The playoffs of Fragbite Masters are mostly over and done with as the quarter-finals and the semi-finals have both been played out, however due to time constraints and delays during the second day of play the grand finals between Fnatic and Alliance will have to be played next week, December 14th at 18:00 CET.
Things got off to a surprising start when Speed Gaming failed to make the playoffs after being dominated by a slightly out of style Lone Druid and Tinker lineup from Next.Kz, giving them a 24-13 victory at just under the 30 minute mark. This however did not turn out to be the start of any Cinderella story for Next.Kz, who were ousted by Power Rangers in the next leg of the competition 2-0, including a 19-2 stomp.
While Alliance got a solid 2-0 in over Super Strong Dinosaurs, the other favourite Fnatic seemed to falter a bit against 4 Friends + Chrillee, who took a game off of them through a strong early game lineup with Abaddon which transitioned into split-pushing with Weaver and Mirana as Fnatic nearly turned the game around on the back end of play. Still, Fnatic clenched the series with a fairly convincing 22-11 game, bringing them into the final four for the competition.
In the semi-finals it was Alliance turn to miss a step, as they dropped a game with Phantom Assassin against Zero Respect, who have recently been picked up by a sponsor and now go by the moniker Warmakers. While Alliance got most of what their traditional Phantom Assassin strategy built around with the Magnus and the single core nature of their lineup, it wasn't really able to contend with Viper/Mirana/Timbersaw coming out of Zero Respect. In the end Alliance still took the series with a strong pushing lineup, making their way into the grand finals 2-1. Meanwhile Fnatic's path against Power Rangers was a lot more steady going, as even the numerically closer second game was in reality a quite routine performance by Fnatic, getting far ahead on farm and finishing the game at just short of 30 minutes.
Due to the late hour and both teams commitments for Poland this weekend the grand finals have been pushed forward to the 14th of December at 18:00 CET. The third place decider will also be played later on at an as of yet undetermined time.
Prize Distribution
1. 100 000 SEK (~$15 300)
2. 50 000 SEK (~$7 700)
3. 20 000 SEK (~$3 100)
4. 8 000 SEK (~$1 200)
5-8. 5 500 SEK (~$850)
