KOI and Fnatic get VCT EMEA League 2023 off to a flying start

The VCT EMEA League 2023 is off to a flying start; the first day is history. After many months of waiting and great expectations regarding the international competition, EMEA’s most important VALORANT league has kicked off. We have KOI, and Fnatic got off to a flying start by winning the season’s first match.

Remember that in this new franchise ecosystem, ten squads from all over the EMEA region are selected for the Riot Games franchise program. Almost every day of this league, throughout its two-month duration, will have two matches, and the opening day delighted us with the following:

• KOI vs. NaVi
• Fnatic vs. Giants

A spectacular start to the VCT EMEA League

There is no better way to kick off the EMEA League than with a week full of matches at the highest competitive level of VALORANT. In these five days of the first week, we will have teams competing twice, giving us a taste of what we will enjoy for the next eight weeks.

KOI and NaVi give us a heart-stopping series on day one

While it is true that KOI managed to take the 2-0 win, this result does not show what we experienced in the series. Ultimately, the series ends thanks to small details of KOI and six (6); you read six overtimes right.

The series was played in Ascent (NaVi) and Lotus (KOI).

Ascent

KOI made a really impressive debut in this VCT EMEA League 2023, thanks to a spectacular performance by Russian Bogdan “Sheydos” Naumov (199 ADR, 322 ACS, and 1.88 Rating) they managed to take a comfortable 13-7 victory in Ascent. On the other hand, NaVi didn’t realize that the tournament had started, and their players seemed slightly nervous.

Lotus

In Lotus, how they did it changed as NaVi woke up. The Ukrainian team started the second map with a breathtaking pace of play led by Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin and Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov. As a result, NaVi won the first half 9-3, and we all thought the series would be defined on the third map. However, KOI didn’t think so, as with the help of Polish Patryk “starxo” Kopczyński, they managed to even the score and send the match to overtime.

In the overtime, we observed a back-and-forth match, with both teams sharing the round wins. However, in the end, KOI prevailed after six overtime to win 20-18.

Fnatic brings out its champion tag and tears Giants to shreds

While it is true that making a debut in the top category can be challenging, doing it against Fnatic, the current VCT LOCK//IN champions, increases the difficulty even more. The Giants could not face Fnatic in this debut and fell with a score of 0-2.

The series was played in Icebox (Fnatic) and Split (Giants).

Icebox

Fnatic showed why they are the favorites to win the champions trophy in this VCT EMEA League 2023. As a result, the orange team went all out in Icebox to take a flawless victory with a score of 13-3.

In this map, Fnatic was completely superior to the Spanish team. In addition, four of the five players of the orange machine finished with more than a 1.15 Rating. However, the one who made the biggest impact was Leo “Leo” Jannesson, who finished with a 1.42 Rating, 178 ADR, and 275 ACS.

Split

Giants were close to giving the blow and enforcing their map pick against Fnatic, as the Spaniards started very strong and managed to win six rounds on the attack. However, Fnatic had Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov (147 ADR, 222 ACS, and 1.29 Rating) and Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev (168 ADR, 273 ACS, and 1.15 Rating) at their best and managed to take a tight 13-11 victory.

Header: VCT EMEA