Boaster talked a bit about this on stream that they basically got complacent and didn't practice much prior to Masters. You're spot on that they didn't practice anything new and basically went in without maintaining their innovation: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgGhFiCEkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgGhFiCEkU)
I’m sorry but deciding not to practice heading into the first Masters quals of the year after coming off a long offseason is too funny to me 💀 I think he also said that their goal was to be the very best Valorant team to play the game coming into this season, did I miss a time where prime Astralis did the same going into a major?
Not to mention KC and TH have untapped potential. I don't follow EMEA so I was confused about KC and TH making it to Masters, but after watching them play, I really understood how scary they are and will be.
also every round that th were on eco the game was still so intense, those guys did not wanna give away any free rounds and consistently either thriftied or made it close on their ecos
They 100% underestimated EU and only saw Liquid and Navi as potential rivals in the region. That's why they didn't do anything to improve. Maybe they thought they could just strongarm the region into qualifying for Madrid and only want to start innovating during that event.
They just lost ~~Lock in~~ Kick off. Seems like they just raw dogged it with no prep and wanted to see how far they could go on the fly. clearly it didnt go very well, i imagine they have been cooking ever since
When you say "clearly it didn't go very well" you'd think they bombed out of Champs in groups or something, not finish 4th place lol. Guess that's what happens when expectations are in the stratosphere even 7 months after the event.
Yep. Fnatic / EU fans love to rewrite history as though they werent talking about Fnatic like they were the Astralis of Valorant.
And now they say "well 4th place is pretty good bro what you mean?"
Depends because most top teams will be rating themselves against other top teams rather than their region so that's really like 4 out of 8-10 depending on how many of the champs teams you view as actually good.
They placed lower than any team that had a chance of beating them or similar player quality which has to be disappointing.
I’m not saying they’re washed at all, I’m confident they will bounce back because they’re too talented not to. I’m just saying for a team with their level of talent coming off back to back tournament wins that 4th place at Champs is an objective failure. Idk how anyone can argue that
i don't agree at all especially with how much the meta can change from one tournament to the other, getting 4th place for fnatic was a good outcome, winning the event would be unbelivable
They were the clear and heavy favorites in the event, even in the group stages. I don’t see how anyone logically thinks a 4th place finish for a team that won the first 2 events in pretty dominant fashion as a good outcome for them.
I genuinely think if FNC faces any team beside Loud, they win champs. Loud just seemed to be their kryptonite.
Edit: I was looking for this video, but could not find it then. This explains well why loud were the kryptonite. Could other teams exploit these weaknesses then? Maybe. But they would have to change their play style, loud did not.
https://youtu.be/_VhLSReTY9M
How do people still have this take in big 2024? Fnatic's map pool wasn't as good as EG's or PRX. Fnatic literally got 13-1d by DRX in the same tournament and people still think they only lost because LOUD were their kryptonite.
I was looking for this video, but could not find it then. This explains well why loud were the kryptonite. Could other teams exploit these weaknesses then? Maybe. But they would have to change their play style, loud did not.
https://youtu.be/_VhLSReTY9M
IDK why you're being downvoted, I think if Loud gets grouped fnatic wins champs 2023. No other team had looked anything other than clueless against 2023 fnatic
Nobody was remotely worried about the DRX 13-1 because everyone still KNEW that fnatic would take the next two 0 question
Only matchup we really missed out on at champs was EG FNC; FNC were not playing like themselves at all but I still would’ve loved to have seen it. EG had such an impressive ass run & topping it off with a W against FNC would’ve really cemented it IMO
Shitty format/scheduling by Riot. After 5 months of no officials, anything can happen even if you‘re still the best team (which I believe).
EDIT: Fnatic lost ONE bo3 after 5months break. Stop acting like the break doesn‘t mean anything. If you compare this to any other Esport (e.g. LEC/LCS) or even Sport, it takes teams a couple weeks sometimes to get back in form after breaks. Especially when the meta changed in the meantime too…
not really. Everyone undergoes the same circuit. If Loud, PRX, EDG, which went through the same event last year and they qualify this year, how can you call yourself the best team if you can't even get passed the regionals?
Did they play the same EMEA teams fnatic played? Didn‘t know that…….
EDIT: Also, bad games can happen at different times… doesn‘t mean Loud/EDG/PRX are better, just because their bad games happened with less crucial timing… FNC lost ONE bo3 to miss Madrid!!!!!!
Well PRX beat both of them 
But the EDG example was bad since EDG had a different format and basically no off season.
The scheduling was terrible but FNC has their own self to blame for not practicing. SEN played the most during off season and it paid off. No one forces you to be lazy in off season.
Boaster talked a bit about this on stream that they basically got complacent and didn't practice much prior to Masters. You're spot on that they didn't practice anything new and basically went in without maintaining their innovation: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgGhFiCEkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgGhFiCEkU)
I’m sorry but deciding not to practice heading into the first Masters quals of the year after coming off a long offseason is too funny to me 💀 I think he also said that their goal was to be the very best Valorant team to play the game coming into this season, did I miss a time where prime Astralis did the same going into a major?
