate or change of direction for this grand final as Fnatic have a date with Destiny. They were the first team to have themselves backto back internationals. They were a team that were feared for the entirety of 2023. 2024 didn’t quite go to plan, at least on the international stage. In 2025, they had to change the way that they were going. Bringing in a player, but more importantly, I think changing the coaching staff in the backlines who ever since joining have made this team look even more terrifying than it was before. For Heretics, this is their last check-in. You can tell how poorly this first half has been going with the fact that Neil alongside Weber have felt the need to use this pause again, but they know that that attack side especially, this squad thrives there. They just need to give themselves a chance. You can see it in all of their faces. Even just that snippet of Crashy’s there at the end. Chronicle losing his mind as Boaster hit that 1v3 that I mean they were already charting their course for victory. But this one truly set them along the way. 7-2. A five round gap now between these squads and Heretics putting a decent investment into this. Woo does well. That’s ult online but he can’t quite use it from this position or it’ll only be a one and done at best. He’ll get out though. And now that’s a real he won’t. It’s Kayak again. This guy is absurd. That’s the round 4v2. It crumbles to dust just like that. Yeah, we mentioned the hero that Woot can be. But he has been nothing but a sidekick to the superstar that is Kayak. Anything you can do, he can do better. And for Benji and Buu here, it comes down to what what can you even achieve in this round? You go for it, maybe you lose a weapon. You don’t go for it, maybe you lose the match. Benji Le is going to try and make things costly. Buu of course has nothing to lose. He now at least finds himself a guardian, but he’ll be able to buy in the next round anyway. And while caught with a smoke in hand, this is looking comfortable once again for the side of Fnatic. The work has been done. The prep has been heavy. And with an already dominant looking first half, it’s his own flash that sets him up as well. He’ll write the theme tune, sing the theme tune, and perform a dance to go with it. That is just 16 and four. An unthinkable talent. My eyes are done on the side of Fnatic. They found the opening. Man, I thought Woo was out. I thought he’d made it. And a flash jump peak through two quick picks. an OP follow up and the round is done. He’s just bailing them out of impossible situations. And then if they’re not in on the back foot like that, he’s the one to put the right foot forward. Six rounds in it. A full buy for Heretics. They have been crushed by Kayak in so many of these battles. And of course, even with a player hiding, it’s the same again. Rian has to cancel the old cuz guess who’s around the corner. It’s Kayak once more. The death dealer from Fnatic and Heretics in a worse position than the round before. But they’re running out of rounds. One enemy remaining. Oh, the main thing that I’m running out of is questions. At the beginning of the year, the question was, can he replace Durka? After that, it was can he do it when it matters most? The only question that’s left is can he be stopped? Because right now the answer is a resounding no. Dodges both pulses and drops the hunter. He’s got plot armor. That’s what we’re seeing at this point. He’s the hero that well the movie would be over if he died 18 and4 in his rookie season in a grand final. Woot is going to try Woot is going to try and fight the menace but instead oh he eventually goes down. He took the decoy the steel garden will take the guns away though. Chronicle wary of the corners. You’ve beaten the beast, but can you take down the rest? Nice angle by Vu. Oh, it’s Oh no, they already dropped one. He had the jump on them. He needed more from that position. The flank watch there, but Alpha gets dropped. And G Oh, it’s Boer to fire right back after eating a full course of lead. He’s left on 20 HP. It should be an easy conversion. And hell, Woot has been here for this team every step of the way. The last round of the half, a one versus one. But you think back to this seasite to Boster’s clutch. He took down three. The odds were against him then, but he needs to move fast. I think he was spotted, but that wall gives him an out. Oh, he does. And I think he’s made the realization. Whoop can run forward. And now as the cosmic divide fades, Boaster sells a ruse, sells a Thor, but Woop will not fall for it. He will keep them alive. And as a curse faces off against Heretic, that second place curse that has held on to them for Yonks. Now the 93 is all they have on their side. We’ll be back after the break. Keep on running. If I said that this every touch could last forever with you if I said this is Keep on running. Heat. Heat. We know the city. be the final half of the EWC Grand Final as Heretics once more glance at the crusher with dismay. Their key could be on the way. Fnatic have pulled out an incredible half, but more so Kayak has 18 and five. Whether he opens the round or pulls them right back into them, he has been leading the charge for this squad. separated now by six rounds and they’ve won almost every pistol so far. This was the map that standing ahead. Heretics were able to take away from Fnatic. It was the map that in the last best of five, but Fnatic had a couple of bands. They took this one from them. Didn’t allow them to play it. Feared Heretics on it. Now they sit firmly in the driver’s seat. And Heretics need to prove why this map, this attack side has always been something to fear. Nice start. Alpha air down. We know that the attack side can be strong. But if this pistol goes the other way, it will have to be something to behold. Heretics have lost control of their flank. Short at least still theirs. So long and heaven the dangers with that deep hold over defender spawn itself. They’ll concede it for now assuming there’ll be utility assuming that most of the players are coming from elsewhere and they’re very correct. Both are caught short secured taken as Crashy’s corpse falls down below. It’s only two left. Chronicle and Kayak and they will be dealt with. A much needed pistol round for Team Heretics. It’s a lifeline. That’s what it is. It’s a lifeline. They will be able to at least have an opportunity to fight on this attack side. It’s been favored for them. It’s one where they thrive. And with the conversion in tow, it gives them an opportunity. As mentioned though, it’s a very different look from beating Fnatic with a a composition that you stole from them and beating them on something new. A team known for innovation. Time to jump. Team known as one of the best. Well, in this round, not a lot to play with, but a Marshall in Kayak’s hands somehow still seems dangerous. Well, thankfully that danger is put to bed immediately. And the weapon for now at least not retrievable. Solid followup by Minibu as well as now we go five versus three. Classics across the board from Fnatic after that previous map where Heretics at times looked polished. They’ve come into this one at least half number one tarnished as can be. But perhaps the dead who yet live can find their way back out of the grave that they have one foot in. This round is necessary. It can’t even be close. And it shouldn’t be either. They’ve got the info. That’s about all Fnatic really have in their favor in this round. Weaponry is in the bin. Of course, you got the head hunter, but only two bullets within it. Heretics are being incredibly careful. Boster already being spotted as well. And so has Alfie. All danger is avoided as Heretics keep that one squeaky clean. Once the buys come out, this is where the tides could turn, but for Heretics, they have to hope that’s not the case. Flawless. They’re looking for plain sailing from this point forward. 9 to5. We’ve seen many teams make their way back into a game like this, but my worry rests with a man like Alfier. He’s 5 and eight right now. The attack side was not kind to him, but it was defense that I was waiting for him to show his true face, his true strength already. That shock dart that’s going to eliminate the double tap. No second lease of life for Woot. That means that that first shot becomes ever more deadly. They’ve got a pretty good bonus round in here. The Marshall, the only major weakness. Everything else is solid. And I I think Heretics knew that they needed to put a hefty amount into this round. You can’t really afford to allow Fnatic to get to double digits and you be on half. Even still though, they’ve tried to feel out the map, but really not found anything for it. The D won’t clear a thing with 45 seconds left. Seems like the B site might be their current option, but with still two players heading towards A, it seems like they’re going to try and sell a ruse. 30 seconds left. Yeah, it’s working. Decoy goes through. Flash in, I think, for Mini Boo. And he bails immediately. The B site wide open and Chronicle taken down. I think that was through the smoke. Maybe just as it bloomed, they caught a glimpse of Chronicle with 10 seconds. The plant undeniable the side of Fnatic a four versus five retake. They’ve lost garage control. This whole left side of the map is now a danger zone. But from what we can see, Heretics don’t have a ton of control. Once that trip is broken, the pressure is very much on Buu. Yeah, he’s does have the backline being watched by Woot. They’re trying to play this one together, but instead have opted to reposition back to the rest of the team. And that time is now ticking quite far for a squad that hasn’t got anywhere near the site. Woot is already going to add another to the death toll with Minioo alongside. That is a clean bonus round coming out from Heretics. It needed to be a big boost coming into this second half and that’s exactly what they found. an injection of rounds and we’ve seen them in this position before. I think that might be for for Kayak probably. I think I know who that’s targeted at. One enemy remaining. He’s at least slowed down a little bit here, but I don’t know quite how long that is going to last. The thing is heroes on the other side stepping up and the win condition of boot playing on that ISO. He’s here for the team at least for now. Great connection from Alfier on the defense. As I said, this is where that value can be brought. Posting on an angle, keeping information, and instantly getting out. And of course, economically, winning your bonus like that sent the credits through the roof. Even damage in this round won’t hurt heretics too much, but it’s more so just the nerves of losing that opening pick. It’s always going to make things just that little bit more worrying. And they’re trying to figure out the map. The problem is is they don’t really want to leave their group. So they put Buu as a sort of lurker in case there’s some C aggression and now look to rotate back in that direction. The problem though is that Fnatic are starting to realize, okay, we haven’t seen anything in a while. They’re reaggressing with the drone. The Bucky in position. This could be everything. 