Fnatic explains first VCT international match loss at Valorant Champions
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesFnatic lost their first VCT international match of the year to LOUD in the playoff stage of Valorant Champions. The team explained how they came away without a win in a post-match press conference.
LOUD ended Fnatic’s 11-match win streak in VCT international events at Valorant Champions on August 16. The Brazilian squad swept the EMEA team 2-0 across Acsent and Lotus in a commanding fashion in the playoff stage of the tournament.
After the series in a post-match press conference, Fnatic was asked about the loss and how the team, with two international trophies to their name in 2023, looked almost helpless against LOUD.
“I think we started off slow, we lost pistol straight into bonus so it’s really difficult to get any momentum and then the game really punishes you after that,” Fnatic’s IGL Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett said about losing on Lotus.
Fnatic sent to the lower bracket for the first time this VCT season
The team was asked whether burnout contributed to the loss. Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov explained that while the team does feel slightly burnt out at this point in the season, having played the most matches out of any team at the tournament, it wasn’t a factor in their loss to LOUD.
“I don’t think it really affected us in this match exactly because the reasons we made mistakes in this game are not related to feeling burnt out,” Chronicle said. “It feels more like we were caring too much about this match.”
Boaster echoed a similar sentiment when asked how he controls his emotions going into matches.
“If you really want to win you have to want to win less,” Boaster said. “Because if you really want to win, you’ll end up doing things or playing differently from how you normally play.”
LOUD and Fnatic had some history before this matchup at Valorant Champions 2023. The two faced off in the Grand Final of VCT LOCK//IN and Fnatic staved off a reverse sweep from LOUD and put together a massive comeback in the final map of the series.
Fnatic will continue their journey at the Valorant World Championship in the lower bracket as they are set to play again on August 18.
