The D2CL playoffs continue today with the second and final quarter final, Fnatic will be going up against Cloud9 in the best-of-five series. The recent track record favours Cloud9.
UPDATE: The match was postponed last minute and will be played on Sunday.
Cloud9, runner-ups of last season have found themselves yet another time in the playoffs of the Dota 2 Champions League. Same goes for Fnatic, although Fnatic did not quite have as good of a run last season, as they reached the round they currently are in but were eliminated there and then by Team Liquid. This match-up is arguably more even on paper than the first playoff match, in which Alliance beat Virtus.Pro three to one.
Recent records show that Cloud 9 are in slightly better shape than Fnatic for the time being. They appear confident with their playstyle, with the patch and versatile enough not to be drafted into a corner. But Fnatic is never a team to be counted out, despite having having a winrate just above 50 % recently. They are experienced and can beat any other team on a good day, provided they get a game they are comfortable with and stick to their plan.
In the six official games between the two teams (spread across three matches) this year, Fnatic only managed to win one. Despite the struggles experienced against Cloud9, this is probably not something weighing heavy on their shoulders going into the best-of-five series. On paper it is a tough game to predict as any outcome is possible, it can be an even match going to the full amount of five games or it can be 3-0 sweep either way. It is more likely, though, that a sweep would go Cloud9's way as they are not usually letting themselves get rolled over. Some of their strategies have not worked out as well as they intended though, which is where Fnatic can break them.
Both teams have play makers taking up the solo mid role, H4nn1 for Fnatic and SingSing for Cloud9. The individual match-up there will be exciting to follow even though Cloud9 rotate around their positions depending on the draft, sometimes leaving bOne7 or EternalEnvy in the midlane. Heroes commonly used by the teams can be seen below. Note that statistics used here for Cloud9 (including past encounters vs Fnatic) are combined from the two profiles Cloud9 and Speed Gaming.
The match goes live at 18.00 CET tonight (1am SGT, 1pm EST). The winning team moves on to face Team Empire in the semi finals.
Wins-Losses-Draws : 133-61-6 (68%) - matches
Last 19 matches : 18 - 13 (58.1%) - maps
Common :
Look out for :
Wins-Losses-Draws : 253-162-11 (61%) - matches
Last 18 matches : 13 - 12 (52.0%) - maps
Common :
Look out for :
?Photo source: GosuGamers