30 seconds left on the clock and they’re only just looking to put the pressure on. The Bucky still there and Chronicles found another. It’s looking like it could just fall apart here, but Boon’s trying to save them. has the spike down and now re-enters all the remains. 20 seconds and they know where he is. They know exactly where he is, but they’re not fighting him. They’re not looking towards him. They’re going to the only sight he can face off against. And they are waiting patiently for him to try and bl the spike. Fnatic are going to win themselves a Thrifty. And a lot of that came down to Chronicle. Well, he has been a man in discussions for the MVP. Some of the performances that he has put up throughout this tournament he won’t be forgetting for a long time to come. Teed them up for victory. It’s the 21-8 Kayak to strike the final blow. And that one cuts deep for Heretics. Nine to seven as it would have been. Decent bit of economy as well as it should have been and instead their opponents fighting right back in a gap of four and three away from lifting the trophy. Crashies has already been irritating consistently working to try and remove that shield with shot darts already. It is going to be boaster to be claimed. A chance to remove the smokes and W’s not missing that shot. Contract complete. They might think the side slider defended, but there’s still two players here. There were just a second ago. Blink and you miss it. Woot and Buu have deleted the duo on that side and left two to potentially just go for the save. Chronicle and Alpha, one of which is an operator. Not something you’re going to want to risk on a round like this. And indeed, it it doesn’t look like they’re too keen to go swinging in. I I really like the the pace change from Heretics. The last round is one where you run out of time. You That That’s basically what it came down to. You had to gamble towards the end because you thought maybe there’d be more space or you could get an easy trade and you walked into a Bucky. You got a nasty surprise and it went wrong. So, they go back to basics. quick push, use the alt, clear out the smoke and stuns and everything that comes with Bose’s utility, and then you execute in that direction. No complexity, no changes mid round, no back and forth, just keep it simple, keep it basic and they win it comfortably. And off the back of that, Fnatic are going to call a pause. Okay, once you didn’t have the weapons, that could have been a less worrying sign, but that was clean. Yeah, makes it look like that previous win was a bit of a flash in the pan. The timeout, the course correct before this gets out of control. Your opponents closing the distance, looking like these are rounds that they can repeat. Even just giving the players a moment, take those deep breaths. This is a moment for Fnatic to show us the face that they did on map one and two. Hell, if we go to five, this is anyone’s game. Heretics, they’re looking like a completely different squad to the team we saw mount that stage just a few hours ago. Oh, for sure. And Matt 2 feels like a lifetime away. Maybe minutes, but it was a different squad and a reverse sweep. It seemed impossible when they went two down, but somehow They’ve got me questioning whether or not they can do it to Fnatic after what was a a dominant first half. They’re proving once again that although they may be youthful, they still have some resilience left. Of course, Fnatic are still in the lead. The pause taken early and once again it seems like they wanted to be pacey but the thorns is going to slow them down. Nice shot. Crashes is being deleted and left Alfie all alone on that a long angle holding with the OP in hand. Looks like Heretics trap placement rotate out of middle towards a a main. They’re going to challenge him. Has his TP fall right back to. And that’s exactly what Alfie was looking for. And this changes things a little. They maybe thought they’d have that space for free. Kayak. He knows who’s coming on the other side. He’s going to try and fall into the close corner. They’ve already put the paranoia through. He’s waiting, but he’s dealt with. And on the other side, it’s again another ultimate that does damage. The Hunter Fury puts them two players up. The pause as of right now seemingly not making a difference as again a more direct approach from the side of Heretics leaves Fnatic in a spot where they kind of have to save. Well, especially with the ALP as well. If Alpha was maybe one orb closer, you get your kill and your death, you’re good to go for the next anyways. You look to Crashies, you look to Boster, they don’t have the credits, can’t fall back into those rifle buys. And so, yeah, it’s the right call, but it’s got to be crushing to have the round set up like this. Crashy’s just taken out of play immediately. No trade. It takes a while and eventually Alpha gets one, falls back and the sight crumbles so quickly off a few pieces of utility. The team heretics two round gap and this map that at halftime was looking like it was close to over like a pistol round could bury them deep. It’s now very much back up for grabs and a lot of that comes down to the attack side. You talked about it in that first half. We know heretics are reliable there, but you never know when a new comp comes out on the other side. Alfier, if he’s on fire on the defense, if Kayak can keep that spark lit, well then I’m not sure the side matters. Yeah, but it didn’t on Sunset. It absolutely didn’t. But here it’s a different story alto together. No, they they’ve been great. Woot 16 and 10. I think if you told me in the first half that he’d only be six kills away from Kayak, I’d have called you crazy. But he has started that road to recovery. A player that when they played in that grand final versus Genji was by many considered at that moment the best player in the world that it wasn’t that far after his debut. That’s the absurd thing about it. It’s been said, but that some in traditional sports burst onto the scene. And that’s exactly what happened with Woot, but he’s still showing that there is a lot left in the tank. Ascent, we’ve mentioned it. That’s where you head into another realm of double jewelist. Yoru on either side and then a chamber jet. A lot of similarities to what we’re seeing on this map and what will feel like it comes down to the individuals less so the strategy and for Fnatic they started this series off in such dominant fashion. The first two maps made it feel like the third was irrelevant. They went into ice box and somehow that’s where Heretics, found some footing. They’d invested in some ice shoes, got some grip, and now on Haven after a 93 deficit, a pistol, a necessity, a bonus that came their way, the difference is down to two. Well, our technical pause, a short reprieve for both teams. Tower, their breath stabilized. And now, let’s see if Heritics can stabilize those rounds again. They will be looking for this early fight on Along. Same old recon being destroyed. Alpha though, he was suppressed. He couldn’t get out of there. Couldn’t click his fingers and bail out to the A side. Back to the safety of his teammates. That’s a great trade early on for team Heretics. A weakness in play for Boster and Crashies. An old for Kayak, but he doesn’t need to use it just yet. They know there’s players here. Good flash. No follow-up pick. Fnatic really want that man advantage to work with. Another decoy sent out alongside that reveal using their utility, but Heretics are avoiding giving anything away. Also, look at Boa. He’s got so much information already, but the problem is there’s been the teleport to the other side of the map. Now, of course, Buu is not willing to risk this with the spike, so he can’t get them into the after plant. And now the dimensional drift going to be used to try and figure out where these players are actually going. He’ll spot them sending it towards C. And that means that the rest of the team can start to gamble on that direction. The problem that they have is that Boo’s already here. And unfortunately for Boa, he does not have the weapon to fight them on this cross. That smoke grab. Well, it’s allowed him to get a little bit closer though. He’s going to draw the eye. Trying to let Crashies follow up with the kill. It’s a little bit messy and Mini Boo’s already wrapped around. Bu just bought time. Trust in his teammates and it’s left into the hands of Kayak. If he wins this one, it will be another one to add to the books, but it’s Mini Boo, the duelist on the other side to take him out. huge round. Even though there was a lot of weaknesses for Fnatic in that one, there was still moments of danger, opportunities that Heretics had to deal with and they did planted despite they brought this back to within just one round. A dominant half and the smiles now starting to fade. It’s never a Fnatic victory without at least a little bit of stress. surprised he still got full head of hair. Yeah, him and Dard both they’re doing a doing a great job. I don’t know if they use Moose or what uh what the secret is, but a player. Yes, I think Moose is their secret to still having air. You should message him, Tom. I’ll send him a DM. We’ll get this sorted. Team Heretics one round away from equalizing from the depths of despair. 9 to3. I don’t know how they’ve managed to make this work, but they are on the cusp of something beautiful, of something great. This comeback in the BO5 unlike anything that I’ve seen before. And for Heretics with the the story line that’s there, we know how much this means to them. Who’s next? Already. Dimensional drift has been used. Hunter’s Fury sent out almost for a little bit of information. He’s going to have to leave the other dimension as the rest of the team look to head intowards what is a a pretty nasty trap setup. They’ve timed it well though. They go through together. Weaponry removed, but that doesn’t matter for Woot. Put a sheriff in his hand and he will still knock you down. Well, this is the woot that we were waiting to see. This is the woot that was missing on map one and two. The promise for this squad. And it comes in on the ISO, but this has nothing to do with the agent in play. Clean and clinical shots. There were teammates there in case he needed the trades that were possible. But Woot doing it with the weaker weapon that has sent Fnatic into a spiral. That’s got to sting. You take his weapon from him and if anything, it made things worse. If anything, it it made him seem even stronger. And Fnatic, I said it at the beginning, they are not a team known for choking, for for letting games slip away. They are renowned for comebacks. They are renowned as the squad that makes you struggle to breathe when you are firmly in the lead. While from 93 up, they now sit level. Heretics are proving that their attack side should be feared throughout the land. And they are silencing there. Anybody who questioned this roster at this side to force in for Alpha. Yeah. Oh, you and me. He’s going to try and make a difference. In the meantime, the kill contract has grabbed another. It’s a nice shot. Woo. Will face off though against Chronicle. And in the meantime, his teammates are doing the work. They’re going back to grab the spike, but hopefully not to go to this A site. It is to go to this A site. It’s to go right past Crashies. He’s only got a Sheriff inspired perhaps by Woot in the previous round. They