Photo by Raidcall EMS One
Fnatic proved to be a challenge for Vici but they stepped up after being initially shut down and improved more and more for each game played. Vici Gaming replaced Team DK which was the team originally winning the Chinese qualifier. DK could not participate due to visa issues.
Vici Gaming did China proud and denied Fnatic their first major championship of 2013 while also securing the first title for a Chinese team in a tournament containing both Chinese and Western teams in 2013.
ESL Major Series One - Fall Season, 2013
1st. 
Vici Gaming - $12,000
2nd. 
Fnatic - $7,000
3rd. 
Alliance - $4,000
3rd. 
Natus Vincere - $4,000
5th. Sigma International - $2,000
5th. 
StarTale - $2,000
5th. 
against All authority - $2,000
5th. 
ONE - $2,000
Fnatic vs Vici Gaming
Game one
The game started out with kills right off the bat, Vici dived to first-blood the Invoker mid but gave up Alchemist and Storm Spirit for it. Fnatic set the tempo after that and started rotating the supports around the map all the time, leaving Era to solo top vs rOtk, giving them the better start to the game. After the first ten minutes, the game slowed down though, both teams farmed up a bit before Fnatic once again forced the issue, won a big clash mid and took down two towers, really putting their mark on the map. Fnatic used the advantage to ward up as well as get a Gem up on Fly to increase their map control lead.
Clinkz got his Orchid after minute 21 which was at the same time as Fnatic took down Roshan without any signs of contesting from Vici. Aegis was lost shortly after though as Era got ganked top lane by the fresh Orchid as well as a Fiends Grip. No other casualties other than the Aegis however. The passive farming continued, it was too risky for both teams to do anything aggressive. Fnatic went into a mode where they ran as five and found kills in the process, while Vici tried to avoid fights and side push with the Clinkz. The first really major fight of the game went down at the Rosh pit and it started out well for Vici, they killed off Invoker and the Titan instantly without them using anything but after that the fight turned around and Fnatic made sure those were the only casualties. A bit later, when Invoker completed his Skadi, Fnatic attempted to break the high ground by pushing in top lane. They somewhat succeeded, managing to push away the Vici heroes, killing some off and forcing buy backs before getting the tier three tower. They were forced to retreat and Era was caught in the midst of it, getting his first death of the game.
Fnatic kept up the tempo though, only stopping to lick their wounds a brief moment before pushing in bot lane. A huge Echo Stomp into Earth Splitter on four heroes more or less sealed the deal, especially with a Meteor on top of that. The fight was lost in a few seconds for Vici and with their buybacks still on cool down from the clash prior, the game was over. Fnatic won the first game of the EMS One final.
Game two
In true offlane fashion, rOtk was the victim of a smoke gank and went down first on the map. Vici Gaming responded by sending four people midlane, showing their emphasis once again on this particular lane. They got the kill on H4nn1 but Fly teleported in and managed to kill off Fenrir in return while surviving himself. Meanwhile the tier one offline tower went down for both teams, followed by a massive rotation mid by every single hero. A big clash broke out but some clutch plays by Fnatic ensured two kills and zero losses. Vici Gaming pressed on further, despite not having their Mekansm yet and their aggression backfired.
The quirky Nether Ward steal by Fly caused severe trouble for Vici while he had it running, almost completely messing up the fights from Vici. They kept up the aggression though, trying to bring down more towers. Supreme warding by Fnatic spotted all of their opponents moves and they managed to avoid most fights before Era got his BKB. Some towers did go Vici's way though. A smoke gank from Vici spelled the death of Era, but he just bought his BKB before going down and Fnatic won the fight afterwards, using the fresh BKB. Fy's Sand King struggled to utilize his hero properly, not really getting any Epicenters off. Last game he struggled with Alchemist too, seems he was unable to play the game he wanted to play due to Fnatic's positioning.
Fnatic killed off Roshan and rOtk tried to steal the Aegis, however he failed and got killed. Era took the Aegis and led the onslaught onto the retreating Vici squad. However, they overcommited slightly and lost more heroes than they should due to good stalling and usage of skills by Vici. Meanwhile n0tail was shouting like a madman, trying to establish who is the bigger screamer of the match. The fight secured a Blink Dagger for the Sand King, who now as very mobile, having both Phase Boots and Drum prior to the Dagger. However, Sand King was totally immobilized in the next big clash by Trixi who kept him busy chasing all fight without accomplishing anything.
