Nobody anticipated the #VCT Lock/In grand final between #Fnatic and #LOUD to play out the way they did. The beginning of the game was almost an exact replica of Fnatic’s victory over #NAVI the day before. Thanks to a stellar display from the youthful Leo on Sova and a tough defensive effort that limited legendary LOUD duelist #aspas to just eight kills, Fnatic easily defeated LOUD on their choice of Ascent to open the series.

The best aspect of Fnatic’s map selection of Fracture was defense. After a 6-6 first half, Fnatic almost entirely shut down LOUD on the Brazilians’ attack side, dropping only the bonus round in the second half and repeatedly stopping LOUD’s strikes.

Aspas woke up and made space for LOUD to plant secure on Split, where they began to gather momentum. Less stepped up with some outstanding plays, and LOUD was able to give Fnatic their first map defeat of the entire championship despite Fnatic’s best attempts on assault.

LOUD would have to find a way to triumph on a map they hadn’t played all season, Fnatic’s selection of lotus, in order to pull it all the way back. LOUD produced on outstanding offensive side despite falling behind early (0-3) and winning numerous tight post-plants to take a 7-5 advantage into halftime. However, they did their finest job defensively, expertly using utility to slow the clock and push Fnatic into last-ditch attempts, winning the map by a 13-8 margin.

LOUD walked right onto another strong Fnatic map choice on Icebox with their best attack side of the series, taking complete control of the map and destroying the Fnatic defense with a 9-3 first half. With all the momentum in the world and the loud home audience behind them. Fnatic started to make an unbelievable recovery despite LOUD taking pistol and anti-eco, winning nine consecutive games to go up 12-11 before LOUD pulled together a defensive round in the final round of regulation to force OT.

The Brazilian audience was silenced as Fnatic crushed the B site on attack to finish the incredible Icebox turnaround and prevent what would have been a historic grand finals failure after Derke delivered an outstanding defensive triple with the Operator to give Fnatic the early OT edge.

After two years of being regarded as the best international VALORANT squad by a large majority, Fnatic has successfully obtained the coveted trophy. A trophy is being raised by the majority of the roster for the first time, but Chronicle made some history of his own by becoming the first VALORANT player to ever win two separate international VCT trophies after winning one with Gambit at Masters Berlin 2021. In contrast, LOUD narrowly missed becoming the first squad to capture consecutive championships.