After a strong year in 2025, with Team Liquid making it to every international event, they have followed that trend into 2026 with yet another qualification series going their way.
After a close fought series against Gentle Mates, losing 3-2, FNATIC turn their attention to Team Liquid for the final spot at Masters Santiago in the Lower Final.
The first map went to Corrode where Team Liquid dominated with MiniBoo on the Neon and nAts opting away from the Sentinel role and moving to Brimstone. Either way, nAts still fried on the Brim dropping 20 kills with MiniBoo by his side, dropping 18 on the Neon. This helped them take the first map 13-6 comfortably giving them a 1-0 lead in this BO5.
Bind was the famous stomping ground for Team Liquid and in this series, that rang true once again. After dominating Team Heretics earlier in the Play-Offs, Team Liquid kept with their Neon Waylay composition allowing freedom for MiniBoo and Kamo to range the map and take duels on all extremities. This led to a 13-10 map win on Bind, giving a healthy 2-0 lead, leaving 1 more map for International qualification.
The 3rd and final map went to Abyss, where both teams’ heavy hitters came out swinging. Alfajer and Kaajak both dropped 34 and 30 kills respectively, putting up a big fight against the Dutch organisation.
It was MiniBoo on the side of Team Liquid, who dropped 31 kills, which seemed to take the win to their way and qualify them for Masters Santiago.
An overtime 18-16 victory cemented their place at Masters Santiago and it also marks the second year in a row where FNATIC missed out on the first international event whilst Team Liquid made it.
With this clean 3-0 sweep, Team Liquid confirm their spot at their 4th international event in a row after their back-to-back-to-back season last year where they somewhat dominated EMEA.
FNATIC will now have to wait until Stage 1 to play their next series, as they denied playing in EMEA Clash alongside some other Tier 1 teams and some Tier 2 teams who had to qualify to make it.
The final team to make Masters Santiago will be decided tonight in VCT Americas between MIBR and NRG.
Valorant Digest 
Leave a comment