don’t clear the corner in time. He swings in and only one found. But that it might seem weird looking at the the sidebar, but it gives Alpha a chance. He’s got his ultimate. He’s got three shots still. He needs to be so quick. And he gets one and out. 32 HP though. The margin for error. Slim and he checks the wrong side. Still Buu was so quick. I don’t think it would have mattered. It was a a gamble that had to be taken and a gamble that didn’t pay off the toss damaging. But at this stage, as we’ve said so many times for the other side, damage has become irrelevant. The whole squad of heretics now believing that this comeback can be a reality. And in that belief has been an incredible second half. 8 and one thus far and this pace is something that’s been so difficult to deal with. Kayak is under pressure. They know where he is and he’s had to escape but he’s left Boster behind. He’s done well at least. In fact, he’ll take two. The IGL leading by example in this round. And he might have just given a chance to Fnatic to level. Oh, he definitely has. But Benji Fishy, he’s made the big play, the double take down and the reset as he falls on back. Crashes has seen him. He knows he’s got timing, but Benji might be able to slip right past that trip. And that’s exactly what he’s done. He’s safe now from this play. a cam to fire through if they do go to smoke this off. Of course, who’s going to be the one smoking it? There’s no one left to deny that control. And Minioo has just mowed down to Crashies alone. The rising tide of Team Heretics is sweeping Fnatic away. And it looks like he’s got no chance if they play their cards right. He’s made that realization and he will run for the Hills. taking the big gun with him. But team Heretics 93 down. They are just one away from taking us to map number five. 134 13-1. A poor start in both halves of ice box. One enemy remaining and a 93 deficit. And somehow they are one away from being bang even level with everything riding on ascent. They’ve got to try not to get ahead of themselves because we saw that in the last map where it almost slipped away. But only a singular round so far in this defensive half for Fnatic. They need double that just to go to OT. It felt like at some stage they would run into Kayak again and he’d pull out one of those plays, but it was the attack side benefit for this composition. Fnatic bringing in an unusual strategy, the vice for Chronicle, the chamber for Alfier. It seemed to have promise for this defensive side, but It’s been anything but solid for the defense. Team Heretics a squad who again five rounds across the first two maps. The amount of shots missed I think Trump’s shots hit at times. Oh, and they’re on the cusp of victory. Alpha are at least good for the first, but he will be dropped. Woot as consistent as ever. And Fnatic just now leaving. It’s up to Benji’s timing. Almost pixel perfect, but Chronicle still catches him. Three players sip with a chance to take us to Math 3. But Fnatic are not going to give this up without a fight. Boaster watches his teammate fall. Kayak, the king of the first half, has fall and flat. But Boast is still standing. That time, however, is ticking and they still have Woot to deal with the cosmic divide. And now Buu is all that remains of one versus three. The time in his favor. He needs to get this kill and he will do. And the second they let go, it is done. Heretics have come back all the way and we will head to ascent. A map number five seemed beyond unlikely. I’d say impossible after those first two. But now there’s nothing left to do but head to one final battleground. Heretics the curse just one map away from being broken. We’ll be back after the break. One enemy remaining. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. After two maps, we thought this thing was over. We thought it was an obituary. We thought this was just simply process to crown Fanatic Kings after one more. Two maps later, we have one of the greatest finals we’ve had in a very long time in a best of five international event. Team Heretics have gone through the depths and back out and now face eye to eye with Fnatic two to two. We are going to map number five in the championship rounds. The final map possible for the first ever tournament winner here in Valerant at the Esports World Cup. Deion gone here alongside Baby Bay, Kakuka, and Big Time. And I Dre, can can I just say I can’t, man. I am getting scared right now. I’m literally shaking. Like I just had five minutes of sugar. I’m literally shaking. I’m physically shaking. Like I cannot believe the second half that we just witnessed from the side of heretics. We know, we’ve heard it before, there is a 93 curse, but what was this haven? The way that they were playing with their minds, the fakes, everything coming into fruition. Fnatic looking a bit lost, not knowing like where and where to invest the utility, the ults, everything. Man, they cooked them so hard. I, you know, I think we all thought it was over to be honest in this first half. I can’t lie with you. It was 93. They get the pistol and it’s probably done for. But no, I can’t believe that they managed to pull that back. This has been the story of Team Heretics all tournament. They’ve been so close to being eliminated so many times and when their back is against the ropes, that’s when they’re at their best. I I don’t know if it’s nerves, fatigue, or like the the high expectations that Fnatic have, but they are choking this series, man. Multiple times on both the last maps, the Heretics are coming back on multiple leads in the rounds. And I mean, it is very clutch though from Heretics. I mean, you’ll know better than anyone, Kakuka. Fnatic don’t do this. Fnatic don’t choke like this. This is not who they are. But now I don’t know where their heads are going to be at. I can’t believe they’ve just lost that map 4. It’s absolutely insane. Look at this headto-head. Like Kayak was giving it on the attack. It was crazy. We thought there was no way that Team Heritage was going to be able to deal with him. This new composition, everything that Fnatic was putting on the board and Wood had different ideas. the way that he was using every single piece of utility. Like man, that wall the ultimates. He was just frying up everyone. And let me tell you one more thing. I have seen Los Nños playing around the world. Okay? I have never ever seen arans standing up to their opponents and yelling at them. This guy’s a chill. He’s, you know, he takes it easy, you know, round by round. He stood up at the end of that and he was like, “Stand up now. Stand up now.” That was insane from Heretics. I just love hearing you get so passionate about it because you’re not rooting for either team. You’re just truly rooting for the best Valerant and you’re such an expert there. Yeah. You’re you’re not used to like this level of Valerant. It’s like the way we do it in NBA. Sorry. All right. I mean, we have multiple different rounds to pull for both sides. We were in the back just amongst us arguing. Is it going to be Chronicle getting the MVP? Is it going to be Kayak getting the MVP? But then we have hero moments like this. This was crazy by the side of Heretics to pull it back. Stop the MVP talk for Fnatic side. Start the MVP conversation for Heretic. Speak about playing with their minds. This is only one of the examples. All the utility from the side of of Fnatic being right here. Wood goes with the gun. They know that they have that vice and they play to the best of their abilities. Yeah, the awareness to buy a Sheriff when you know the opponent has a Vice ultimate, it’s something a lot of teams overlook, especially in the high pressure situation we’re in right here. It’s so important also because Poster also had his old. So, not only they knew that they had to be prepared to have their secondary gun out and that has to be a sheriff because they obviously have the money after all of those rounds is the fact that they have to play within the site because if they’re playing from the outside and Boser uses that old, then there’s a lot of question marks. You cannot have a question mark with that scoreboard. All right, time to set up map number five big time. I I just it’s just been a pleasure to watch, but we are not done. We need a winner here. It’s been insane. I mean, I predicted 3-2 heretics at the start of the day because he did because one of us knows what we’re talking about here on the desk. But I did not expect it to happen in quite this fashion. I myself have counted out heretics like three four times this season. It doesn’t make any sense. But as I say, when their back is against the ropes, that is when they seem to be at their best. And Fnatic are not known chokers. Fnatic don’t crumble. They’re the one who make people crumble. I don’t know if they know how to recover from such an insane mental boom. Just, you know, look back the first two maps, two maps of this series. Heretic a total of five rounds. Yeah, five fingers you have. Five rounds is the ones that Heretic got in the first two maps. Now we’re going into ascent where both of these teams have very different approaches. One player that has to turn up that I believe is a little bit missing is Alfaar on that chamber. Yeah. and and that last map of Haven, if he plays anything like that, it’s not going to be a good look for Fnatic. That being said, Fnatic are 6 and0 on the map. Heretics are 4-0 on the map. The last time they played this map against each other, Bear, Mixwell was still on the team. So, this is new territory. Bring him back on here and tell him the experience that he had. Fnatic did end up winning that one, but still, this is new grounds for both sides. Oh, profit big time. You had the 32 for Team Heretics. Who is the player for Heretics is going to step up here to close it out. Oh, we need to see Woot keep rolling. He was slow when he wasn’t on that. He warmed up into ice box electric that map and we know he’s going to go crazy. Map five. Yeah, it it is going to be a huge one here. Have a slight delay on stage. You can imagine after all the emotions and how long this one’s gone. A little bit more time to make sure everyone’s in the proper condition for an epic map five. It happens in the NBA. That was basically what I said just in bigger words just so people stay in track like guys we’ve been here you know we had a small attack pause and now players go to it’s the MA guys just to add even more suspense on this match though right I mean this is just ridiculous what we’re seeing in victim I I since you are the profit right now you got to give us a score give us a score line of what it’s going to be for a heretics win so it’s a shen do we know who’s starting on attack uh no can we ask our producer Chris would you would you mind telling us starting on the attack in our ears, please because I do think that that is somewhat important with it being that chamber and that vice composition where you know we’ve seen Chronicle look so great especially on that attack side. Heretic starting on the attack. I’m going to say 138 to Heretics. Wow. That’s that that’s my you know I’ve looked into the crystal ball. I’ve seen a head. You can take that to the bank. It’s been two for Fnatic, an emotional two for Heretics, but it’s first to three in this best