After suffering a surprising sweep during the 2024 VCT EMEA Kickoff event, Fnatic have fallen from their ivory tower and will miss the first international VALORANT tournament of the year.
The dominant European organization unexpectedly stumbled against popular French esports team Karmine Corp today, despite sporting the same superstar-laden roster from last year. With two straight losses, the team must now wait until April to compete in the next portion of the season, while Karmine Corp have earned their place at VCT Masters Madrid.
Throughout the series, Karmine Corp prevented Fnatic from gaining momentum by winning significant rounds in a row. Off the back of Martin “marteen” Pátek’s collective 44 kills over two maps and his destructive 30 percent headshot rate on map two, the Blue Wall locked in their spot for Madrid while still keeping their regional hopes for a title alive.
Fnatic, on the other hand, were clearly struggling to find a working strategy against Karmine Corp and were punished time and time again for their lack of team play. It also didn’t help that they were being outdueled by Karmine Corp throughout the series, leading to an early mid-season vacation.
This is the first international tournament Fnatic have missed in three years, dating back to when they failed to qualify for VCT Masters Berlin in 2021. It’s a shocking conclusion to their run, especially after they stormed onto the global VALORANT scene over the last few years as one of the scariest teams in the world.
With this result, Europe’s hopes and dreams for an international trophy lie with Karmine Corp and Team Heretics, who also pulled off an upset against Natus Vincere earlier today. They’ll now have to wait for their upcoming opponents as the rest of the world finishes off their Kickoff tournaments over the next several days.
