Riot Explains Round Reset Following Chronicle's Clutch
Riot Games has clarified why the third round of the Team Vitality vs LOUD upper bracket final at VALORANT Champions 2026 was replayed. The controversy centered on a moment where Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov secured a 1v3 clutch to give his team a 3:0 lead, only for the result to be voided following a technical pause.
According to officials, a game freeze experienced by a LOUD player during the firefight prevented them from seeing the action, leading referees to rule for a replay. This review process contributed to the extended technical pause during the match.
Restoring the match state was complicated by a known rollback bug involving Chamber, where the agent could lose the ability to use the Rendezvous anchor. To prevent this, organizers recreated the lobby and manually restored the game state to the start of the third round—including players' credits and items—based on the match recording. The functionality of Chamber's abilities was also verified before play resumed.
Following the replay, LOUD won the third round, bringing the score to 1:2. Consequently, Chronicle's 1v3 clutch did not count toward the final map score. LOUD ultimately won the series 2:1 (13:5 on Summit, 13:11 on Haven, and 8:13 on Lotus), advancing to the Champions grand final, while Team Vitality moved to the lower bracket.
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