of five. The first ever tournament winner for Valent will be crowned right now. Will it be Fanatic? Will it be Team Heretics? Let’s get into it for the call of their lives. It’s Mitch and Tom. Not quite yet. It isn’t. We’ll be getting to those two in a moment. But right now, we have to discuss the fact that we are going the distance. We’re going the full five. And we are on the brink of finding out officially who will become the inaugural Valerant at the Esports World Cup winners. Absolutely. Everyone thought that Fnatic is going to take it on a sweep. They were just a few rounds away from being the first ever esport world cup battle winners, but not quite yet. Should we ri them up? I think we need to do a sound check and find out who’s got the most support in here. here. Do you mind if I go first, Nancy? Go ahead. So, who’s taking this trophy? Is it fanatic? Is it Team Heritage? Is it Fanatic? Is it Team Heritage? All right, Real. Let’s finish this. It’s time to get into the final map of this best of five. It looked like a blowout, Tom. No one likes a 300 and Team Heretics woke up just in time. 93 down on the previous map and some heroes stepped up to bring it across the line. Now it’s ascent where the winner will be decided. Weeks of competition from the qualifier to the group stage to playoffs and an EMA final that delivers exactly as we dreamed it would. This is the kings of old. Fnatic, a team with titles to spare, versus the next in line, the Prince that has been promised for many years to come. A team full of youngsters. A team that just a couple of hours ago should have been out of this final. They should have been sat there watching their key get crushed with tears in their eyes once again. But instead, they stand just one map away. one map away from potentially being the greatest team at least the MEA has ever seen. It will be a painful loss if they lose it here. Another to add to the collection, a sick defeat in grand finals. But if we’re being honest, Fnatic have never faced an opponent quite like this. A team that can come back in this sort of fashion. A team that got blasted five rounds in the first two maps of play and somehow lived to tell the tale. Somehow still stand upon that stage ready to make it to ascent. This is our last map of the series. Riad, I hope you are ready for this one. Well, this rune of death stands unbound. And whoever wields it here will be lifting the trophy. Their key as the centerpiece and the Crusher working away on their opponents. It’s Fnatic on the defense. Heretics on the attack. Time to jump. And a quick maneuver towards this aside underway. The paranoia comes in just in time. And it’s Boster to follow up. Mini Buu down and out, but the space taken towards the sight. The pressure on Alpha who stands alone, sits behind the boxes and retreats just in time. They’ve got the sight and Woo is feeling that confidence. You can see it in the movement, the way that he’s playing. He wants to get in the faces of Fnatic and try and put them down early. The pistols have been important in this game. They’ve been the difference between comfort and having a tough fight back. There’s a lot of low players currently in this server. And Fnatic look to swarm back in. Tagged up on top. Both of those players so desperately low. A few shots needed now to close out this pistol for Team Heretics. But it’s Buu who has to deliver all of these final shots. The time against Fnatic. And so is Boo. It’s two to close out the pistol for Heretics. He’s been a force to be reckoned with. We looked back to first map and oh, we were about to start those threads again, weren’t we? And people were sitting there going, is this guy really the right man for the job? And then we went to map three. One enemy remaining. where everybody else believed this team was done, but Buu believed it was just the beginning. That was where he started the comeback. And now he started their road to redemption on map number five. A pistol victory, but normally we talk about the danger. The only real danger is this man. A chance to do some damage, but it’s a fade away and Kayak already gone. Look how they slow the round, waiting for that further aggression. We’ve seen the pistol go their way. We’ve seen a few rounds strung together and a solid early half that Fnatic would steal back for Heretics. They do not want that to happen again. This has to be clean with Alfie lurking. There’s always danger. The numbers now even and another found by Alier. One left in the head hunter and every bullet finds its mark. A classic kill for Crashies and it crumbles to ruin for Heretics. He might have been the one player in this series so far that you could argue we haven’t seen the best of. You go back to Toronto and there were calls for this man to maybe even be MVP in defeat. Enemy remaining. But at least in the final today, we haven’t seen it just yet. But if he saved it for the final map, I don’t think anybody in the Fnatic camp is going to care. Another time where heretics take the pistol, but they don’t get that advantage. And this time it’s purely based off the brilliance of Alpha. Enemy tank stealing sight already. You look at the damage and wow, Alpha, it really seems like he’s found his footing. Another opener in this round. It’s the best possible start for Fnatic. Alpha Boaster both finding one, combining towards the tree as the early half is blooming for FNC. A five versus two. Buu and Benji. We saw a low by win for Fnatic. You can’t count out the team on the other side. But those tags, they leave Boo so low. And now it’s the ace that’s needed with Benji falling. This round is locked in. The only thing Bu can really hope for is damage or holding on to the gun. Anything else is all but a dream. Don’t get me wrong, he’s had moments that if this is the time they do, it will be remembered by the Heretics fans for many years to come. But 30 seconds left, this one is not possible. Still go looking now. You can see that the Fnatic players are would definitely be happy to take this gun away. A lot of crashies will get the job done. It’s the lead taken from Fnatic. somewhat expected after that second round victory. But now is where Heretics will get their chance to fight. They found my trap a little far ahead of the play that over here on short. That’s where the difference was made. The paranoia fired through. It’s been used very effectively as far as stopping power goes by so far for Heretics. This half screeching to a halt and it may continue in the same fashion. An operator brought out by Alfier. He’s about to be challenged up close. The TPS out. They’re ready for crashes. Woot. That’s the opener we needed. And the shot doesn’t land for Alfier. He’s forced to retreat. The paranoia sends Kayak back. Space already taken by Team Heretics. And they’re going to put so much pressure on towards this B setup. There’s still the wall from Chronicle. Still the thorns as well. Those two players that were creeping towards the market have decided to fall on back to mid. Heretic’s happy with the man advantage. They’ll play this one slow. Yeah, realizing where the setup lies. It’s something that has definitely caused some issues, but the pause almost serves as bait. Now, having that from the shadows means a likely TP to the back of sight will be claimed as the rest go in. That was so quick. Even the teleport didn’t allow it. It does get rid of the wall, but Alvia now in an open position, but he whiffs the last one, the harder of the two. And now Chronicle all that remains. They wanted to play for that retake with the man advantage. The 4v4 not something they felt confident in, but now they’ve lost so much more value. The OP on the floor. Alfier who has been carrying them through those two rounds that they won out of play. Boaster while he can try to TP past that wire. It’s going to be heard. There’s still a player in Main. Buu blinded but still lands the kill. A save surely called with Kayak not wanting to risk that operator. You can already see him retreating now once again. Their faith put into Whoop. And he’s there once more. Minibu even selling his soul just to get rid of a wall. It seems silly when you watch it, but they wouldn’t have got through as a group if it wasn’t for that sacrifice. And then Buu himself, two high impact frags. If he goes down, maybe there’s a world where Fnatic fight for this. But he is so comfortable into these later rounds. We’ve mentioned it throughout the series, the fact that although the other four seem to have those issues with pressure, who doesn’t give a damn. There could have been any level of score line, this man doesn’t seem to crumble. And as the leader of the squad, that is immeasurable in terms of value. The shock dart we saw fired through. Good to break the vines, but the trap still remains on that a site. So long as Alfie draws breath, they have got a lot of control. Some denied by this smoke. He’s not afraid to play inside it. Shorty in hand. Player just on the opposite side. One dropping down already. And now he knows there’s someone close, but what’s the play? Stepping through that smoke would almost certainly mean death. And that shot so close to taking Benji Fishy out of the round, but their flank pro protection stays online. Yeah, already you can see the gate crash going through at the top of the map. The same will be done on the other side. The paranoia could make things very awkward for Alfia, but he’s still alive at least for now. The counter paranoia does allow for a trade, but Alpha was lost. Still the players up top trying to get ahead of things. Woot was playing anti flash. He’s getting ready to swing, but they have seen him. Still Rian has taken one and booze combined for another. It was well played from Fnatic, but the response is just as good as the initial fight. Two duos remain. Heretics, they tried to take it towards the tree, but Boer catches Buu on the bush. Rian’s now stuck in the corner. He’s being pressured from both sides and he knows it. Time not ticking fast enough to put the pressure on Fnatic and not a step taken incorrectly by Crashies. Boasters three-piece. The operator saved puts Fnatic into the lead. Yeah, if anything it it sounds insane, but knowing when not to peak can be just as important as finding the kills. And it was the doubt that was put into the mind of Rian’s that meant he was consistently looking the wrong way when Bosta comes to swing the angle. A solid round from Fnatic that claims back the lead. This back and forth continues in tow. And for the side of Heretics, there are still going to be pieces missing here. Maybe those pieces can be padded by the alt. Who’s next? After a dominant start to this series, it’s a perfect storm of parody. At least beginning ascent. Mini boom. He wants the kill. Flash used TPs outside of the smoke, but Chronicle is still going to claim that kill. Heretics now floating through. Two of them made it past the wall. Three in fact with Boo. Their rifle info is gone. and Benji good for the trade at least but numbers all around these attackers they have to find a way to break through this defense BTPC leaves the rest of these players in a very isolated spot but the flash that gives the kill as Benji and Rian’s fall is not far behind they were caught stuck between a rock and a hard place and it