FNATIC eliminate Wolves Esports in four sets in VCT Masters Toronto Lower Final

The Valorant Masters Toronto tournament took place in June, with the Lower Finals at Enercare Centre on June 21 between FNATIC and Wolves Esports.

By Tristan Forde

Team FNATIC (FNC) defeated Wolves Esports (WOL) in four sets in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters Lower Finals in Toronto on June 21, earning a spot in the GrandFinals.

Teams and fans from across the world took over  the Enercare Centre as part of a jam-packed weekend event in the city, which had never hosted the tournament before. The Lower Finals on Saturday saw FNC— from the VCT EMEA region—and WOL—from the VCT CN region—battle for a spot in the GrandFinals on Sunday against the top-ranked VCT Pacific team, Paper Rex (PRX). 

With a difficult time in round 1 of the playoffs against Gen.G Esports, FNC were dropped down to the lower bracket. There, however, they went on an undefeated streak of defeating teams such as Rex Regum Qeon, Sentinels, and G2 Esports. WOL, on the other hand, managed to stay in the upper bracket until semi-finals when they were dropped down by PRX. The Chinese team, affiliated with British football club Wolverhampton Wanderers, was not expected to take down teams like tournament favourites Gen. G, but earned a spot in the top three.

With two of the flashiest and most expressive players in the VCT circuit—FNC Boaster and WOL SiuFattBB—going against each other, fans expected this game to feature a showcase of skill  between the two. Both of these players play an important role in keeping the team morale high and lightening the atmosphere throughout matches.

“[SiuFattBB’s] passion on the stage brings back the memories of me at my first event,” said Boaster before the match. “I’m hoping today is gonna be a flex-off, a dance-off.” 

Earlier on during the tournament, SiuFatBB posted on X, sharing how he had been a big fan of Boaster for three years, and how his now-opponent was one of his main inspirations in taking on the role of “In Game Leader”.

Cheers from the crowd and bright neon lights filled the arena as the teams made their walkouts and did their pre-game greetings. FNC chose the first map as “Split” while WOL chose to start the game on defence. 

With FNC entering into the game with a much more aggressive playstyle compared to WOL, they took a considerable 8-0 lead. Rookie FNC Kaajak led the leaderboards with 12 kills, 4 deaths, and 2 assists after those eight rounds.

WOL finally broke through in the ninth round, when the defence backed off of Site A, allowing FNC to take the site, but then regrouped and pushed back onto the site, both teams trading kills until only FNC Boaster and WOL Lysoar remained alive. With only 7 seconds left on the clock for Boaster to plant the spike, Lysoar stalled the time, winning WOL the round. 

“The first couple maps we played were passive, the game plan wasn’t like this but we couldn’t get into form as quickly as possible,” said WOL coach Fade.

The next round, FNC pushed onto Site A once more. However, Lysoar managed to kill FNC Alfajer right before he got the opportunity to use his ultimate, then took advantage of a teleport outplay the left Kaajak spinning in circles for his second kill. As FNC Crashies pushed the site to put a stop to Lysoar, SiuFatBB caught him with his back turned. 

With no chance of winning a 1v4, FNC Chronicles chose to retreat to his spawn and save his money for the next round. The score came to 2-8 as WOL began to strike a rhythm with their own full-force style of play.

After calling a timeout to recollect their thoughts, FNC came to recognize just how aggressively WOL were playing. A slower methodical strategy of choosing to play slow and hold angles instead of rushing head on allowed FNC to kill each of WOL one by one, resulting in a flawless round for FNC and a 9-2 lead. 

With fans roaring and players standing up and celebrating their pop-offs, WOL still managed to maintain the hype and enjoyment they had going despite such a large gap in the score. 

“Oh my goodness. This is a new one, seeing someone smiling after losing rounds,” said Boaster of SiuFatBB. “It was very inspirational seeing how unphased he was by the score.”

WOL slowly chipped away at the score, trying their best to even things out over the next few rounds, but FNC’s strategy and lead proved insurmountable as they took the first set 13-9. 

The second set initiated FNC on defence and WOL on attack. In an extremely similar fashion to the previous round, FNC managed to take a massive step forward early and left WOL behind in the dust. 

On Icebox for this round chosen by WOL, Boaster and Kaajak took advantage of numerous off-angles on the map to catch their opponents off guard on both offence and on defence. Kaajak topped the leaderboard with 16 kills, 8 deaths and 5 assists. 

