Fnatic to face Paper Rex in VALORANT Masters Toronto Grand Final

VALORANT Masters Toronto has determined its Grand Final match-up after EMEA team Fnatic defeated VCT China’s Wolves Esports in a 3-1 Lower Bracket Final.

Tomorrow at 6 pm BST, Fnatic will face off against VCT Pacific’s Paper Rex, who qualified through yesterday’s Upper Bracket Final.

Fnatic kicked off its map pick, Split, with a dominant attack half (10-2). Showing improved diversity in terms of pacing, the team had an explosive start and then diverted back to its typical slow playstyle. Wolves visibly struggled to adapt to its opponent despite some good defence strategies. Meanwhile, Fnatic consistently remained fearless yet composed.

During the second half, however, Wolves showed why Split has been one of the squad’s stronger maps at Masters Toronto. Like Fnatic, the Chinese roster secured the pistol and bonus rounds to enable an early snowball. Moreover, Wolves repeatedly punished Fnatic for its proactive defence plays. After eight consecutive round wins, Fnatic finally adopted a more patient approach to stop the attackers’ comeback attempt (13-9).

For the second match, Wolves picked one of Fnatic’s favourite maps, Icebox. This risk did not pay off for Wolves as Fnatic taught the young guns a history lesson on how teams used to win Icebox in 2021. As a consequence, Wolves suffered a 3-9 attack half, losing the pistol round and often struggling with Fnatic’s stalling utility and retakes.

Securing a much-needed pistol on the defence, the Chinese underdog made another comeback attempt. This time, Fnatic shot down its rival early, thanks to a second-round clutch from Kajetan ‘kaajak’ Haremski. With a kill-death ratio of 18/8 and a 285 average combat score (ACS), the Jett player helped his squad steal Icebox 13-4.

Although Lotus saw Fnatic take both pistol rounds, it was the most competitive map of the series so far. Wolves punished the EMEA squad twice for investing heavily into the third round instead of sticking to the common bonus round approach. While hero plays from Austin ‘crashies’ Roberts evened out the half (6-6), Wolves took over on its attack side.

The underdog repeatedly won early fights for A control to secure numbers advantage. Moreover, Liu ‘Spring’ Jiunting had an excellent performance with impactful lurks and consistent frags. On his comfort agent, Spring delivered 300 ACS and a 26/11 kill-death ratio. On the other hand, Fnatic was often caught off guard by its opponent’s unpredictable pace changes. The team only won four rounds on the defence and was denied a 3-0 series (10-13).

For the fourth and final map, Wolves took Fnatic to Ascent for a battle between two double-sentinel compositions. At first, it looked like Wolves could continue its momentum from Lotus with a pistol-round win on attack. However, Emir ‘Alfajer’ Beder quickly turned Ascent into his playground. On defence alone, the Chamber player delivered 14 kills to help his team achieve an 8-4 half.

On its attack side, Fnatic then looked firmly in control. Steered by intelligent calling from in-game leader (IGL) Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett, the EMEA squad won five out of six rounds in the second half. After losing the majority of early aim duels, Wolves had to concede Ascent to its rival 5-13.

With today’s loss, Wolves Esports’ journey at Masters Toronto has concluded. During its first international event, the underdog from VCT China achieved an impressive third place.

Meanwhile, lower bracket winner Fnatic is heading towards tomorrow’s Grand Final, where the EMEA team will meet the ferocious Paper Rex train from VCT Pacific. This best-of-five series will decide who will lift the Masters Toronto trophy and take home $350,000 (~£260,000) in prize money.

In addition to the final showdown, tomorrow’s broadcast will feature a showmatch between VALORANT content creators and personalities to introduce the game’s new map, Corrode.

Fans can tune into the action via the official Twitch and YouTube broadcasts.