is Fnatic that close in on all sides to crush heretics early on. Yeah, it was a pick or poison at that stage. You teleport, maybe you can try and catch players as they rotate, but the chances are Fnatic will eliminate the players there and leave Buu in a horrible clutch situation. The main thing from Fnatic though is their awareness. They knew where the danger was. They knew where these players could be and were diligent in their reaction. Four to2 up now and that was a hefty investment. It may have been a player on a pistol but the others spent everything into that round. They even used a hunter fury in tandem with the dimensional drift. That round is costly for Heretics but Fnatic. Their alts are only just coming online. Oh, Mini Boo with a little bit of mechanical failure. I think he went to put down another gate crash but a little unaware. The player stood just meters away. The aside is being pressured and it’s the OP all alone without much help. He has to get out of there. Has to bail. Loot on 5 HP. Where does he go? Down below. He’ll be spammed out almost certainly. He wants to be a part of that aggressive play, but there’s no one left to join as Crashies fights his way back in cleanly. It’s five on the board for Fnatic and a big money maker round. This has been the story of Fnatic’s game. They have had these hot starts on I think every single map bar, maybe Ice Box and even then I think they were 5-2 in the lead at one stage, but they are looking in complete control. Of course, for Heretics, part of me believes that the pressure kind of faded when they were so far down. The belief of winning this game was gone. Like you you’ve won five rounds in two maps and then they climb back into it. But now is where the pressure peaks. They have been in multiple grand finals that they have tasted defeat 3-2. Champs grand final 2024 to EDG a 3-2 defeat. Shanghai grand final versus Geng a 3-2 defeat. EMA stage one of the very same year, a three-2 defeat. And that is why their coaches are getting in once again. In the first two maps, these pauses were a formality. They changed nothing. In the last two maps, it felt like they changed everything. For the sake of heretics, you have to hope that it’s the same again. Cuz right now, even after letting a hefty lead slip away, Fnatic are still in the driver’s seat. With so much on the line, half a million dollars, a trophy to hoist an international title, and to be the first to do it in the EWC for Valerant for Heretics, it’s not just about winning. It’s about not losing again. Oh dear. Not in this fashion. Hunter Fury, good mark and the followup. Not quite there. Deep TP though. Kayak comes out of another dimension and he’s in his opponent’s spawn with a gate crash to fall back towards that A site. But they’re coming hunting him down. One for one trade, but that keeps numbers in favor of Heretics. Yeah, that’s not bad with Alfia and Kayak gone from the round. Aggression comes with a time to jump. Hefty risk for the side of Fnatic. They don’t have the two players that can teleport out of there. Minioo is still trying to sell the idea that this is a B sight hit, but they are walking into a really the 50/50 that they didn’t want. The wall, the thorns, a pop flash, Crashies, and Chronicle. Yeah, that change up of ice utility. They’re only now going to realize that it’s here, but 30 seconds left. There is no time to go back. The TP from the shadows committed from Boster. Wall trip. The wall trip sends two through. Bu caught on the other side. He can’t help out his teammates and they start to fall. 15 seconds and Crashies is at it again. He found two and then it crumbles for Fnatic when Boo makes it to the site. The winds have changed. Come in at full speed. Yeah, it was it really came down to just sheer resilience in the end. Fnatic, but in terms of their read, in terms of their utility, they did everything right. It was just that they couldn’t quite find the shots without being traded. That early deficit proving to be too much. Considering a Hunter’s Fury combined with a dimensional drift, they will be very happy to come out of that round with a victory. Get out of my way. Two rounds to play for here for Heretics to equalize. They will be hard fought rounds. Not only the optin play for Alpha, but the backup of a to force to work around. Lots of credits. So it will be full buy after full buy with plenty of dangers presented. Fnatic have a big economic advantage for Heretics. You can’t think about those coming rounds. It’s one at a time, one foot in front of the other. the rotation to the A site already. Thanks to that gate crash, Kayak can get back pretty quickly, but I don’t think he’s going to need to. Heretics have set their sight on a again and bypassing the utility from Vice at least bypassing the wall as we can see. The thorns are still there and more importantly the thorn in their side from that previous map. Kayak is waiting for this push. Paranoia once again. They have loved this and they’re looking to try and wrap around. I like the idea. Paranoia from Bolster as well as connected, but this is all a bait. It’s a ruse to try and set up mini boo. He’s at least traded out one, but they now need to get into that side. Chronicle underneath looking to try and hold the line. He has got no support from this position, but sometimes that’s where he does his best work. Bu though once again clinging to life. weaponry removed and more importantly look at where the last man is. He’s nowhere near Benji Fishy flees for the hills and Fnatic have got their six. A disappointing round for sure if you’re a Team Heretics fan. Benji the whole time waiting for that rotation to come through, but it had already happened. They’d already made their way across. Let’s look at the mini map here as we see Chronicles perspective. Oh, the numbers were up in heaven. Beautiful spray as we can see. But unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to see Boo step up once again. Three rounds in it. Thorns. And while Fnatic had the economy to buy a couple times to bring in the backup op, unfortunately it doesn’t quite transfer to heretics in the same regard. They now have weak weapons across the board. But the safe rifle on Benji Fishy, the only beacon of hope for this attacking side. Yeah, he has not been the man to deliver in this series so far, but they still believe that he can be the one to change the tide in this one. There are a lot of players just moving as a death ball, leaving Boo to catch aggression, destroying utility as they go, trying to remove any information that Fnatic has because in this round, they don’t want to be too aggressive. They don’t want to risk guns. It’s a very passive position from Kayak. And even after what was a main peak, Alfia has given up that angle as well. It’s giving them space. That space could be their undoing. Chronicle’s been such a menace with the utility. This time he’s only good for one. And Kayak’s been spotted on this aside. Boaster dealt with up in heaven. Now Kayak’s surrounded. He’s even being spammed to death. 45 HP. Escapes with the smoke, but he is dropped straight through it with the weaker weapons. Heretics didn’t seem to stand much of a chance, but they still have the advantage after that pick back. Fighting back in with an operator. Not ideal. And the shot won’t land either. This is looking more and more like Heretics have found the round. Like they can close in the gap. The shot from Alfie may change the course of this round entirely. One man left. Rens on 78 HP. He’s in the open, but so is Crashies. A round for Heretics that seems so unlikely. There have been so many heroes for either side. So many moments where the game feels like it’s on a knife’s edge. Mini Boop and Woop were the ones to kick it off. But also the Boo Brothers going down to that operator seemed like an error, but not when you have someone like Rian’s on your side. The smallest amount of information and the smallest margin for error is all he needed. to get a fourth onto the board. Still though, they need more. Nowhere to run. Here we go. 100 Fury put through. Chronicle under pressure. Surrounded now. The Dimensional Drift getting that boat house control for Team Heretics are able to get a strangle hold over this site, but Kayak is quick to challenge them for this control. Oh, what a shot. Benji Fishy’s gone. Deleted from this round. And it’s Mini Boo. A 4K needed. And the problem, the spike is down in the open, but he’s got plenty of time to play with. And he’ll try the reposition. But how far will he go? The market play surely expected as time continues to tick. And the door will be closed for that exact reason. Door closed. But is the round closed? One enemy remaining already. poster. They closed the door expecting that to be the end of it, but instead he’s walked backwards into his opponent. Minibu looking to breathe life back into Heretic’s kayak on the angle, but it’s a miss shot. Uncharacteristic. A chance for a 1v3 and a 4K to boot and he will get it done around the mini boost. Steals from the hands of Fnatic on one that they may live to regret. That should have been theirs after this shot hit. Oh my. Down. Three players alive. Alpha over peaks. They lose track of Minibu as he wraps all the way through and a player in Maine and another holding it. Doubling up on the angle. And that is ultimately to their detriment. Heretics feeling like they’ve been given a lifeline. the weak buy that somehow they managed to pull off a 1v3 that puts them within striking distance of Fnatic and an economy now showing the cracks as boasters left on a stinger kayak on a guardian and a hunter’s fury at least considering it’s in the hands of crashies that could have a lot of value. Fnatic after winning that second round seemed like they were in the driver’s seat in this half, but a couple of wonderful plays from Heretics have put them right back in the map. That has been the case throughout the last two. Fnatic could have closed it on Icebox. They should have closed it on Haven. But here we sit on ascent with Heretics having a chance to even up the half. Benji millimeters away from spotting Alfa who’s taken an aggressive stance once again. He’s been having a brilliant map getting ahead. But it’s the B side that is the target. There’s the Hund Fury. It’s always finding Mark. Low HP on Minioo. He can leave this corner. Chronicle had him held in. Kayak with a nice shot and from the side. Chronicle swings in to help. 12 seconds left. Time is so desperately low. The spike has made it to the side. Kayak now spotting that it’s not being planted. He will just play the clock. Benji is trapped on the backside. Time ticking and running out as they all close in around him. 7-5 at the halftime. Fnatic leading but only just. There’s still some fight left in Heretics and they will fight till their very last. The second half, the final half after the break. One enemy remaining. on the ground. Look out. