Fnatic captain Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett has revealed why he wants a rematch against Evil Geniuses in the VCT Masters Tokyo final.
The EMEA giants locked up a spot in VCT Masters Tokyo’s championship match after beating Evil Geniuses 2-1 in the upper bracket final on June 21.
Fnatic won the first map of the series, Lotus, convincingly (13-3), but the other two were much closer affairs. The decider map, Split, went down to the wire, with EG almost taking the game to overtime before Leo ‘Leo’ Jannesson put the series to bed.
Despite securing the victory, Boaster didn’t seem too pleased with his team’s performance. Quizzed on which team he wants to face in the grand final, Boaster said he’d like his team to go up against EG again and give a better account of themselves.
“I want to play them again and this time show true dominance,” Boaster told reporters in the post-match press conference.
A proper test before the final
Fnatic had an easy road to the upper bracket final in Tokyo. As EMEA’s No.2 seed, they had the luxury of skipping the group stage. They then beat NRG and Paper Rex, both by a 2-0 scoreline, never letting their opponents get to double digits on a map.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
The match against Evil Geniuses was, by Boaster’s admission, the first time Fnatic were really tested in Japan.
“It’s nice to get that game in before the grand finals,” he said. “It’s nice to know we have got some work to do in these next few days. Change it up, mix it up, and make sure we’re ready, truly ready for whoever we actually face. I’m looking forward to it. We are definitely going to come in guns blazing.”
Fnatic will only know their opponent for the grand final on Saturday, when Evil Geniuses take on Paper Rex in the lower bracket final at the Makuhari Messe. The VCT Pacific team will be without star player Ilya ‘something’ Petrov, who is ruled out of the tournament due to visa issues.
This will be the second international grand final in a row for Fnatic, who won VCT LOCK//IN in March after beating LOUD in front of their crowd in São Paulo. The team’s flex player, Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov, holds the record for most grand final appearances in international Valorant history (four).