VCT Masters Tokyo Team Introductions: EMEA edition

When you see everything stacked up against you, surely you bow to the kings.

 

VCT Masters: Tokyo is coming up in less than a week and will be the second international Valorant tournament of 2023. A total of 12 teams will be attending the tournament- including 4 from EMEA. There’ll also be representatives from the other regions, but we’re not talking about them. Instead, we’ll be speaking about the 4 EMEA representatives that seek to stake our claim against international rivals. The kings of Europe, the four horsemen, the second coming of Europe’s talent.

We’ve already seen what EMEA can do in international events this year. 6 of the 8 series in the semifinals of LOCK//IN included an EMEA roster. Natus Vincere made it all the way to the quarterfinals. And of course, the King of both Valorant and EMEA, Fnatic, defeated LOUD in one of the most stunning fashions. That series had everything, intrigue, top-level Valorant, a powerful lead as a statement, the undeniable strength of the near-reverse sweep, and of course, the ultimate comeback.

With that said, let’s meet the teams:

 

Fnatic

We began the year crowning them as the ‘Clowns of Chaos’, mostly because well they were great at inciting chaos in their opposition, but mostly because we hadn’t seen them at their full power. Coming into Masters: Tokyo, we simply refer to them now, as the ‘Kings of Europe.’ Utterly ruthless in their precision (gameplay, tactics, and firepower), there’s very few exploitable holes in their gameplay, and that’s not even counting the raw skill.

 

Highest Winrate Map: Lotus (90% over 10 games)

Despite having not played the map much, that stems from the map’s age rather than Fnatic’s willingness. Their performance on this map is nothing short of legendary, especially when they get serious. To put it into context, they have only lost this map once, to LOUD, at LOCK//IN. Since then, they have been undefeated on it.

In terms of maps played since their new roster was assembled, Fnatic have Ascent, Split, and Haven as their top favorites. Haven ranks as their most played and they were undefeated on it up until their most recent series against Liquid, with a 89% winrate across 9 games. Split had 83% across 6 games and Ascent had 67% across 6 games. To put it simply, they are heavily favored in most Bo3s and even some Bo5s with at least their top three maps in their pockets.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses (Potential Concerns)

Fnatic is a very well-rounded roster, with virtually a star performer at every ‘role’. With that said, their greatest strength comes from solid foundational drilling and fundamentals. They have a gameplan and style but have shown to be very fluid. Mid-round calling is a specialty of IGL “Boaster”, and they have used it to great success, coupled with the immense talent on their roster to practically pull rounds back from the brink at times.

A massive concern does come from Fnatic’s recent loss to Liquid. Despite their strong performance throughout the season and most of Playoffs, they ran out of gas during the Grand Finals, where visibly they looked shaken. The long season and tough hours have contributed to massive exhaustion and burnout. If they don’t manage to recover in time, we could see some disappointing performances out of Fnatic once more.

 

Team Liquid

At VCT LOCK//IN, we framed Team Liquid as a dark horse, coming in with the title of ‘The Gilded Cavalry.’ We wanted to show how stacked their lineup was, but unfortunately, on paper doesn’t always deliver in officials and Team Liquid bombed out of LOCK//IN early. However, coming into Master: Tokyo, Liquid are fresh off their win in VCT EMEA (crowned champions there), they beat Fnatic (even larger accomplishment), and look better than ever in terms of synergy. In terms of official dark horses, there are few stronger candidates than Liquid.

 

Highest Winrate Map: Split (86% over 7 games)

Since forming this roster, Split has been their best performing map. The long sightlines and crucial rotate timings makes this a powerful map for a team with the firepower and eagle eyes to spot the openings.

Ascent, Fracture and Bind are next ranked. Ascent currently leans on a 70% winrate across 10 games. Their Fracture has a 67% winrate from 6 games and Bind has 57% from 7 games. They’re not extremely dominant on any map, however, they’ve shown to be able to provide a fight against any team on most the maps.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses (Potential Concerns)

Liquid’s style is very rooted in fundamentals and solid defaults. IGL “Redgar” has a strong liking for systems and uses his team as functional pieces to slowly draw out the opponents and defeat them from afar. It also does not hurt that their roster is absolutely stacked with some of EMEA’s most mechanically gifted. Aside from Fnatic, there are very few teams who can boast a roster of this many mechanical individuals in EMEA. Perhaps most importantly, Liquid come into the tournament with two former Masters winners and all the experience they can offer.