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. We are now just a few rounds. months away from the EWC 2025 trophy being lifted from a key being placed within it and another in the crusher and everything hangs in the balance. Heretics, they won the pistol and they lost two immediately after. Scattered amongst a sea of fanatic rounds, a few sparks of hope for Heretics. They trail by two coming into this half. And a pistol could be the difference between making or breaking their destiny. After this half, all will be decided. One will lift a trophy, the other likely to sit within it. and how either side is not going to pick the other to lay within their trophy for all eternity as one becomes the first ever victor here at EWC. The fight taken early, but nobody tasting death just yet. A pistol round that could change everything. A chance for a boosted lead from Fnatic and a chance for Heretics to be level again. It is a slow and steady start. The drone put through on B. The steps following it up. Fnatic creating the illusion of pressure on that side of the map with no utility there until the camera went up. It may well have worked. We could have seen Heretics leave this a site, but they’re suspicious. They’re standing their ground for now back. Yeah, there 25 seconds up and coming on the clock and the the spike is only just making its way into middle. They are gambling heavily. The rotations are going to come in, but Boo, he’s only spotted the one. In the meantime, there’s still two players sat within this B site, and they need to run. Boser is still the furthest from making it in if he doesn’t get this kill at all. but over in the spike is going to hit the deck. It’s an error immediately from Fnatic. And all that Benji has to do is sit within the sight. This is not the time for a fumble. Fnatic, a team that loves to run that clock down. They thought the push and pull would work. They thought that pump faking towards B and pressuring the A site would get a push into main. It didn’t. And then they thought that well if they haven’t pushed B main they must have left the site. We can get in for free. But that was not the case. Fnatic one round ahead now. But it was in just the previous half where this head hunter now loaded with five shots, found three, and changed the course of that first half. It’s unfair to ask that Alfa delivers such a high impact round, not once, but twice. But who else can you really rely upon in this round? The rest are left with all but classics. He is the only one with a truly dangerous weapon. He’s had to use two shots just for the drone and executed by Minibu. Making sure that if there is success in this round, it’s the Fnatic Classic that gets it done. It’s all they have left to rely on. This pistol seemed essential for Heretics. The most they found in the previous half was two rounds in a row and it looks like they’re about to do that yet again. 30 seconds left. Gage triggered already putting it down to a 5v3. Damage done to poster. An idea of where Chronicle is. There are no surprises anymore except for the fact that Rienz is almost dead to a spam through a smoke. Classic is doing damage with 12 seconds left. It’s time to go. It’s time to take those fights. You need to do it on the side as well. Cleaned up here cuz Crashy’s no time left on the clock and no more damage to be found. Yeah, any weaponry that was there is going to be retrieved and as it has been throughout the last three maps, our score line will find itself level again. deploying for Fnatic. They’ve definitely proven that this attack side can work out for them. But with the shakiness of the pistol, I’m starting to feel nervous for them. A squad that if we’d found ourselves in normal circumstances in a fifth map, you’d bet on them winning. But from 200 up, it doesn’t feel like the same story of old. And for Heretics, you’d have gambled the other way. Every single time, history stated that only one team was winning this final. A team with a plethora of trophies and a team that is known for second places. And yet here we sit in the second half completely level. A bonus round. Woot onto the sniper. No that the two light shield players have got to be nervous. He’s playing a very aggressive game. It’s a question of if Alpha’s going to be looking the right way. Contact comes in. He’s been seen. This is the moment. Flash popped, but the TP out right away. Benefit of this agent for Alpha, but he steps back into the waiting crosshair of Woot. He didn’t have the read from the player deep in wine. Paranoia lands, but there’s no one there to follow it up from Maine. It gives Root time and resetting. He’ll eliminate Kayak and ignore any further fights. The advantage valuable enough. And again, the clock putting so much pressure on Fnatic. They are just taking too long in every round so far. I I think when you look at this double jewelist composition, you are of that expectation that it’s going to be constantly aggressive that there’ll be players facing. That’s a nice couple of shots at least. But considering it’s a bonus round, heretics won’t care. But my point being that once they’ve taken those advantages, it is heretics that sit back. It is heretics that lounge in their chairs and wait for their opponents to make their move. And while the coaching staff of Fanatic, I’m going to assume are likely giving this one last go. They have turned this team from a a kickoff failure to a Mast’s finalist to an EWC finalist. But do they have what it takes to turn the tide one last time and to stop this trophy, this grand final from slipping out of their hands after what they just experienced in Toronto. No doubt that trophy was in their sights coming here. So much talent, the best teams in the world, but coming down to a regional rivalry to make the difference, it would have a different kind of sting to it here on the international stage, especially after the start. In these maps, it’s felt like Fnatic are ahead, teetering between victory and total collapse. is challenging them. They know there’s players on the other side. They were trying to activate the wall and succeeded in it. You could tell they wanted to try and get in their faces after the pause. Heretics are not shying away from a fight. In fact, their confidence has been growing map by map, round by round, and Fnatics has been floundering. Alfa in this map has saved them time and time again. This round is one of the few rifles that they have with Boa and Kayak. And I think Kayak’s goal in this one is to be a distraction. Give Alfa the chance to thrive. They’re hesitant to take this fight, but plenty more time on the clock than what we’ve seen before. Yeah, this round could make all the difference. Credits on the line. A reveal broken from further back as Kayak closes the distance. Stinger in hand. That was great for this kind of a fight. He’s looking the wrong way, but Alpha’s got his back. Buu in the corner now. Trapped, surrounded, and dealt with immediately. Just the one found by him, leaving Woot and Minioo. A dangerous duel. One if you underestimate that will dish out defeat. Minioo is finding the first. That’s tree control for Heretics as the time tick ticks away. They even used the flash just to confirm it, but that is them now out of utility for the actual retake. Yeah, they were nervous that there was a second player. Didn’t think that Chronicle would be left behind on his own. That time though has already been ticking for quite a while. Kayak is the first spot, but Woot takes his head clean off, but now it’s left all on to Minioo. The trade was effective. Alpha’s been seen, but there’s one more to deal with. TPs into the open. Boer now is all that remains. And he has a decent idea, but Boa holds on. They’ve needed him in impact rounds and he has delivered once again. Neck and neck, it’s the story of Ascent. These teams just can’t pick up any kind of lead, any kind of runway. Always hot on each other’s heels. The faster approach for Fnatic working wonders. It really is just that lack of utility. The TP here for Alfier causing issues. We look to those IGL’s. Buu has had so many huge rounds. Boaster delivering one of his own will be no surprise here. The same strategy to get that wall out of play early on, but it actually doesn’t make Oh, it does make it the full distance. Just a slight delay. I think Fnatic are trying to stop them from doing that because it is a wasted piece of utility if it can be taken out by the Yoro clone on the other side. But after sort of failing the aggression they wanted on B, it’s not like Heretics are just sitting still. They’re now doing the same over on A. The drone taking control while Fnatic are setting up for a short push. There is still the paranoia available. Rends looking like the point of contact. Falls back after grabbing that info. Boo sitting inside wine. Paranoia won’t even come close to hitting him. Minioo under pressure though. Knocked down a 29. Rian steps forward but has to be worried about main. Boo’s not full clearing it. TPs in hand, but Buu corrects in time. Pulls out the weapon and the pick. Fnatic have gone deep though. They’re already wrapping around behind the spawn. Moving up through heaven, but it’s being watched. Mini Boo turned to check it. He’s TPD out just in time as the pressure came through. The spike needs to be retrieved. 20 seconds sub. It’s 15 on the clock. They need to move now as Buu is still inside main and they haven’t cleared the site. Ren is tucked in a corner knowing that he just needs to play that time. Run that clock down and that should be the round done right here and now. Team Heretics back in the lead. It feels like that we’re seeing players go from heroes to villains rounds apart. Boast an uncharacteristic mistake. It was a almost worked out for him even still, but teleporting into an uncleared angle. It left so much control available and with the spike dropped, it made it so difficult for the remaining players to fight back into that round. the back and forth not helping out Fnatic. They’ve been the one on the lower economy since that start. And now, wow, you can see the operator coming into play. Woot is looking to try and have an impact on this game. He’s six and 14 right now. But instead, it’s Alfia. That hero rifle in his hands once more. Now, the Torforce available. This just got interesting. bolstering the rest of the squad but look to be double digits for team heretics under threat. They got olds too. Bside still defended though by this cipher utility. Benji’s point of contact is this camera. Mini boo with two flashes still locked and loaded. They’re going to have no guns. They’ve seen him. They know that Benji’s in that corner. Getting out won’t be easy. He has to sprint. He has to run for it and just about makes it. The thoren slowing the mark the play. Slowing that mark push as TP goes in towards boat house now. Three players there to defend this. 37 seconds. Not a lot of time if they want to take it back. And the spikes now dropped out in the open. They’ll try to wrap around while the players are distracted. But they don’t know how many numbers are here. At least they didn’t. They’ve just found out the hard way that Heretics read this play and Fnatic investing the ultimates. They get nothing for their trouble. Chronicle sent fleeing and Heretics one step closer to breaking the curse that has haunted them since Shanghai. A this is a round that’s has got to be brutal for Fnatic. You walk in, you take the guns away. There wasn’t even that much to slow them down other than maybe even the utility from their own players. the thorns that were thrown in ends up slowing them down. And Rian’s frustrated at