Fnatic, NRG march into VALORANT Champions 2025 upper final

Fnatic and NRG punched their tickets to the upper-bracket final at VALORANT Champions 2025 on Sunday, each surviving three-map thrillers in Paris.

Hours before their rematch with Paper Rex, Fnatic announced star sentinel Emir “Alfajer” Beder would miss the series due to health issues.

Veteran Domagoj “doma” Fancev flew in on short notice and slotted straight into Alfajer’s roles — then helped deliver a signature Fnatic heist.

PRX struck first on Bind, 13-10, despite Kajetan “kaajak” Haremski’s outrageous Yoru performance (30 kills in 23 rounds).

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Fnatic answered on Haven, a map PRX had avoided in Paris.

A second-round thrifty ignited an 8-4 half, and Fnatic snowballed the pistol and bonus rounds to a 13-4 equalizer behind another strong performance from kaajak (20/8).

Lotus produced the turning point. Down 9-3 at the half after PRX’s early snowball, Fnatic slammed the door on defense — winning 10 straight rounds for a 13-9 finish.

Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov was unstoppable, while doma landed a clutch 1v2 that helped flip the momentum.

With the 2-1 upset, Fnatic advance to the upper final — already surpassing their previous Champions bests — while PRX drop into the lower bracket.

In the day’s second semifinal, NRG edged MIBR 2-1 in an all-Americas clash defined by nerve and overtime brilliance — and by Erick “aspas” Santos’s record-shattering output in defeat.

NRG stole MIBR’s Abyss in overtime, 16-14, behind late heroics from Ethan “Ethan” Arnold and Adam “mada” Pampuch.

MIBR struck back on Haven with a 13-4 rout, suffocating NRG’s defaults and controlling the map with clinical Killjoy setups.

Corrode decided it all: MIBR claimed yet another pistol to lead 7-5 at the half, but an NRG eco round swung momentum, and the North Americans closed 16-14 in overtime after clutch moments from mada, Sam “s0m” Oh, and Brock “brawk” Somerhalder.

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Despite the loss, aspas posted a historic 80 kills over three maps, keeping MIBR alive until the final rounds.

Following their wins, Fnatic and NRG will collide in the upper-bracket final on October 3 at Accor Arena.

Paper Rex will face Team Heretics in the lower bracket on Monday, September 29, while MIBR will meet DRX later in the day.