FNC pulls off a great comeback to defeat PRX at VALORANT Champions 2025

Twice in this competitive season, Fnatic players were one step away from a big tournament win. At the VALORANT Esports World Cup 2025, Fnatic lost to Team Heretics in the grand final. At Masters Toronto 2025, their final opponents were Paper Rex.

We still have a few matches to witness before the grand final at VALORANT Champions 2025 — but Fnatic already used their chance for revenge against Paper Rex. FNC and PRX faced each other in the upper semifinal.

For the Masters champions, it was an opportunity to prove their superiority. After winning the tournament in Toronto, PRX finished 4th at the VALORANT EWC — and it was Fnatic who sent Paper Rex to the lower brackets back then. Beating Fnatic in this match could be such a statement, and PRX were really close to it.

It was the first upper semifinal of the tournament day on Sept. 28. You can watch the FNC vs PRX stream on the official YouTube channel or below.

The winners of this semifinal advance to the upper final at VALORANT Champions 2025. Their next opponent is decided in the match between MIBR and NRG.

The losers fall into the lower brackets to potentially have three more matches before the grand final.

Paper Rex looked like themselves on the first map, but they were torn to pieces on Haven. Map 3 promised to be PRX’s return to domination, but Fnatic delivered an absolutely mind-blowing comeback — from 1:9, they won 13:9!

PRX were clearly shaky during this match: periods of hesitation and weird decisions pulled them back from victory. The rest of their matches at Champions 2025 come with the risk of elimination.

Fnatic proved their mettle here, and we should keep an eye on this team in the upper bracket final and, potentially, in the grand final. Such strong blows as 12 rounds in a row against the Masters Toronto 2025 winners are an exceptional occasion.

With a replacement player, Doma, who stepped up instead of Emir "Alfajer" Beder at the last moment, Fnatic reached the top 3 at a VALORANT Champions event for the first time ever!

It’s not a big surprise that Paper Rex picked this map for such an important match. The team has a 100% win rate on Bind this year!

Fnatic started slowly: losing the pistols and three pretty desperate rounds. Then, they managed to adapt to PRX’s style, which was unusually slow on the attacker side, with too much hesitation.

kaajak was a star player for Fnatic. For example, in Round 6, he delivered crucial kills from the back of A site. And in Round 7, kaajak won a 1v1 against f0rsakeN to defuse Spike. Such awe-inspiring moments continued in the rest of this match.

After the side swap, it was the turn of Paper Rex to wake up. They won the pistols again. In Round 14, d4v41 clutched in a 1v2 situation to defuse Spike and deny an eco win by the opponents.

Fnatic still won one round with poor weaponry — In Round 16, to start a three-round win streak.

Paper Rex took the initiative in the most crucial moment! They overplayed Fnatic at the end of this game, secured a few rounds, and earned one score point.

FNC and PRX delivered an amazing VALORANT at Champions 2025 right on map 1.

Fnatic just crushed their opponents on Haven! 

Paper Rex won the pistols, but everything fell apart in the next round. FNC won their eco buy to be back in the game. Thanks to d4v41’s clutch with 3K, PRX secured two more rounds — before FNC went absolutely nuts with kills and general map domination.

In Round 11, Chronicle landed a few kills to grab Spike, rotate it to the other side of the map, and win a 1v1 against something. crashies won the second pistol for Fnatic with some amazing kills. Boaster delivered 3K in Round 16.

Everything went right for FNC on Haven against PRX, and they treated us to map 3 in this VALORANT Champions 2025 semifinal.

It really looked like Paper Rex were going to take this map with no problem. Fnatic secured the pistols, but PRX succeeded on poor weaponry in Round 2 and launched their train of wins.

The economy of Fnatic was broken: they couldn't win on eco buy and they couldn't win with good guns. There were some ridiculous moments as well: like something faking he is a clone to fool kaajak and gain a starting advantage in Round 6.

Sure, Paper Rex earned this period of domination! For example, Jinggg stopped a tricky plan from Chronicle to rotate on A side — it almost worked with a 1v2 for FNC, but Jinggg won that Round 8 duel with almost no health remaining.

Fnatic were back in the game even in the first half. In Round 11, the substitute player, Doma, won a 1v2 moment to stop the defuse.

After the side swap, Fnatic continued delivering. They started with a 2v4 win on the pistols and then threw PRX's economy down the drain.

FNC lost no round on the defensive side, as if they were ready for anything Paper Rex had in their pockets: doing smooth retakes, one after another.

In Round 19, crashies won an absolutely crucial duel against f0rsakeN.

PRX had an early advantage in Round 21, and they lost it — a lot, thanks to a 3K by Boaster. In the decisive round, Fnatic landed amazing kills in the mass team battle, and they sealed their historic comeback.

That was 12 won rounds in a row and a recovery from 1:9! It's history in the making for VALORANT esports.

Both FNC and PRX had ups and downs on their journey to the VALORANT Champions 2025 semifinal. They lost no matches so far, but some opponents turned out to be really tough.

The final set of matches at VALORANT Champions 2025 will happen from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5. Then, we’ll have a break before the next season, which includes player transfers.

For more VALORANT news and coverage, stick around on esports.gg.