“We were not listening to each other,” FNATIC’s Chronicle on VCT Masters Shanghai elimination

FNATIC's 2023 was one for the history books, but 2024 is a year they may soon like to forget. After missing Masters Madrid, they earned the first seed from EMEA for VCT Masters Shanghai, but were eliminated by regional rival FUT Esports.

Following the series, we spoke with Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov. We discussed how it went down from his perspective, the emotions felt from him and his teammates after the fact, and what's next for the FNATIC VALORANT squad.

"With the team missing Madrid earlier in the year and dropping to the Lower Bracket early here in Shanghai. Did the team view this as a do or die match?"

Chronicle: "We weren't looking at it as a do or die match, because we're pretty confident in ourselves. That we can win against FUT. Like on the first map, we just smashed them, but after that, they just smashed us."

"Do you feel it hurt your chances, playing against a team you are so familiar with from your own region?"

Chronicle: "I don't think so. It's just that we knew how to counter them at that point, when we hadn't played the match yet. And yeah, it is what it is."

"So, we’ve seen most of the regional winners struggle in the playoffs thus far. Obviously, there’s plenty of time to prepare, not being in the Swiss Stage, but do you think skipping that stage affected FNATIC negatively?"

Chronicle: "No, I don't think so. We've had a lot of time to prepare, and we used it almost perfectly. We just struggled in the officials. I think our preparation to our opponents in the game was pretty bad. We had good preparation just for us, like for our strats, but I guess we were way too readable. People were understanding how to play against us."

"We won’t spend too much time on how the series played out, seeing as you were there. But with the teams trading wins on each other’s map picks, where do you feel it went wrong on Lotus?"

Chronicle: "It just felt like the whole map, we were not listening to each other and we played too much individually, rather than team-wise. And that's why we just lost the game, obviously."

"And with Ascent being so one-sided, just tell me your immediate reaction to how map three played out."

Chronicle: "They were just outplaying us, not because of very good game plan, but individually. We weren't able to trade or do some basic stuff. And me, for example, I was just literally coming into the round to die in smokes or from a wallbang.

"After that, going to the eco and I'm dying because I don't have a good gun. So, I mean, yeah, they were just punishing us pretty well, all the time. I mean, in any way."

"You’re the player with the most international wins in VALORANT history, so of course, you probably have high standards for yourself and those around you. I’d like to know, what standards do you hold yourself and the rest of FNATIC to in VALORANT?"

Chronicle: "I mean, right now I'm just literally grinding the game as much as possible. I think it's even more than before and I'm just trying to keep up a good mood and mental. We're just trying to connect with each other.

"But sadly, it didn't work out today. I don't know. The first map was pretty good. I didn't have to do anything. But on second and third map, sadly I couldn't keep up the focus of the team and, probably, that's one of the reasons why we lost."

"What would you say was the most disappointing aspect of the loss to FUT then?"

Chronicle: "I didn't even play the game. I didn't have the chance. As I said before, whatever I try, I'm getting no chance to play. And from my perspective right now, I can't obviously watch the game to see what I did wrong or what I did good. It was hard to find at least one good duel except for the pistol round. And it kind of pisses me off right now."

"In the post-match press conference, we saw Boaster feeling pretty emotional. As a team, you clearly spend a lot of time with each other, and more than likely have become good friends. There’s friendship, business, the competitive side of things. How do you handle your own and your teammates’ emotions after a tough loss?"

Chronicle: "Support. We need to support each other, the same as it goes in the game. Which we kind of struggled to do, but yeah, supporting your close ones is always helpful."

"For my last question, I’ll simply ask, what’s next?"

Chronicle: "Grind for Stage 2. We don't have any advantages now and the path will be kind of harder. Since we are coming from a tournament with nothing, and we are playing against the teams that prepared for us. Because they had much more time. So, we'll try to find something that will help us be better."

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