The first semi final match between Fnatic and Titan has concluded with the Swedes coming up on top with a 2-1 victory and moving to the grand finals.
The opening match of day 3 featured the most pleasent surprise of the group stage Titan, and one of the main favourites of the tournament Fnatic. Although Fnatic were struggling yesterday in the group stage, the Swedes still managed to find their way through the playoffs and they were still considered as favourites coming to this duel. On the other hand, Titan were performing really well in the groups, beating everyone but EnVyUs which gave them the highest seed.
The map veto was really no surprise as we saw Fnatic picking de_cobblestone, Titan going with de_cache and the third map was de_inferno. On Cobblestone we could see a totally one-sided game as Titan were jusoutplayedt in every aspect of the game. Fnatic were playing out of their minds, showing why this map is actually one of their the most favourite picks. Starting on CT side, most of the rounds Titan were struggling to find even one frag while Fnatic were working with full control of the whole map. In the end, the final score was 16-3 (13-2).
The following map was de_cache where this time Titan had to start off on the less favored T side. This didn't really bother them much as they managed to crush Fnatic's economy pretty early and to keep them low on money, which forced the Swedes to work only with pistols and mainly Famases. The scenario was close to the one which we saw in the previous map, but this time with Titan in the main role. The half time score was 11-4 and the second pistol round was won by Titan which gave them an extra booster as they were quickly on 13th round. However, Fnatic tried to strike back and were holding the French squad low on money for some time, but eventually they fell and the final score was 16-11.
The deciding map, de_inferno, once again saw an insanely well performing Fnatic. They just stomped their way into this map taking the first six initial rounds on T side and leaving Titan totally clueless. This forced French team to call for a time-out which eventually worked out for them as they finally got themselves on the board with the first round. From this moment on, Titan were slowly closing the gap and it was 8-7 at the end of the half for Fnatic. Titan managed to win their T side pistol round which was exactly what they needed in order to keep Fnatic low on the money, but Fnatic showed once again how well they are with the force buys and pistols only. They managed to win the next round and to get the economy back into their hands. In the end, we could only see a perfect execution by the Swedes who closed this match with 16-9.
Fnatic will now move on to the grand finals where they will be waiting for the better of Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro duel. The grand finals will feature a best-of-five series and are scheduled to start at 19.00 CEST.
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