However, there is a concern for stylistic clashes. Not all the members share similar playstyles, and this can be a concern in terms of ideological approaches to situations. Moreover, a part of Liquid’s success does stem from their incredible firepower. Form in tactical FPS is always a present concern and if it falters, Liquid may just look a shadow of their selves.

 

FUT Esports

Of all the teams in EMEA, possibly none strike fear as hard and as quickly as the Turkish rosters. Quickly recognized for their mechanical prowess and signature aggression, it’s pretty much an assurance that the opponent will quickly find themselves battered. FUT in particular, have shown impressive mid-round calling that succeeds in best placing their talent to shine. Having placed third in the regular season, they are a devasting roster to watch out for.

 

Highest Winrate Map: Pearl (67% over 6 games)

An unusual pick for an EMEA team, something about the map works incredibly well for FUT’s blend of tactical executes and mid-round reads. Since the formation of this roster, they have maintained a persistently high winrate on this map. Furthermore, only one of their losses on the map came in recent times, that being to NA’VI during the regular season.

Lotus, Haven, and Bind are their next strongest maps. Lotus comes in a close second with a 64% winrate. Thanks to their unusually strong performances on Pearl, Lotus is a map that FUT has been force into play during pick-ban. They have been losing it more in recent times but during the regular season it was their strongest map. Haven comes in with a 57% winrate across 7 games and prior to their loss to Vitality, had a four-game winstreak on it. Bind has a 57% winrate across 7 games as well.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses (Potential Concerns)

Running as a cohesive unit, FUT’s greatest asset and strength is their wolf-pack mentality as they take duels. It never feels isolated, and it never feels fair against these Turkish aim-stars. Their mid-round calling is also excellent thanks to “MrFaliN”, and they have the talent to turn in those crucial moments.

The concern comes from tempo. FUT have shown a pattern of faltering when their tempo and round-streaks are broken. Adaptations and answers to certain team compositions have proven to take several rounds to answer. Should they fail to adapt quickly, FUT could very well find themselves backs against the walls quickly.

 

Natus Vincere

NA’VI. A question mark surrounds the squad now, having barely qualified through Playoffs. Despite a strong regular season performance, exhaustion has reared for the squad. If they can recover, they will swiftly remind the world why they were to be feared. Old-school tactical calling mixed in with new age firepower is a deadly blend of veteran and killer that makes NA’VI a powerful force to contend with.

 

Highest Winrate Map: Pearl (100% over 8 games)

Another team, like FUT, who favors Pearl as their comfort pick map. The long sightlines work well for any team that enjoy executions or have a strong sniper player, but especially for NA’VI, who have both.

Ascent is their second map of choice, with a staggering 88% winrate across 8 games and then they still have Fracture at 75% to contend with. From there it becomes more questionable, but they have a decent winrate for Bind and Split lending them a strong pool for Bo3s. It will be the Bo5s that ultimately test their current depth.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses (Potential Concerns)

NA’VI comes into Masters: Tokyo with an insanely stacked roster. As a blend of old-school IGLing from “ANGE1” and new-school aimers like “Shao”, “Zyppan”, and “suygetsu”, they are a ferocious band of default stars who can individually find picks before cohesively coming together as a unit. They have a strong instinct for the flow of the game as well and lean on it hard to read the game state.

Concerns for them coming in would be faltering performances in Playoffs, potential anti-stratting from other teams as NA’VI has not shown a good track record of always adapting quick enough to that. Lastly, their map pool depth has shown a winrate that is not as robust and could be exploited by other regions.

 

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In our next instalment of EMEA introductions, we’ll be introducing players to watch out for from EMEA ahead of Masters: Tokyo. Keep an eye out!

Read all the latest Valorant news on Strafe Esports. Click here for the preview of VCT Masters: Tokyo. All stats for this article taken from vlr.gg.

Credit: VCT Masters Tokyo // Valorant Esports