The upper semifinals of Champions Paris saw Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov and FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder pitted against each other in a high-stakes rematch of the Masters Toronto grand finals.

One key player, however, was missing; a few hours ahead of the fateful match, FNATIC announced that Alfajer would be absent due to health issues, which he is currently recovering from. As an emergency substitute, the team brought in Domagoj "doma" Fancev, who played for FNATIC all the way back in 2021 and currently represents Enterprise Esports Enterprise Esports Europe Rank #8 in Challengers NORTH//EAST.

With the odds stacked against them, FNATIC stood tall, winning the series in a thrilling 2-1 and taking revenge against the Pacific titans.

The first map was PRX's pick of Bind. With minimal time to make adjustments, FNATIC did not make compositional changes, slotting doma directly into Alfajer's roles of Tejo on Bind and Killjoy on the other two maps.

The first half was a close affair. PRX started strong with a pistol into a bonus for a 4-0 start, but FNATIC adapted well in the buy rounds, cycling their ultimates well to deny PRX around the map and take back the lead for a 7-5. kaajak terrorized his opponents with both the Outlaw and the Operator, recording an 18/8 K/D and six first kills in just 12 rounds.

PRX opened the second half with a second pistol and bonus win to take back the lead for themselves. A few rounds in a row from FNATIC forced them to take a timeout, but quick adjustments and crucial duels for the side of PRX, including a something 4K in round 21, gave way to a 13-10 finish in their favor.

kaajak was a menace in the server on Bind, but it wasn't enough to take the win.

Despite losing the map, kaajak looked as though he could do no wrong on Yoru, dropping 30 kills in just 23 rounds and ending with eight first kills and 228 ADR. The next highest kill count in the server was from d4v41 with only 18.

For the second map, FNATIC selected Haven, a map PRX had avoided playing thus far in Paris. After winning the second round eco, FNATIC forged ahead to a 6-3 lead, expertly exploiting the Waylay-Yoru composition's aggressive pushes and information gaps around the map. A 1v3 from Chronicle at 6-4 further cemented an 8-4 in the EMEA squad's favor.

Chronicle extends FNATIC's lead with a clean 1v3 clutch.

Finally getting a pistol and bonus of their own on the board, FNATIC closed out the map easily, shutting out PRX for a 13-4 victory. kaajak continued to dominate, this time reaping 20 kills in 17 rounds with four first kills and 206 ADR. Chronicle followed close behind with 18 kills and 192 ADR on Viper.

Lotus was the ultimate decider. At first, it seemed that everything was set to go the way of PRX as they snowballed their own second round eco win to an 8-1 lead, denying a couple of close clutch attempts from Chronicle in rounds eight and nine. FNATIC scrapped a couple more rounds at the end, including a 1v2 postplant clutch from doma, but were still left facing a daunting 9-3 score in favor of PRX at the half.

But FNATIC, out of all teams, have never been one to back down from a deficit. crashies and Chronicle won out a vital 2v4 in the pistol, setting in motion an overwhelming 10-round comeback marked by clinical retakes and dominant shutdowns to take Lotus all the way to a 13-9 win. Locked out completely, PRX looked lost for answers, unable to win even one round on the attack after taking both of their timeouts early in the half.

crashies whips around and thwarts f0rsakeN to secure the lead for FNATIC.

Again on Viper, Chronicle was the statistical headliner, producing an unbelievable 31/14/7 KDA and 246 ADR in 22 rounds.

In the post-match interview, doma, who held his own despite the enormous undertaking of standing in for one of the highest rated players at the event on less than a day's notice, described landing in Paris only four hours before the match began.

“I did this for him, I tried my best,” doma said regarding Alfajer. “Alfa, enjoy the semis and go win the whole thing.”

With this win, FNATIC advances to the upper final and the top three, already climbing higher than any of their four previous Champions appearances. PRX, down to the lower bracket, will battle Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #5 Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish ComeBack Berkcan Şentürk Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius tomorrow for the right to survive and enter the top four.