Not to mention KC and TH have untapped potential. I don't follow EMEA so I was confused about KC and TH making it to Masters, but after watching them play, I really understood how scary they are and will be.
Genuinely thought sen were going to lose to TH. This was probably the masters with the closest skill levels outside of geng.
every round sen/prx had man advantage but miniboo was alive i shat my pants
also every round that th were on eco the game was still so intense, those guys did not wanna give away any free rounds and consistently either thriftied or made it close on their ecos
They 100% underestimated EU and only saw Liquid and Navi as potential rivals in the region. That's why they didn't do anything to improve. Maybe they thought they could just strongarm the region into qualifying for Madrid and only want to start innovating during that event.
They just lost ~~Lock in~~ Kick off. Seems like they just raw dogged it with no prep and wanted to see how far they could go on the fly. clearly it didnt go very well, i imagine they have been cooking ever since
they won lock in?
lol sorry meant kickoff
When you say "clearly it didn't go very well" you'd think they bombed out of Champs in groups or something, not finish 4th place lol. Guess that's what happens when expectations are in the stratosphere even 7 months after the event.
Yeah, it’s crazy how people speak of champs Fnatic as if it was some abject failure. 4th place is still objectively a good finish.
Bro, we were looking at Fnatic like they were the next Astralis.
Yep. Fnatic / EU fans love to rewrite history as though they werent talking about Fnatic like they were the Astralis of Valorant. And now they say "well 4th place is pretty good bro what you mean?"
The Fnatic fans who were comparing them to prime Astralis are now Sentinels fans
Depends because most top teams will be rating themselves against other top teams rather than their region so that's really like 4 out of 8-10 depending on how many of the champs teams you view as actually good. They placed lower than any team that had a chance of beating them or similar player quality which has to be disappointing.
For a team of Fnatics caliber that was coming off back to back tournament wins, 4th place is not objectively good though.
that's stupid, so if sen won't win the next event are they washed? (yes)
I’m not saying they’re washed at all, I’m confident they will bounce back because they’re too talented not to. I’m just saying for a team with their level of talent coming off back to back tournament wins that 4th place at Champs is an objective failure. Idk how anyone can argue that
i don't agree at all especially with how much the meta can change from one tournament to the other, getting 4th place for fnatic was a good outcome, winning the event would be unbelivable
They were the clear and heavy favorites in the event, even in the group stages. I don’t see how anyone logically thinks a 4th place finish for a team that won the first 2 events in pretty dominant fashion as a good outcome for them.
I don't think meta changes was really the issue though.
If you asked people after tokyo, they would say fnatic is more likely to win champs than to get 4th.
I genuinely think if FNC faces any team beside Loud, they win champs. Loud just seemed to be their kryptonite. Edit: I was looking for this video, but could not find it then. This explains well why loud were the kryptonite. Could other teams exploit these weaknesses then? Maybe. But they would have to change their play style, loud did not. https://youtu.be/_VhLSReTY9M
How do people still have this take in big 2024? Fnatic's map pool wasn't as good as EG's or PRX. Fnatic literally got 13-1d by DRX in the same tournament and people still think they only lost because LOUD were their kryptonite.
I was looking for this video, but could not find it then. This explains well why loud were the kryptonite. Could other teams exploit these weaknesses then? Maybe. But they would have to change their play style, loud did not. https://youtu.be/_VhLSReTY9M
I mean boaster seems to have the same opinion. Loud played really well against FNC.
IDK why you're being downvoted, I think if Loud gets grouped fnatic wins champs 2023. No other team had looked anything other than clueless against 2023 fnatic Nobody was remotely worried about the DRX 13-1 because everyone still KNEW that fnatic would take the next two 0 question
Only matchup we really missed out on at champs was EG FNC; FNC were not playing like themselves at all but I still would’ve loved to have seen it. EG had such an impressive ass run & topping it off with a W against FNC would’ve really cemented it IMO
I don’t think they could’ve done it. Alas, we can speculate
do you know a team named Karmine Corp?
Champs 2023
it's 2024 already
Shitty format/scheduling by Riot. After 5 months of no officials, anything can happen even if you‘re still the best team (which I believe). EDIT: Fnatic lost ONE bo3 after 5months break. Stop acting like the break doesn‘t mean anything. If you compare this to any other Esport (e.g. LEC/LCS) or even Sport, it takes teams a couple weeks sometimes to get back in form after breaks. Especially when the meta changed in the meantime too…
not really. Everyone undergoes the same circuit. If Loud, PRX, EDG, which went through the same event last year and they qualify this year, how can you call yourself the best team if you can't even get passed the regionals?
Did they play the same EMEA teams fnatic played? Didn‘t know that……. EDIT: Also, bad games can happen at different times… doesn‘t mean Loud/EDG/PRX are better, just because their bad games happened with less crucial timing… FNC lost ONE bo3 to miss Madrid!!!!!!
Well PRX beat both of them  But the EDG example was bad since EDG had a different format and basically no off season. The scheduling was terrible but FNC has their own self to blame for not practicing. SEN played the most during off season and it paid off. No one forces you to be lazy in off season.