A big misplay happened at the Rosh pit where Fnatic was fooled by an illusion of DK, Rubick broke the smoke to blink in and use Telekinesis on it followed by Era dropping the Eclipse. With those skills down, Vici immediately hooked in Clockwork and forced the fight, Vici came out on top and took down Roshan afterwards. Vici found H4nn1 out by his secret shop a bit later and while H4nn1 himself BKB'd and survived, Fly and Trixi who went there top save him did not make it out. Vici could capitalize on the situation by destroying the mid melee barracks. The game seemed good at first for Fnatic, but it was not turned over and the power of Dragon Knight and Pugna came through. Fnatic struggled against it and Dragon Knight was suddenly the primary damage dealer of the game. After a final fight at Roshan where Vici demolished Fnatic, the game was over.
Game three
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In the third game, with N0tails signature hero Enchantress banned, they went for Wisp instead. The first blood took longer than previous games but eventually it happened in the tri-vs-tri lane top, where Fenrir faced the wrath of Fnatic's trilane. However, a continued overextension was costly for Fnatic as Super moved in with a double damage and the entire trilane got wiped. Past that moment though, Fnatic's decision making was better, they moved down their three cores bottom lane for a kill and a tower, while still managing to defend their own top tower. However, all that decision making went out the window when they relocated and moved in Chaos Knight and Alchemist to save Trixi bottom but the result was them being overpowered and losing a total of three heroes. Meanwhile Sylar took out the top tower. Suddenly Vici was leading the game and Super was having a much better Storm game than the first game of the final, securing Orchid at minute 16.
Vici started pushing and Fnatic relied on a Concoction landing somewhere and then for Wisp+Chaos Knight to follow up, a plan they were overconfident in, it would seem. Super's Storm was ready to jump in and take out Wisp as soon as it happened, sure they may lose that initial hero that was targeted but they got a better trade in return, taking out Wisp and Chaos Knight. They transitioned their lead into making Fnatic getting scared of leaving their base, resulting in a Roshan for Vici followed by a clutch kill on Weaver where Super jumped in under ward vision to grab him and use his BKB to ensure that he could do what was needed for the kill. Vici was very much in control and Super's Storm was in fact getting out of control, Fnatic got a few kills their way but mostly lost their own heroes, Chaos Knight and Weaver not managing to deal enough damage and going down too quickly. After getting rendered further and further behind, Fnatic eventually called the "good game" just following a fight lost in an ugly fashion while trying to defend their own barracks top lane.
Game four
It was time for aggressive trilane once again, this time for Fnatic. Early kills were expected and early kills were delivered. Vici got the first blood before dropping a hero of their own, after that it rained down kills a bit everywhere, basically all of them were caused by Super's aggressive rotations. Most of them went his way and some of them was him leading himself and teammates into death. Either way, he showed that he would not play a passive mid lane and instead making life hard for Fnatic and Fly especially. Era got a great first night though, especially after punishing Vici for diving too far bottom lane in an attempt to off Trixi. Still, Vici was getting the better trades, and Shukuchi as well as Surge proved to be an issue for Fnatic who lacked proper stuns.
After zounds of technical issues, remakes and reloads, Vici took out Roshan and forced a huge fight in the midlane where they found multiple kills, setting Fnatic's game back even further. It was like they felt the need to just speed up the game and quickly retake all the kills they could not get during the massive downtime, Vici suddenly were everywhere, really hammering down Fnatic. Kills went down rapidly in the midlane, Super did great work with positioning, finding crucial stuns and doing some heavy face tanking. It seemed like Vici was on the way to do it, to win EMS One. After picking off Clinkz and Timbersaw, Vici breached high ground and took down the middle barracks. From there on, the game was basically over, all clashes went Vici's way, they seemed very psyched after the server issues while Fnatic seemed rather sluggish and unfocused. After a few futile fights, Fnatic tapped out and Vici took the championship!
