A VALORANT Champions title is all that’s missing for Fnatic as an organisation, and it’s one that has eluded them despite spending periods as one of the world’s best sides. 2025 is another chance at lifting the Champs trophy, and they came one step closer in doing so by beating Pacific’s DRX in their first playoff matchup. After the 2-1 win, Hotspawn spoke to Fnatic star Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov for an interview.
Hotspawn: The first map was a bit of a mental one, Fnatic going into halftime 2-10 down but then winning the second half 11-1 to finish 13-11.
Why do you think it was so lop-sided?
Chronicle: First of all it’s Haven attack, you can’t really deny that it’s a pretty strong side of this map. And for defence it’s very tough to play, especially for a team such as DRX, which I think is pretty notable that they’re not as strong as their attack side on many maps. So for us, we just had to believe that we can do that and obviously just focus on our game plan against them. So, yeah, I think all these things helped us to do this stuff.
Also, obviously I can note individual performance of our players. Not me, but Alfajer was popping off there.
Hotspawn: At 10-2, it’s normal to expect the winning side to close out, even if there is some sort of comeback, given that only a few rounds are needed to win.
Was there a certain point in the comeback where you really felt it was possible, or did you feel it was doable the whole time?
Chronicle: No, I wasn’t thinking exactly about that. I was just focusing exactly on the rounds and what we need to do. Not like the fact that we ‘can’ do this or we ‘can’t’ do this. Obviously when the score was already equal, we probably understood like, ‘Yeah, I think it’s definitely possible’. But I mean, it doesn’t really matter in the moment. You just play the game and that’s it.
Hotspawn: What went wrong on Ascent?
Chronicle: We were losing every single A exec, because after the eco round from them, they just didn’t go B at least once and they only went A.
I think we just were kind of stubborn on the approach to that, because for some reason we tried to fight for A side every time, even though we could actually retake maybe. I was thinking we didn’t even try to retake that side at least once properly, at least as a full team, or maybe minus one. And I think against such a team that absolutely smashes on the execs, because they use a lot of utility and they just do kind of all or nothing on these execs, I think that was some sort of a big mistake not to try.
Hotspawn: Why do you think the Lotus was much more one-sided?
Chronicle: We tried to make it as comfortable as possible, because I think the previous time we played it we lost it… against GX we lost it in Stage 2. Basically, we weren’t super confident against anyone playing on this map, so we tried to apply some sort of hot fixes on it. And yeah, they worked out.
Also our game plan against DRX was quite comfortable, because, again, for us, what it will mean just try to play retakes again and yeah, they were working perfectly. Especially on C, they tried to exec there twice with full util and they still couldn’t really do that much.
They only won once in a clutch scenario where they were also kind of slightly lucky there, because just one millisecond away and they wouldn’t even planted the spike there. So I mean, it is what it is, but yeah, I think we just had a very great game plan and also great fixes after our loss against GX.
Hotspawn: Your matchup with Paper Rex is a bit of a rivalry now, given the Masters Toronto final as well as mini joining their coaching staff in Paris.
What are your thoughts ahead of facing PRX?
Chronicle: I need to beat one traitor in the team in two days. I’m counting that down. We will try to prepare as much as possible and just hope that it will be a win for us.
Hotspawn: What’s your message for mini ahead of the game?
Chronicle: Traitor.
Hotspawn: Paper Rex and G2 were generally considered the two best teams coming into Champs, while Fnatic was still thought of as a top side with a chance to make a title run.
Do you feel like you can challenge those two to be able to win Champs this year?
Chronicle: Obviously, yes. Without believing that you can do it, it might be tougher for a team… But yeah, people believe this is the one that we can do it. And also, we kind of broke [the] Fnatic curse with winning our first match in playoffs, which was impossible for Fnatic almost every single year. Every single year they were losing the first match on the upper bracket, and this time we don’t.
Also, in terms of international performances, that was also one of the first tournaments where; ‘Oh, we actually won our first match in the playoffs’. It’s super good to feel about this. I feel very confident about this, and I think, for exactly this match against PRX and maybe in the future, [a] great start always helps.
Hotspawn: You had a full week between your win against MIBR and your game against DRX today.
Do you prefer to have this time between matches or would you like to be playing on stage more?
Chronicle: I think when you already just tried the stage and you already played few games, I think preparation is better rather than maybe playing another game on the stage. But again, it might also be just some sort of situation, or maybe, I don’t know how to explain it, but I think in this particular example for us, preparation helped, and I believe it will help much better rather than just playing another game on stage.
Hotspawn: During the VALORANT GOAT debates, one common thought was that, should Fnatic win Champs, that would lock you in as the greatest.
Do you think winning VALORANT Champions would make you the GOAT?
Chronicle: It doesn’t cement me because it’s way too early to say who is the GOAT or who’s not. And honestly [it] also doesn’t matter because I think in every single game, in every single esports title, in every single sports title, there is no 100% GOAT really.
Except maybe for Faker in League of Legends. But I mean, that’s the only one example where I can confidently say like, ‘Yeah, that’s true’. But even there, you have some people that pretend, or they just believe, that Faker, for example, is not the GOAT.
And in almost every single title, you have [a] few people fighting for this. So this GOAT debate will be alive forever, it doesn’t really matter if I win or lose, I can still go strong. Winning doesn’t exactly give me this GOAT title. I just need to go further.
