Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin came out victorious in the EMEA LCQ grand final against Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #5 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky Zyppan Pontus Eek SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin ardiis Ardis Svarenieks , securing the first LCQ seed for Valorant Champions 2023 with a 3-0 win. Both teams will head to Champions.

The overall result felt motivated by the first map's final rounds. Giants and NAVI were on the former's Bind pick and Giants were amidst a comeback to reach map point. NAVI took a timeout at 11-11.

They pushed into A, and sent three players to Lamps. Giants' hoody wallbanged those three players to give his team the man advantage, which they used to reach map point. NAVI rushed onto A again, just trying to make overtime work, and this time punched through Giants' defenses.

Down to a 2v2 scenario, Fit1nho and hoody crept onto site to defuse the spike. hoody peeked towards the teleport but, as he had been previously spotted, lost his duel. In killing hoody, Shao and SUYGETSU inadvertently lined up. At that exact moment, Fit1nho peeked from the triple box and gave his team the first map 13-11.

For Fit1nho, that was his only clutch of the day. But it was one of a total 20 multikills he would establish throughout the match, the most on the server, putting up immaculate numbers while only playing Breach.

Those two highlights that gave Giants Bind set the tone and pace for the following maps. Cloud joined Fit1nho and hoody on Lotus to aid his team in a 13-7 win — as the three finished within 0.19 rating of each other — and rhyme stepped up for hoody on Haven, stopping NAVI just short of double digits. Amidst a B retake on round 22, he took down four to grant his team the 13-9 win that closed out the match.

hoody's performance dwindled in the third map, but rhyme 's Raze put up a third extremely consistent performance. His 202 ADR on Haven was the highest of the day. hoody's 10 opening kills — tied with rhyme and Cloud — proved Chamber may still have a space in pro play.

Overall, Fit1nho's consistency earned him the top spot of the match, reaching a 1.39 rating across the three maps with a +20 kill differential. He also cleared the whole server in ACS, kills, and assists (by 14) and was third overall in ADR. His three Breach performances, albeit isolated in just one match, were Fit1nho's best in the EMEA LCQ.

“[They were] shooting so, like, so hard. Insanely hard [laughs]. You can win that way too, it's a valid way to win,” Erik said of Giants' performance. NAVI's coach also elaborated that the team needs to spend several hours rewatching today's match to figure out the wrongs.

“You can have the best strat or the best read in the world, but if you're not shooting them in the head then you're going to lose the round.”

Heads up, boys. It's Champions time. (Photo by Hara Amorós/Riot Games/LVP)

Despite their loss, NAVI are still flying to Champions with a chest full of pride. Their qualification to the year's capstone event closes out a two-year streak where the team has attended every international LAN — from Reykjavik 2022 to Champions 2023.

“And that's saying something. It means you're at the top in your region. But, obviously, we expect to be the best in the world, right? That's ultimately the goal for every team,” d00mbros said. “I'm proud of what we achieved. But I think we can achieve much more.”

And for NAVI's coach, the line between achieving “more” and achieving “much more” is fine.

“You're taking one goal and you're putting your goalposts on the next one. The next one is to win Champions. I don't think any player in this team is happy unless we win,” he added. “ I think if we can perform at our best, and aim at our best, we'll win it all. I'm 100% sure of it.”

On the other side of the server, Giants only have reasons to hold their heads high. They started out the year as unlikely contenders, isolated themselves in fourth in the VCT EMEA but a rough playoffs run left them outside the top four.

Now that they have had their second chance, Giants are at the top of the region. They were unimpeded throughout this LCQ run, flawlessly dropping Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #8 MAGNUM Martin Penkov tomaszy Tomás Machado N4RRATE Marshall Massey marteen Martin Pátek sh1n Ryad Ensaad , KOI KOI Europe Rank #164 kamo Kamil Frąckowiak ShadoW Tobias Flodström grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko starxo Patryk Kopczynski sheydos Bogdan Naumov and now NAVI on their way to the #1 EMEA LCQ seed.

And while it's not yet public what the best or second-best LCQ seed entails, Giants and NAVI will both find out in several hours, alongside the rest of the world. Earlier today, after ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #7 Laz Ushida Koji yuran Yushin Hato hiroronn Hiroki Yanai Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe qualified to Champions in the Pacific LCQ, host Victoria “ChubbyNinja” Cheng confirmed that the Champions group draw will take place later tonight, after the Americas LCQ grand final between KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Klaus Nicolas Ferrari Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro heat Olavo Marcelo and Leviatán Leviatán Latin America South Rank #1 tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena Mazino Roberto Rivas aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee . Since EMEA will fly five teams to Los Angeles, at least two teams will have to be in the same group for the first stage of the tournament.