Numbers game: Why Fnatic are a cut above the rest in VCT EMEA

If you’re working out your own personal tier list of VALORANT teams competing in the VCT EMEA 2023 season, there’s really only one proper candidate for the top spot. The trio of NAVI, FUT Esports, and Vitality have been excellent, but Fnatic is truly in a tier all by themselves.

After four matches over three weeks, Fnatic leads the league with a 4-0 record, having only lost a single map to BBL Esports in a surprisingly one-sided game on Ascent. Since the return of Alfajer, they’ve only gotten more dangerous, winning all four of their maps since by no less than seven rounds each.

Their dominance is reflected in their individual numbers, too, their players are crowding the top of the leaderboards in major statistical categories. Of the top seven players in K/D after four matches, four of those players are from Fnatic: Leo in third, Derke in fourth, Alfajer in fifth, and Chronicle in seventh, according to VLR.

The same amount of dominance is displayed in the KAST (kill, assist, survive, trade) percentage category, with four Fnatic players in the top seven. One player in particular, Derke, is single-handedly dominating multiple major stat categories all by himself: he’s currently first in ACS, damage per round, kills per round, and opening kills per round.

This incredible display of individual performances across all of Fnatic has them leading the EMEA pack in round differential with +42, and that includes the aforementioned close win over BBL, where they actually lost more rounds across the series than they won.

A path is available for Fnatic to potentially go 9-0 in the VCT EMEA season, but it’s not an easy one. Fnatic has yet to face the trio of excellent teams that are all currently 3-1 mentioned earlier in NAVI, Vitality, and FUT Esports. Fnatic is also set to lose one of their most historically dominant maps in Icebox when it’s swapped out of the competitive rotations.

Still, the cohesiveness of Fnatic’s stars has them playing on a whole other level, and it would be nothing less than shocking if this team failed to miss out on Masters Tokyo via a finish outside of the top four in VCT EMEA.