himself, but with how slow the push was in the end, those weapons were all back in hand by the time they made it into the sight, as was the support. Enemy remaining. And that was enough for Heretics to now hit double digits. They have been on the back foot the entirety of this series. They have been falling further and further behind in those first two maps, but now they find themselves in the lead. They find themselves two rounds to the good. And this is it. Milan and Scott, the new coaches as of this year. Milan promoted and Scott stolen from BBL. If the game turns from here, they’ll be heroes. And if not, they’ll be the one that broke the Heretic’s curse. Two rounds to the good as the pause subsides. And it has to feel good for Heretics. Building up rounds. Five out of six now going their way. Their defense seemingly uncrackable and Fnatic calling that final pause is a signal that they are on the right path. Just a few steps away from a goal that has evaded them so many times in the past. Teleport. The echoes of those forgotten battles lingering in these lands, lingering in their minds. And they can finally put those horrors to bed with just three more rounds. and their opponent’s economy already on the rocks. Yeah, a chance to not just be a trophy winner, but a world first for Valerant putting Heretics on the map in EWC, but you would be foolish to ever believe the Fnatic are out of the series. They look to blast their way through into the a site, but the defense is one of numbers. Three players ready for this fight. That’s a huge pick by Woo. He goes in for more. He’s hungry. Wants to make this his round, but he gets out just about. The Hunter Fury chasing them down. Fnatic already a man down. Rens with a Hunter Fury of his own, but it’s a fight from up top. He’s here to help. They’ll go through the smoke looking for the battle, but it’s Reens taking the double. Alvier stands alone and it’s Team Heretics with four players. The spike and only 12 seconds to get that plant in. This one’s done. And it’s Mini Boo to land the final shot. Fnatic down but not out yet. Just two more for Heretics. A squad that was two zero down. that had five rounds in the first two maps. Where has this team come from? Five might end up being there. Lucky number. Five rounds in the first two match. Five previous defeats, but maybe the sixth will be the charm. This could become a story of resilience, a story of getting back up when you’re down. But that is a story that has been tailored in Fnatic’s past. A story that means that even if your opponent is 113 in the lead, you still question if this team is dead. You still question if they’ll be getting up to fight again. Woot has started to disrespect. And maybe that could be a problem. Minioo, however, is going to take one and then just escape. But that will leave an operator for this squad to retrieve. And in fact, they are playing this very safe. Hunter Fury utilizer. More importantly, that’s the spike found. Minioo sticks around a little longer, but Chronicle does at least deal with him. Boasters wrapping. He’s already found himself an operator or a Vandal. The choice is his and he wants the rifle to work with from the shadows in case things spiral out of control. and moving to this A site. It seems to be the right play, but Chronicles left behind on B. Makes me think it’s going to be a fake. A fake that might not work. 30 seconds left as he looks to get into this a site. Maybe even tap the spike if he doesn’t see contact and from the shadows across. Cover going up. I see Chronicle now joining him. Fortunately, the read is there for Heretics as well. Cover going up. Smoke didn’t quite cover. Oh, he’s had to use another. That’s all the utility gone for him. But Chronicle still has a belt to play with. Could even wall off part of the map, but he doesn’t want to give his position away. He spotted a gap and that gap could be exploited. Two players facing the wrong way. Chronicle at the darkest of times is the shining light for Fnatic. He is a man you can rely on. Even if everything goes wrong, there is a reason that he has the most trophies of anyone in history. And there is a reason that you don’t stop believing in Fnatic. That’s got to be a gutting round for Heretics. That was theirs. The chance to put it 12 to eight. Back to it. the chance to have four rounds, four opportunities to close this out and write the wrongs of the past. But they have crumbled. Now they need to get right back up after that knockout punch or Fnatic spiral. It’s a lot of early damage for Benji. My ultimate’s ready. the steel garden once again. But I’ll be honest, that al has felt like a burden rather than a benefit. They used it on Haven. I got the spike. Got shot three times by a Woot Sheriff. They used it a few rounds ago. It just took too long. For the side of heretics, the operator has swapped hands. Whoop was putting up some numbers with it, but it’s gone to Minibu instead. Now that dimensional drift will be the start of this taken to be attack or die. Not a lot to work with knowing they’ve sent one player out of the sight but revealed up. He can’t do much. Has to just TP back. Rian with a classic managing to find one but his rifles now back online. Benji still desperately low from that initial fight. Flash popped from Vice. Crashy’s good for one. That’s a risky TP. Boaster might have made a mistake as Mini Boo chimes in for one. He’s looking the right way, but he can’t land the shot. Two health on Kayak, 72 on Chronicle. Boo’s been in much worse positions, but the stakes have rarely been this high. A 12th round for Team Heretics in this 1v2. Shadow traveling at 10th for Fnatic. And it’s Kayak with two health to land the shot. A needed one as now they are one behind everything hanging in the balance. This has to be one of the closest finals we’ve ever seen. And if you left after map two, well, I’ll tell you for free, you’ve missed out. Spike down. But you’re joining at the dying embers of a game that means everything. Crushed is a fitting word for the loser of this match as their key will be destroyed by their opponent as will their will because this will be the toughest defeat. Be it Fnatic from 200 up or be it Heretics from 200 down bringing it back being in the lead and letting it slip. Now this will be the last chance for the coaches and still overtime as mentioned for Weber and Neil Zeno in the first two maps. I I can’t say I noticed the pauses in these last two maps. It’s impossible not to. They have turned the tide. They have brought their team back. But the same can be said for Milan and Scott. I mentioned that if their pause changed the game, they’d be heroes. Well, since their pause, they’ve been right back. Get set up. They become as important for settling the emotions as they do solving the puzzles playing out on that mini map. 11 to 10. One round in it. Two away for Heretics. from closing this out and a victory in regulation possible for either squad. It will be Fnatic. The pressure to continue this win streak and Woot making a gamble buying the judge. But this has had so many value in previous so much value rather in previous games. He was a little bit worried that somebody had already made it past. Rian has been punished from fighting this position before. Opts this time to back off play with his team. Ultimates will not play a part of this unless the boo TP from the shadows makes a difference. They’re pressuring B, but this is all but a ruse. And I’ll be honest, the one thing that’s really impressed me with Heretic so far is they have really not fallen for these plays in the past. And they’re about to run into a judge. Woo is still waiting on the other side. This shot could be everything. 25 seconds left and the same sort of issues for Fnatic arise again. That time is ticking away. They have got to run. It’s now or never. 12 seconds on the clock. Three players on the B side. Heretics are ready and waiting with the from the shadows giving back up and they don’t need it. Heretics 12 rounds locked in and a razor’s edge separating triumph from tragedy. The calls in this game have made a difference. And this is another time where we look at heretics and go, I respect the fact you stood your ground. Even a little bit of spice. You might live to regret that one, Neil Zena. I’ll be honest with you. Never celebrate too early, but the buy is definitely damaged. Chronicle left with little to spare for the best chance we’ve ever seen for Los Ninos to take themselves a victory. They’re going to try and fight them for B main control, but Fnatic flee the scene. We’ve seen this grand final twice before from regional to international. Third time lucky. I said earlier on, and I didn’t believe a word I was saying. It was 200 down. A reverse sweep just one round away from completion. And Fnatic, they’ve bounced back from worse. They’ve strung together more rounds, but now they’ve lost Chronicle. Woot, the man that they run into has been reliable. And a paranoia slows them down. Mini Boo in with another. The advantages keep stacking in favor of Team Heretics. One versus five. Crashies has to do the impossible. And for Heretics, it’s a simple solution. 30 seconds, 20 HP, and one last shot. Team Heretics, they have defeated their demons. They have crushed the curse, and they have won EWC 2025. This is a story of resilience, a story of triumph, a story of a team facing their demons, looking them in the eyes. They say if at first you don’t succeed, well the fact is you have to try and try and try and try and try and try again. Sixth time is the charm for team heretics. A squad that have been there when they were formed. They were a group of youngsters. A squad that hey, we are hoping for the future. A squad that even didn’t start with Woot in the roster. He was too young. And a squad that overachieved. Then coming into this year, the question was, well, you’ve made it to finals again and again and again, but you never quite managed to take a trophy. Well, guess what? This time they have done it. They have taken everything and more. They have taken Fnatic from 200 down and they have won it in the best way possible. A final that will go down in history as they will be the first ever EWC winner for Valerant. No one can ever take that away from them. Los Ninos. Well, now they’re fully grown down on that stage. We spoke of this young squad as the princess before. Well, now their strength befits the crown. Team heretics presented with the key. The key that solves all their troubles. A best of five. Two zero down. And now they shall be engraved alongside the greats. Your EWC 2025 victors for Valerant. Heat up here. What a grand final. What a magnificent way to showcase this game and its incredible players. You couldn’t write it. Boo. Just come and join me up here. Let’s have a conversation. How long ago does map two feel right now? It feels like it was the different team like we played 5 months ago or something. That was not us. That was not us in the last three maps. And yeah, I’m so proud that we actually started playing the game and yeah, we won. I know you’re so proud for for so many reasons. One of them has to be you guys have gone through some tough times. You’ve tried, you tried again. You’ve stuck with this roster as of late and this is proof of why you made that decision. It was the right decision and now you are winners of an international title. What does it mean? Yeah, we stuck with the same rosters. I don’t think many organizations would do the same where they, you know, they want fast results, they want fast changes and stuff. The organization trusted us, the coaching staff trusted us that we can bounce back. Uh we work hard for it and yeah, I mean when you work hard, it actually finally one time you win. But you deserve it. Where’s Mini Boo? Mini Boo, come up here. Let’s get Mini Boo over here. