Valorant Champions says goodbye to both XERXIA and FURIA Esports as they lose their elimination matches to KRÜ Esports and Fnatic respectively.

XERXIA has competed at all international events this year, with consecutive placing getting worse. Regardless they remained the staple second seed from Asia-Pacific (APAC) throughout the year but unfortunately, their road has come to an end yet again.

FURIA Esports on the other hand has been spending most of this year trying to regain last year’s form as they failed to qualify for both Stage 1 Masters Reykjavík and Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen. Having managed to qualify for Champions yet again, the Brazilians were in high hopes that they had finally regained their footing, only to be shut down in groups.

BATTLE OF THE PINKS

The first elimination game was between KRÜ Esports from Chile and XERXIA from Thailand. Both teams were set to face each other after losing to FunPlus Phoenix and XSET respectively.

KRÜ picked Icebox for Map 1, and we quickly learned why they chose it. The Chilean side started off the first half hot, as they took nine of the first 10 rounds. XERXIA managed to win the final two rounds to close out the half 9–3. The second half remained in KRÜ’s favour as they continued their dominance to close out the map 13–4.

FLAWLESS + MAP POINT! @KRUesports | #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/FU6KiC0e9o

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) September 5, 2022

Having properly warmed up by now, XERXIA wasn’t going to let the Chileans wreak havoc on them and going into their map pick of Haven, the Thais focused up and showed no mercy as they took the first six rounds consecutively. KRÜ responded with a few rounds of their own but unfortunately, they remained at a disadvantage going into the half at 8–4. XERIXA’s Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsa-ard starts the second half’s pistol round hot with a clean 4K for himself. Try as they may, KRÜ weren’t able to show us a glimpse of their dominance from the previous map and lose Map 2, 7–13.

foxz stands his ground! @foxzfoxzfoxz | #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/uvS2gyHYKs

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) September 5, 2022

With the series tied up, the deciding map was to be played on Ascent. As a neutral map, it went as expected with both teams taking rounds but neither winning many consecutively. The first half closes out at 7–5 in favour of KRÜ Esports.

The second half however wasn’t as close. KRÜ had begun showing glimpses of their Map 1 form as they dominated XERXIA round after round to finally close out the map 13–6, and take the series 2–1.

10 rounds for @KRUesports! #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/1XSraePhr5

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) September 5, 2022

Unfortunately for Thai Valorant fans, this means the end of the road for XERXIA, they fought hard but they still have a long ways to go if they’re to ever stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Paper Rex, their fellow Southeast Asian comrades. As for KRÜ Esports, they’ll go on to face FunPlus Phoenix in Group C’s deciding match where the winner will proceed to the bracket stage to face DRX. You can catch that game live on 8 September at 10:00 PM (GMT+8).

THE FNATIC & FURIA-OUS

The next elimination match was between Fnatic and FURIA Esports where the winner will go on to face the underdogs of the tournament, 100 Thieves.

Map 1 was Fnatic’s pick of Icebox. Assuming Fnatic was confident going into this map, FURIA were quick to give the Europeans a run for their money managing to finish the first half with a two-round lead, leaving the score 7–5.

It's been a BATTLE so far on Icebox! @FURIA | #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/YQeDBe5mHr

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) September 5, 2022

Fnatic tried their best to regain momentum and win their map pick but it was too little too late as before we knew it, FURIA had closed out the map 13–9, bringing the series to 1–0 in favour of the Brazilians.

FURIA’s map pick was to be played next and that map was Breeze. Obviously annoyed at losing their own map pick, Fnatic came out swinging as they dominated the first half of the map. FURIA Esports only managed to take two rounds off of Fnatic before switching sides at the half with a scoreline of 9–2 in favour of Fnatic.

FURIA looked to be back on their feet in the second half as they won the first four rounds consecutively. Fnatic managed to answer back with two rounds of their own, bringing them to match-point. With the scoreline at 12–6, FURIA needed to go on a winning streak to be able to push the match into overtime, but after winning just one round, Fnatic managed to close out the map 13–7.

The third and final map of the series was to be played on Haven. Both teams fought tooth and nail in the first half, leaving the score even at 6–6 going into the second half. With the second half underway, it was a back-and-forth battle between the two to see who can get to match point first. With the score at 11–10 in favour of Fnatic, it was all or nothing for FURIA. Having just lost the last two rounds, Fnatic were able to secure series point.

SERIES POINT FOR @FNATIC! #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/vbOyW9VjME

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) September 5, 2022

FURIA managed to answer back with a round of their own but their efforts were short-lived as Fnatic closed out the map in the next round, ending the match 13–11 and winning the series 2–1 and just like that, the Brazilians run at this event came to an end. Fnatic will go on to play 100 Thieves in Group D’s deciding match and you can watch that match live on 9 September at 1:00 AM (GMT+8).