The Cinderella story continues for KRÜ Esports as they defeated Fnatic in the VALORANT Champions quarterfinals and will move on to face Gambit Esports.
Fnatic earned the top seed in Group D without dropping a series after defeating Cloud9 Blue and earning a win over Vision Strikers. KRÜ had a slightly harder time in group play as they lost their first match against Team Liquid before managing to earn the second seed in Group B with a win against FURIA and another incredible victory over Sentinels.
The teams started their quarterfinals matchup on Haven, KRÜ’s map pick. Fnatic won the first two rounds on offense, but KRÜ stopped them in round three. Klaus secured an impressive quad-kill in round four to tie the game, and they won round five for good measure. But Fnatic dominated the remainder of the first half and secured an 8-4 scoreline.
Fnatic won the pistol round again, but KRÜ won rounds 14 and 15. Fnatic did win the next round by defusing the Spike, but the South American team dominated the remainder of the half. Keznit won a two-vs-one situation in round 17, and his team continued their comeback by winning the next two rounds. Fnatic were one round away from winning the first map when KRÜ won three-straight rounds to take the game into overtime.
KRÜ won the first round of overtime, but Fnatic survived by winning round 26. KRÜ then won the final two rounds to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
The second map on Icebox was Fnatic’s map pick, and for good reason. They absolutely dominated KRÜ in the first half and ended the half with a 10-2 scoreline. Keznit secured an ace in round three, but this was the highlight of the half for his team.
Fnatic continued their onslaught by winning the pistol round in the second half. KRÜ finally won consecutive rounds in rounds 14 and 15, but Fnatic stoped them in round 16 by defusing the Spike. KRÜ won the next two rounds to hold onto the hope of a 2-0 sweep before Fnatic won round 19 to take the series to map three on Split.
KRÜ maintained an excellent defense in the first half and forced Fnatic to fight tooth and nail for every part of the map. The teams took turns winning rounds, although KRÜ maintained a steady lead and ended the half 7-5. They found more success on offense and won the first three rounds of the second half to gain a 10-5 lead.
Fnatic stopped the bleeding in round 16 by defusing the Spike, but KRÜ won the next two rounds and were one round away from a semifinals appearance. Fnatic fought back and won rounds 19 and 20 by defusing the Spike, but KRÜ had no interest in letting them come back. They forced their way onto the B site in round 21 and planted the spike while every player was still alive. Fnatic couldn’t retake the site and were ultimately sent home by the South American team.
KRÜ will face Gambit Esports in the semifinals on Dec. 11 at 2 pm CT.
