Widely regarded as one of VALORANT’s all-time greatest players, Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov has a chance to end a two-year global title drought after helping Fnatic secure a spot in the Esports World Cup grand final. Following a decisive revenge victory over Paper Rex, Chronicle shared his thoughts on the win, the tournament, and the final ahead.
The semifinal clash was a highly anticipated rematch of the recent Masters Toronto final, where Paper Rex emerged victorious. For Fnatic, the win was a welcome reprisal. “As a team, we are obviously happy,” Chronicle said. “Everyone wanted to take revenge because everyone wanted to get a trophy in Toronto, and it didn’t happen. So that was a very good revenge.”
While his teammates were fueled by the recent loss, Chronicle approached the match with a different mindset. “For me individually, I was coming to this match just with the feeling that I want to play the game against PRX,” he explained. “They’re well known to be probably the #1 best team in the game at the moment. It was a good goal to beat them, but also to play pretty well and just not care about the result.”
Despite his strong performance, Chronicle revealed he has been competing while under the weather. “I feel not really well right now, for the past few days,” he admitted. “But I’m powering through, playing some good matches, which is obviously very nice to see.”
Looking ahead to the grand final, Fnatic will face either Gen.G or Team Heretics. Chronicle anticipates a difficult challenge regardless of the opponent. “I think both teams will play pretty well against us,” he stated, noting that both potential finalists had to fight their way through the group stage. “They’re playing very strong… it might be very tough because both teams are really great.”
When asked about Team Heretics, who recovered from a poor showing in Toronto to find form at this event, Chronicle acknowledged their resurgence. “I think they found some confidence,” he said. “If we meet them in the grand finals, it might not be good for us that they found that confidence, so we’ll try to maybe break it. But at the same time, I’m really happy for them that they powered through their problems.”
Finally, Chronicle addressed the vocal crowd at the event, expressing his appreciation for the intense atmosphere. He noted that he heard both supportive chants and loud boos, an experience he found motivating.
“It was actually interesting to see; it’s the first time I’m experiencing really hard boos because I could hear them through my headset,” he shared. “That was a nice feeling. It was also nice to prove people wrong. Considering how many boos I heard, you better not be booing against us in the grand finals.”
Source link
