VALORANT - Champions 2025: Fnatic, breaking the curse (2/16)

From September 12 to October 5, the Champions — VALORANT’s World Championship — will take place in Paris. To build up to the event, Sheep Esports is presenting one of the 16 qualified teams every day ahead of the tournament. This Tuesday, the countdown continues with the introduction of FNATIC, VCT EMEA's 3rd seed.

Following a disappointing end to 2024, Fnatic overhauled their lineup in the offseason. They parted ways with star Duelist Nikita “Derke” Sirmite, who had been with the team for years, and moved Swedish Initiator Leo “Leo” Jannesson to the bench for a health issue. In an effort to rejuvenate the squad, the British organisation recruited Polish prodigy Kajetan “kaajak” Haremski from the Ascension circuit to take Derke's place as a duelist, as well as North American veteran Austin “crashies” Roberts to bolster their support firepower. It took the revamped lineup some time to gel, and they failed to qualify for the Masters event in Bangkok early in the season. In Stage 1, though, Fnatic soon found their footing and began dominating the competition.

With their results — and synergy — improving over the course of Stage 1, Fnatic ultimately swept Team Heretics in the VCT EMEA Grand Finals to secure the number one seed for Masters Toronto. At that Masters event, the Back and Orange continued to impress, reaching the grand final before narrowly losing to Pacific champions Paper Rex. Weeks later, they made another deep run at the Esports World Cup, finishing second once again after a heartbreaking reverse sweep loss in a seven-map thriller against Team Heretics.

Despite their near-misses on the international stage, Fnatic’s consistency throughout the season earned them enough points to secure a Champions 2025 berth as the first team from EMEA to qualify.

Stage 2, and the team's path to Champions, were a very different story. Seeded into the upper bracket, Fnatic began the playoffs with a 1–2 loss to BBL Esports on 21 August, sliding into the lower bracket. The next day, they recovered to defeat Karmine Corp 2–1. However, their run ended in Lower Round 2 on 24 August when GIANTX swept them 0–2. Nevertheless, the split provided valuable experience with newer looks and tempo shifts, and highlighted how narrow the margins are heading into Paris as the top seed for the Champions.

In VCT EMEA Stage 1, Lotus is Fnatic's highest winrate map — they've only lost once in five games on Lotus. It was consistently integral to their series planning, often paired with Split as a reliable opener or closer. On the international stage, Icebox proved to be their comfort zone; Fnatic annihilated Wolves 13–4 on Icebox in the Toronto lower final and opted for the same map again in the grand final against Paper Rex, highlighting their growing level with it.

That map pool could present an issue for Fnatic in Paris: Icebox was removed from the competitive map pool in Patch 11.04 on Aug 19, with Abyss returning in its place. Expect Boaster’s crew to double down on the Split/Lotus backbone while fast-tracking Abyss protocols to offset the loss of Icebox. Haven and Ascent remained situational picks that the team was serviceable on, while Pearl was frequently vetoed.

Fnatic is also the only team in the world to have competed in every edition of VALORANT Champions to date — but they've yet to claim the ultimate prize. Their best international result was fourth place at Champions 2023, and their worst was fifth–sixth place in 2024, far from the expectations set by their dominance in 2023. Their repeated failure to win at VALORANT's most prestigious event has led to speculation about a "Champions curse" haunting Fnatic. With a renewed roster and momentum from their successes in 2025, the British squad will be determined to finally break that curse in Paris on their fifth attempt.

A big part of Fnatic’s renewed title hopes is the growth of kaajak as a top-tier Duelist. The 21-year-old Pole is making his first appearance at Champions after proving himself in the Tier 2 scene. He was a standout in the 2024 Ascension League, helping Apeks win the promotion tournament before being signed by Fnatic. In his debut season at the elite level, kaajak has already performed well under pressure, achieving an impressive 73 kills with a +40 K/D and a rating of 1.70 in the EMEA Stage 1 finals, a 3–0 victory for Fnatic.

Notably, he often opts for off-meta agent picks. Yoru is his signature choice, an agent he has played in over half of Fnatic’s maps this summer, catching opponents off guard with tricky movement and fast-paced aggression. Far from being intimidated by LAN environments, kaajak has shown that he thrives on the big stage, a promising sign as he aims to lead Fnatic to victory in the Champions tournament.