MIBR and Fnatic have confident starts at VALORANT Champions 2025

Day four at VALORANT Champions 2025 saw Americas underdog MIBR and EMEA’s Fnatic take decisive victories in their opening matches.

As a result, Group B opponents, Bilibili Gaming and Rex Regum Qeon, have been demoted to the lower bracket to fight for survival.

After an early VCT Americas Stage 2 elimination, MIBR looked rejuvenated and well-prepared for its opening match in Paris. Contrary to the predictions of many, the region’s third seed achieved a 2-0 upset against China’s Stage 2 champion Bilibili Gaming (BLG).

For BLG’s map pick, Haven, MIBR played the Viper/Omen team composition, popularised by Pacific’s Gen.G at Masters Toronto, for the first time. This switch-up also highlighted why a strong macro-understanding is paramount in the current meta, as teams must be able to adjust to many different compositions.

To BLG’s demise, the Chinese team seemed ill-prepared against the Gen.G comp, which is incredibly strong in post-plant scenarios. On its defence, BLG lacked the proactivity required to gather information and space across the map and deny MIBR’s planting attempts. Moreover, Andrew ‘Verno’ Maust had a stellar first showing in Paris. With a kill-death-assist ratio (KDA) of 18/3/3, the in-game leader (IGL) broke the global KDA record previously set by former Sentinels star Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo.

On the back of two won pistol rounds, MIBR confidently secured the first map 13-2.

The second map, Corrode, began with a scrappy half from both teams. BLG ‘s Deadlock utility helped the team stack and defend the sites targeted by its opponent. MIBR, on the other hand, showed some convincing set executes but often struggled to burst through site chokes with Waylay as its solo duelist.

However, after a 5-7 attack half, MIBR was firmly in control on the defence. The fourth pistol round win for the LATAM team was followed by a fast set strat on A, where Erick ‘aspas’ Santos aced on Waylay to secure the bonus. In the following buy rounds, MIBR combined its Odin and Operator with diligent mid control to suppress BLG’s prodding across the map. BLG had to rely on big ultimates to find a few round wins and ultimately fell 9-13.

The second series of the day was a rematch between VCT Pacific Stage 2 runner-up Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ) and VCT EMEA’s third seed Fnatic. After previously meeting at Masters Toronto, the re-encounter saw RRQ once again stunned by Fnatic’s curveballs, losing the series 0-2.

Just like in Toronto, Fnatic premiered a new Ascent team composition, forcing its opponent to make on-the-fly adjustments. Instead of its previous Vyse/Chamber sentinel combination, Fnatic played Vyse and Sage, which had a massive impact on the team’s double-pistol round wins. Although RRQ had solid moments, in particular from Bryan ‘Kushy’ Setiawan, the heavily coach-reliant team struggled to adjust to Fnatic’s new comp. 

In the first half, the Pacific maintained a loose B-hold against a comp that has a weak A-take potential. Moreover, Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov had a dominant performance on Vyse. His ace in the second half helped Fnatic continue its defensive momentum and win Ascent 13-10.

On Abyss, it was Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett who took the spotlight. In the face of RRQ’s first pitol round win and methodical site takes, the Fnatic IGL delivered impactful frags and Astra utility to help his team bounce back.

After a 5-7 defence, Boaster’s impact carried into the second half, where he helped secure the second pistol and the bonus round. Overall, Fnatic looked calm and comfortable on Abyss’ attack side. Leveraging well-executed Waylay/Breach setups, the EMEA squad didn’t lose a single attack round, stealing RRQ’s map pick 13-7.

Boaster concluded the map with a 24/8/5 KDA and 53 headshot percentage (HS%).

Following the debut of Group B today, all four groups at VALORANT Champions have concluded their opening matches. Today’s winners, MIBR and Fnatic, will meet in Paris on September 18th. 

Meanwhile, BLG and RRQ will face off in an elimination match on September 20th.

However, the first round of winners’ matches in the Group Stage will already take place on September 17th. The day will kick off with a best-of-three (BO3) series between Group A’s Paper Rex and GIANTX. Afterwards, Group C’s DRX and NRG will take the stage.

Fans can tune into all VALORANT Champions 2025 matches via VCT’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.