Time for the first goodbyes, will Fnatic live up to expectations? - Masters Reykjavik Day 3 Preview

The third day of competition at the VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík will begin today. We will see three games, and unfortunately two teams will be eliminated from the tournament in Reykjavik.

Match 1: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs DRX at 5 PM CET / 8 AM PDT

Today's VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík will begin with a match between Ninjas in Pyjamas and DRX. The presence of the South Korean team does not seem to be a big surprise. In their first match they faced ZETA DIVISION and defeated the team from Japan without any major problems. The game was very short, as ZETA combined to win only five rounds on two maps and severely disappointed their fans.

NIP, on the other hand, faced Fnatic in their opening match. The team from Europe, due to the absence of Andrew "braveaf" Gorchakov and Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev, was forced to perform with two stand-ins. This heavily affected Fnatic's game, as a lack of chemistry was often evident. Although Joona "H1BER" Parviainen and Enzo "Enzo" Mestari presented themselves in a good way, Jake "Boaster" Howlett was missing, and he will certainly not count this match as a success. The Brazilian team eventually defeated the team from Europe by a score of 2:0 and advanced to the winner's ladder. A great match was played especially by Alexandre "xand" Zizi and Benjamin "bnj" Rabinovich, who were much better than Fnatic players last evening.

As a result of winning their first matches, NIP and DRX will stand a chance to advance to the Masters playoffs, where G2 Esports, The Guard, LOUD, Paper Rex and Team Liquid are already waiting. The loser of this match, however, will not be eliminated from the tournament yet, but will fall into the losers' bracket, where there is still a chance to advance to the next round.

Match 2: OpTic Gaming vs KRU Esports at 8 PM CEST / 11 AM PDT

OpTic Gaming and KRU Esports will face off in an elimination match today. Both teams lost their first clashes. Two days ago OpTic unexpectedly lost to XERXIA. The team from Thailand defeated their rivals twice with 13:10 score and advanced to the winner's ladder. It was certainly not a good start to the tournament for the North American team. Ambitions of this team are really high and not getting out of the group would be a big disappointment for them.

Their rival will be KRU Esports, who also lost their first match. Their opponent was Team Liquid, who did not let their rivals win even one map. On Ascent it was very close, but eventually Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom with the band won that map with 16:14 and advanced to the next round. KRU is so far the only team that has not left any VCT LAN tournament. Much in this match may depend on the individual form of Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker from OpTic Gaming and Angelo "Keznit" Mori from KRÜ Esports. These two in their first games showed really great side, and their teams will surely count heavily on their leaders today.

The loser of this match will unfortunately be eliminated from the tournament, something we didn't expect before the tournament started. The pressure will be immense on the shoulders of the players from both teams, and today we will see who can handle it better.

Match 3: Fnatic vs ZETA DIVISION at 11 PM CET / 14 PM PDT

Today's competition will conclude with the second elimination match between Fnatic and ZETA DIVISION. As we would expect, the team from Japan was the underdog, but they played well below expectations. Japanese fans certainly expected more from their favorites. The only player who played a pretty good game was Kouji "Laz" Ushida, but that was still far too little for DRX. If ZETA wants to still compete at the VCT, they need to play much better today than they did two days ago. The team from Japan will at least want to improve on the result of their Japanese friends from VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021, where Crazy Raccoon dropped out of the tournament without winning a single map.

Their rival will be European Fnatic, who for obvious reasons do not seem to be as threatening a team as they could be. The team led by Jake "Boaster" Howlett looked poor yesterday against their opponent Ninjas in Pyjamas. We might have expected Fnatic to not look great tactically due to playing with two stand-ins. But above all, the European team against the South American players looked very weak individually. Most of the shooting duels were won by NIP players, which ultimately determined the outcome of this match.

Today, Fnatic or ZETA DIVISION will join the losing match between KRÜ Esports and OpTic Gaming and will also be eliminated from the tournament. If it was Fnatic, we would be witnessing a huge sensation, especially since ZETA disappointed heavily in their first match.

Today promises to be a really exciting day, and the atmosphere is certainly heated by the fact that two teams will be saying goodbye to the VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík today. You can watch these matches on the official VALORANT Twitch channel and find more information on the Masters Reykjavik event page.