Team Heretics win First Strike EU: Final placements & recap

Team Heretics came out on top of the first-ever Valorant First Strike European Finals after beating SUMN FC in the Grand Final, walking away with the lion’s share of the $100,000 prize pool and shooting to the top of everyone’s rankings.

• Team Heretics run through Liquid, G2 and SUMN to win First Strike EU
• Christian ‘loWel’ Garcia Antoran claims MVP after incredible Sage performance
• Event favorites G2 crash out in 3rd-4th

Valorant First Strike Europe: Final Placements

Below is how the prize money was distributed between the teams as they finished. Heretics ended up making a cool $40k, taking down Liquid, G2 and SUMN along the way as Christian ‘loWel’ Garcia Antoran claimed MVP.

Valorant First Strike Europe: Results & recap

Day 1 — Thursday, December 3

Liquid exit early, G2 through to semis

Liquid suffered a shock exit to Team Heretics in a thrilling three-map quarter-final. A dominant performance by Christian ‘loWel’ Garcia Antoran as Sage helped secure Heretics a Double OT win to close out the series.

Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas led G2 to a swift 2-0 win, despite a rocky start on the opening map. A series K/D/A of 39/31/7 for the Spaniard with Raze proved too hot to handle for the Orgless lineup.

Day 2 — Friday, December 4

SUMN knocks out Cobras, FPX cement their position

Day 2 seemed to separate the wheat from the chaff for First Strike Europe, with both SUMN and FunPlus Phoenix advancing with easy 2-0 wins. Kirill ‘ANGE1’ Karasiow led FPX in their win over nolpenki, and seemed to make a great case for himself as one of the smartest, most calculating players we’ve seen so far in First Strike.

On the other side of the bracket, SUMN FC has come out of seemingly nowhere to post one of the most impressive records yet, racking up an 89% win rate in the competition so far, which they kept going in a 2-0 over the Purple Cobras to make it to the Semis.

Day 3 — Saturday, December 5

Heretics and SUMN go the distance to make it to Grand Finals

The third day of the EU finals might have had the best, most competitive matches so far, with Team Heretics starting things off by taking down the titans of G2, who have seemed untouchable in the tournament so far.

Not to be outdone, SUMN FC waited until what seemed like the last possible moment to start their comeback against FunPlus Phoenix, who started with a quick first map lead right out of the gate but weren’t able to keep it up in the end.

Day 4 — Sunday, December 6

SUMN run out of gas, while Heretics take the crown

The EU Finals started out with Heretics showing they belonged with a 13-1 win on Ascent. SUMN would even things up though on Icebox. From there it would be all Heretics however, despite numerous heroic plays from doma and Boaster.

After dropping Haven 13-5, SUMN would put everything they had left into Bind, tying map 4 at 11-11, but nukkye and co. proved too strong and managed to close things out.

Valorant First Strike Europe: Teams & players

The big three of European Valorant all made it in, but none of them managed to get to the Grand Finals. According to our First Strike predictions, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, and FunPlus Phoenix were among the favorites to take the title. Below are the teams that took part.