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on over here. Boo. Stay as well because I know how tight this roster is. You’re all very close. These two, in case you didn’t know, are brothers. Hence the Boo and the Mini Boo. What does it mean to win your first international trophy alongside your brother? I mean, I’m not going to lie. I feel more happy for him than for myself because like this guy deserves it. This guy lives for Val Valerant. He’s the genius. He’s trying so [ __ ] hard. Like when I joined this team, like I wanted to bring him a trophy and I’m really proud of him honestly. Like he’s the like he’s just genius. Like I’m so happy for you. I’m not going to lie. Very kind words. You’re very good yourself as well. If you take a look over here, you can actually see Fanatic’s key about to be crushed. The final key that will be crushed here at EWC 2025. And it’s the brutal part of the process, but surely part of you enjoys this right now. Yes. Yes. for all those finals, for each and every one of them. Let’s go. Crush, crush, crush, crush, crush, crush, crush, crush, crush. Y. And there it is. O, a little bit of extra sauce at the end there. I’ll tell you what, Woot, where’s Woot? Get Woot over here. Woot, come up here. Hi. Hello. How are you guys? You got a lot of fans out here. A big part of the reason for that is because you had a phenomenal performance. So many key moments where you stepped up when it matters. How was that grand final for you? Finally, we won. Finally. I hope like haters going to just keep hating, but I hope we’re going to keep winning. We’re not going to go back to like old days that like we are just losing in finals, dropping down as a mental, but we will win. I can barely hear a word you’re saying because the crowd are chanting three letters. What are you saying? MVP is what they’re saying. Well, I can confirm that you are our Sony MVP of this tournament. Fancy, come on up here and give this man his well- earned medal, please. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for our MVP, Woot. What a player. And one more time as well, I want you to make some noise for these history makers standing behind me. Guys, come on up here. Your very first ever Valerant at the Esports World Cup winners, Team Heretics. There is one more piece to the puzzle, guys. Are you ready to loot some keys? Come with me. And as they make the walk through the halls of the stadium, one of the greatest reverse sweeps in international Valerant play, a 32 after being down 200. zero to not just anyone but Fnatic, the holders, the demons over the curse against Team Heretics. They get the job done and are your first ever tournament winners of Valerant as we now have the traditional process of selecting the keys in the looting phase. And it’s just easy to go ahead and take fanatics. Who else jumps out at mind? Uh, if it was me, I would choose EDG and Geng. All of those finals going to that fifth map, never being able to overcome their demons. Everything is over in that sense for Heretics. Now, a new era of Valerant is born with them. This is one of the greatest finals I think we have ever witnessed. I’ve never seen a team with so much grit and resilience, not only in this grand final, but throughout the entire tournament. Remember the interviews? We almost lost to Titan. I mean, it’s so rare to see comebacks like that at this level against a team of the caliber of Fnatic who are known as being closers as shutting the door on any possibility of a comeback. But Heretics kicked that door wide open and robbed whatever was inside. And just for a second here, it just uh remember everyone, there was only one man, one being that foresaw, foreshadowed this possible outcome on the stage. It was big time here, calling the 32. We laughed at him. We mobed him. But it was Team Heretics coming back with the 3-2 victory big time. The moment is yours along with team heretic. Look, I predicted in optimism when they were 2-0 down. I was drowning in pessimism. I can’t lie to you, but Heretic showed just how strong they are. And when you look at the story all the way throughout this tournament, they have been on a razor’s edge of elimination. They’ve danced that blade the whole way through to this grand final. So, how could I not give them such a storied a storyried ending? And they went and grabbed it with both hands. seeing their faces now, lifting that title, knowing what it means for them, knowing thinking back to that third map that could have perfectly gone Fnatic’s way. Let me tell you, I don’t think Fnatic is going to forget that in a while. But for them, mentally also to overcome every single thing that Fnatic put on the table after that, the new composition on Haven, then going on to that ascent that no team was able to figure out. And now look at them so happy collecting their keys and on their way to put the key frame down in history. Baby Bay, you and I had the opportunity to head on over in that game five to the stadium. It was rocking inside the SDC arena. It was so loud for Heretics. Every single kill that was happening from Woot there at the end. It was just electrifying. But it was the look on the faces after they had won. Benji Fishy showing so much emotion. It like just it gets me so, you know, teary eyed just like we were in the beginning watching Fatal Fury, right? Yeah, exactly. But um I think that for Benji means a lot. Starting this tournament losing to NRG with the past with the history that he has there. And literally when we got into that third map and to the sorry into the fifth map knowing how strong Fnatic was and how different the approaches from both of the teams were, how good the performances have been throughout the tournament, especially these past two days. I know that Wood got the MVP. Massive shout out to Buu Mini Bu. I think that all of them have their moments to pop off. I do not think that it would have been possible with any of the five players. With that victory, the lion share of the $1.25 million prize pool for the first ever Valerant tournament here at the Esports World Cup goes the way of Team Heretics. Something that no one could have predicted at the beginning of the tournament. $500,000 heading to the way as well as uh tournament winners. Fnatic a second place 230,000, but it just stings a little bit yet again in a string of second place finishes over their over several tournaments now. I I mean this the story for Heretics is just unbelievable. The Cinderella run that they had, we ranked them so low in our power rankings and then we redid the power rankings for playoffs and we ranked them low again because how could you have seen such a run coming from Team Heretics? It’s ripped straight out of a book. And I’m so so happy for this group of young players. I think they’re so deserving finally of an international title. Even Boo saying the same thing 5 months ago, he he couldn’t believe what had happened to their team. The team that we saw here today, if this is the future for Heretics, this is what we always knew they could do. EMA is going to get a shaking. Yeah. Back in the MEA, we know that the teams were hoping the Heretics was going to keep on with the performance that they showed at Masters Toronto because of course Champs is at the end of the competitive year and everybody wants to shoot their shot going there. But now with the performance that we saw from Fnatic in the tournament also crowning um this new winner going back to EMA, it’s going to be a pleasure. Soak it on up. We got to see the trophy finalized with the key. And the other part of the ceremonies here at the Esports World Cup, the frame, the thing that holds everything together, the hopes and dreams of every single team as Benji Fishy now rises to the top for the first time ever to live in immortality. It is Team Heretics placing it on in. The first ever winners for surrounded by all the fans who have been following along in this journey. Many super fans from around their teams get knocked out. They continue to show up in cheer. and team heretics as the underdog as the surprise continued to gain momentum and the fans support them as well. It is the first ever winner now locked on into the totem for 2025 at the esports world cup. And now take a look at that one. Yeah, that is the club championship trophy as well. And they are met by his royal highness Prince Fisizel shaking hands uh for all of the players and congratulating them on their victory. On behalf of everyone here at the Esports World Cup, all the casters, all the production, all the operations, we thank you so much for watching. It is the first ever tournament winners of Valerant at the Esports World Cup, Team Heretics. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. We are on the city hall. on the city.
The Esports World Cup is back to write the next chapter in esports history! Witness the world’s top clubs and players compete for over $70,000,000 in prize money and the coveted EWC Club Championship trophy. Catch all the action live this summer!
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30 Comments
I was here 2-0, 9-3 I hoped for at least a 3-2 and boy oh boy I was fckin rewarded.
Finally
Woooooooooooottt
Heretic first Champions, first internasional Champions
Bahhahahah, this is unbelievable, 2-0 to 2-3? crazy, they just throw their own thropy at this point
Really pissed with the way FNC played Icebox and Ascent, some of the calls were just weird, i think they underestimated their opponents after the easy 2-0 lead.
mf , fns jinx
This is the best finals in valorant
3:19:04 start of first map
4:13:28 start of second map
4:53:28 start of third map
5:00:29 fnatic being over confident
Imp clutch 5:11:58
6:07:55 start of fourth map
7:16:32 start of Fifth map
8:09:24
Cool, nice 🎉
Specially glad to benjyfishy cuz i know his 2nd place myth in fortnite😂😂(maybe he was 2nd 11 times include fortnite and valorant but he made it gg)
What a fking choke fnatic
Reverse sweep 0-2 to 3-2 😮🎉🥖
Why fnc threw the trophy
never underestimate the underdog
Benjy finally avenged his FN world cup performance on LAN to win the trophy 🥺
It was totally fix ithink they won 500k but fnc wons millions mark my words
おもれったわ
Fnatic got real overconfident after 2-0 and lost Lost
Finally satisfying match
8:12:47 I like how he said try and try 6 times lol
FNC underestimated TH and ended up losing.
The definition of Resilience…GG Fnactic but huge GGs Heretics
HERETICS REVERSE SWEEP TO WIN THEIR FIRST TROPHY
TH ❤
Spoiler block
I'm proud guys thanks for winning finally ❤🥹
benjy FINALLY wins a tier 1 championship
PRX vs GEN
Game 1: 51:05
Game 2: 1:54:44
FNc vs TH
Game 1: 3:19:00
Game 2: 4:13:22
Game 3: 4:53:12
Game 4: 6:07:49
Game 5: 7:16:26
GG FNC.
Which teams did they take ? Fnatic edg and who else ?