FNC steamrolled this set 13-4 for a 2-0 lead over WOL, putting them one set away from qualifying for the Grand Finals.

Desperate to keep their run going, WOL and their fans brought a newfound energy straight into the third set on the map “Lotus”. Adding to the intensity, the teams ended up running a mirror composition where both teams consisted of the exact same agents on both sides. 

The game started off evenly, with the two teams trading rounds. FNC called for a very early timeout with the score at 3-2 for WOL. 

WOL Spring, playing as Viper, proved to be a crucial piece for WOL to remain consistent in the game. Manipulating and using Viper’s walls and smokes to allow easy access to sites, letting the Duelists on the team clear corners and leave FNC guessing, proved valuable as they found back in third set. 

Because the map Lotus has three sites instead of the average two, the defence were forced to spread out FNC capitalized on this by choosing to start full rushing onto one site while holding angles to halt WOL’s rotation onto site. FNC remained in the game tied at 6-6, then took the next round for a 7-6 lead.

The start of round 14 was quiet and slow, each team waiting for the other to make a mistake to capitalize on it. WOL kicked off with Spring doing a fake push onto A site while the rest of the team waited between B and C site. 

Then came the match’s most impressive individual play, beginning with FNC Alfajer on C site alone, with the rest of FNC still on B site. With a Marshall and a dream, he scoped down and trapped WOL Yuicaw in his sights, resulting in a kill. Then, as WOL Juicy tried to peak, Alfajer scored the wallbang just as he tried to retreat behind cover. 

Realizing the entire opposing team was present, Alfajer fell back deeper onto site to utilize cover and to buy time for his team to rotate and sandwich WOL’s remaining players. However, with the clock ticking down at 40 seconds WOL push onto site, leaving him as a lone combatant. Alfajer swung a corner and killed Spring, then peeked back around just as Lysoar painted a portrait of bullets all around his head, without landing a single shot. Alfajer swung back on the corner and got a fourth kill on SiuFatBB, now facing off against Lysoar, the last player standing for WOL.Alfajer hit one body shot on Lysoar, then with little time for the WOL player to escape, jumped from around the corner with his knife out and secured the kill. With the very first ace of the game, FNC Alfajer earned a rousing reaction from the entire crowd, WOL and FNC fans alike, and WOL themselves, who lit up in excitement and enjoyment. SiuFatBB stood up and gave Alfajer a standing ovation for the ace as FNC took the lead 6-8. 

“I don’t remember what we talked about.. But he is a really nice guy,” said Alfajer on SiuFatBB.

With the end of the third set fast approaching, WOL proved they weren’t ready to be sent home just yet. WOL Spring topped the leaderboard for the round with 26 kills, 11 deaths and 5 assists as WOL dove into a slow and smart strategy and killed off FNC one by one. Despite the ace against and being down late, WOL went on to take their first set of the match 13-10, bringing the match to 2-1. 

“FNATIC, all five of them have very good reads and they rely on each other a lot. And their communication is really on point,” said WOL coach Fade.

For the fourth round, WOL chose the map “Ascent”. Looking to wrap up the game and secure their spot in the grand finals, FNC and their fans bring a burst of energy to the arena. 

WOL come into the fourth round swinging, securing the first two rounds. But their drive would not last for long as FNC pulled the rug from underneath them, going forward to lead the game 6-3. 

Boaster played an important role for FNC as they continued their surge to the GrandFinals—cementing himself as the IGL of the team—by securing three kills in back-to-back rounds. 

In similar fashion to earlier rounds, FNC stole the lead and ran away with it all the way to the end of the game, winning the fourth set 13-5. They took the game 3-1 and earned their spot in the finals against PRX, who they last played in a semi-final win at VCT Masters Tokyo in 2023.

The final play for FNATIC to close out their Lower Finals victory in front of a packed crowd at Enercare Centre.

To end the game, FNC Alfajer dominated the leaderboard with 80 kills, 58 deaths and 16 assists, highlighted by the highlight-reel ace. 

“I give a big respect to my I.G.L and my coaches because they tell me what agents to play and what to do,” said Alfajer. “What I do in game is just their ideas but aim is mine.”

FNC Alfajer discusses the team's matchup with WOL.