fnatic surpass NRG 2

cs cases free2025-04-21 09:54:3217995

fnatic have reached their second big-event grand final in a row after beating NRG 2-1 (Inferno 16-11, Train 8-16, Mirage 16-10) at IEM Sydney.

fnatic chose Inferno to kick off the second semi-final and looked to get an early lead after a close first couple of rounds saw Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson clutch a 1v2 in the pistol round and Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin save a 2v3 with a triple. Once both sides had access to full weaponry, NRG seemed to have the upper hand on the defense, with seven out of the next nine rounds going their way, but the Swedes stepped up on the back of a 1v2 clutch from Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson, which transpired into an 8-7 half in their favor.

fnatic make their second big-event final in a row

Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte kicked off the second half with an all-important quad-kill to equalize things, but fnatic responded with individual plays from Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström and Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell, who turned around a couple of disadvantageous scenarios to start pulling away. NRG tried to come back into contention with two successful B attacks, but a switchup to A saw the Swedish side reach match point and soon a 16-11 victory on the opening map.

fnatic carried the momentum on to Train with a 3-0 start as the clutches kept going their way, with Xizt adding a 1v1 to his tally. Surviving a couple of very close retakes in which everyone died, NRG equalized the score and shortly found their first lead on the map at 5-4. JW & co. responded with three in a row to retake the advantage, but it didn't last, with two 1v3s from Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold and Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov closing out the half at 8-7 in favor of the North American team.

When the sides switched, fnatic had trouble breaking through the defense, losing out on a few close retakes as NRG ran away with the half, going 8-1 to secure a comfortable 16-8 win to force the deciding Mirage.

NRG's run ends in the semi-finals

There, NRG dealt the first blow on the offense with a pistol round win, but it was fnatic who got away with the better start after Xizt and JW put up big multikills to set up a dominant run that saw the Swedes take a 7-2 lead. Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele's team switched up the pace with a few quick executes and it was exactly what the doctor ordered, as they grabbed three in a row, but they were still trailing by five when the first half ended.

fnatic added a second pistol round win with a 3v5 to reach their 12th, but they still had their work cut out for them, with NRG closing the gap to two rounds. Xizt stepped up to the plate in the late stages with a 1v2 clutch, while a 2v3 bomb defense from KRIMZ and twist nearly sealed the deal. NRG had to eco at 10-14 and the Swedes reached match point before JW secured a final placement for his team with a quad-kill play in the last round.

IEM Sydney 2019Best of 3 NRG

NRG

Matchpage 1 2 4th May 2019

fnatic 11Inferno 16 16Train 8 10Mirage 16

NRG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	55 - 55	0	82.5	1.05
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	56 - 55	+1	70.1	1.03
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	51 - 57	-6	72.0	1.00
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	53 - 61	-8	70.9	0.95
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	34 - 58	-24	55.2	0.72

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	62 - 46	+16	84.9	1.25
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	61 - 51	+10	82.4	1.20
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	64 - 52	+12	79.8	1.18
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	55 - 52	+3	81.9	1.12
Simon 'twist' Eliassontwist	43 - 48	-5	71.9	0.96