It is a tale as old as time; in many esports, there is no rivalry bigger than North America vs Europe and the same is true in VCT, as it is the Americas vs EMEA, and in Paris, it is NRG vs FNATIC for the 2025 VCT Championship.
Both teams have a lot of history when it comes to the VCT Championship.
In 2023, NRG’s Ethan won the VCT Championship when he was with Evil Geniuses, beating his now teammate, s0m.
FNATIC’s Chronicle in 2021 was in the Grand Finals at VCT Champions with Gambit Esports and faced Acend, where he was one round away from winning, but ultimately it wasn’t in the cards for him.
For FNATIC, it has been a gruelling up-and-down rollercoaster of a season, marked by both great success and the lowest of lows. However, now back at the grand finals of an international event, they look to finally reach the end of the road and lift a trophy.
As for NRG, they haven’t seen much international and regional success, but now it is the return to the promised land that Ethan never thought he would get to again as a player, but he comes into Paris as the leader and looks to lead NRG to the trophy.
The best-of-five series would begin on the map Corrode, NRG’s map pick, which this season has been NRG’s best map since its release back in June. 25, 2025, with 7 wins and a 100 per cent win rate.
That record and experience on Corrode showed in map one as NRG asserted their dominance over FNATIC in the first half with a 9-3 lead.
NRG’s Rookie Brawk would be leading in the first half with 17 kills, 6 deaths and 2 assists.
Going into the second half, they wouldn’t allow FNATIC to take a single round and would take the first win of 13-3 with Brawk taking map MVP with 24 kills, 7 deaths and 2 assists.
That blowout win would set a precedent for NRG, where, just like their last match against FNATIC, they would use the momentum of that win and carry it into map two, FNATIC’s pick, Lotus.
Both teams would share the same record, 10-5, with a shared win rate of 67 per cent.
Even with similar records on Lotus, NRG’s momentum would carry over into this match, and this is where FNATIC fans started to tremble as NRG had another 9-3 lead in the first half.
NRG’s mada would be leading in the first half with 10 kills, 7 deaths and 2 assists.
Going into the switch, FNATIC would attempt a comeback, but NRG would quickly shut down the chances of that and would take the win with a 13-6 lead.
With NRG now on a 2-0 lead in the series, FNATIC would fall to the verge of elimination with the series on the line and potentially get swept out of the grand finals.
NRG would get the next pick and looked to continue to dominate FNATIC as they chose Abyss, another strong map for NRG with a 3-1 record and a win rate of 75 per cent.
This map would start just like the other maps in the series, with NRG in full control on the defensive side; this time, the lead would be 11-1, just two wins away from sweeping FNATIC.
NRG’s Skuba would lead in the first half with 16 kills, 4 deaths and 2 assists.
Going into the second half, NRG would look to bring map three to a close, but when switching over to the attacking side, the tides of this match would change.
Round by round, inch by inch, FNATIC would slowly but surely climb their way out of their deficit against, and as they climbed their way out, EMEA fans would cheer louder and louder for their regional team.
With the energy of FNATIC’s IGL Boaster showing, calling out NRG for their use of the Odin, and celebrating each round, both FNATIC and the crowd shared an electrifying heartbeat.
FNATIC would go from only one win to bringing map three to overtime, where they would finally get their first win in the series, and as FNATIC won the final round in map three, Paris roared as FNATIC effectively came back from an 11-1 deficit.
Leading the charge in this 15-13 comeback was Crashies with 22 kills, 15 deaths and 7 assists.
FNATIC would take the momentum of that comeback into map four on Ascent.
would finally lead in the first half of a map with a score of 8-4, with Kaajak leading at halftime with 15 kills, 8 deaths and 3 assists.
In the second half, NRG would attempt a comeback, but wouldn’t be able to, as FNATIC would lock down ascent and win map four, 13-8, with Alfajer winning map MVP with 23 kills, 14 deaths and 4 assists.
FNATIC would complete a 2-0 series comeback, tying the series at 2-2, bringing it to a map 5.
One more map to decide the champions of this year's VCT season, one map to see who will carry the crown and walk out of Paris with the trophy.
The decider map would take place on Sunset, a map both teams have not had a lot of success in, with NRG not winning a single match on Sunset, making it their worst map of the season and FNATIC having a win rate of 29 per cent, with a record of 2-5.
NRG would start the first half on the attacking side, and FNATIC would be on the defensive side.
NRG would start the map off like they always had, with them dominating the first half, just like they had multiple times before, but this time, the energy in the arena was palpable, and the Paris crowd kept FNATIC’s energy up during every round win and loss.
FNATIC would reciprocate the energy back to the crowd every time they won a round, but even with the first half ending in a 9-3 lead in NRG’s favour, FNATIC and the EMEA crowd believed they could win.
Ethan would be leading the charge with 15 kills, 8 deaths and 8 assists.
In the second half, both teams would switch, and FNATIC would take the first two rounds.
The arena exploded in excitement, and FNATIC showed they had the confidence to come back from this deficit, just like they have done before.
NRG would later bring the match from 12-5, now at match point, FNATIC would find themselves in a 4 v 5 situation as Alfajer was the first to be eliminated.
FNATIC would push into B site with just 30 seconds left on the clock, they would be able to land to extend time, and would try to force NRG in one vs one situations, but NRG would quickly win each duel, and the final kill would be from NRG Skuba, who quickly took out Crashies to secure the win and beat FNATIC 13-5.
FNATIC would end the season with a heartbreaking comeback that ended in a loss that left Boaster in tears.
NRG’s Ethan returns to the top of the mountain, this time as a leader, s0m finally wins a championship, the rookies Skuba and Brawk take home a trophy, and Brawk gets the MVP Braclet.
NRG would defeat FNATIC 3-2 in the series and became the 2025 VCT Champions after a hard season of ups and downs, qualifying and elimination woes.