fnatic powered through Mirage and Overpass after losing Dust2 to take the three-map series over G2 and secure a spot in the playoffs.

The competitive LAN return of Dust2 was slated to be the first map of the series. The French team came quick out of the gate on the Terrorist-side pistol, but a 1vs3 clutch from Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson with USP headshots on an A site retake gave the round to the Swedes. G2 were finally able to take the fourth round, and ten rounds into the map a stalemate had settled, 5-5. Some adjustments on B gave fnatic their sixth round, as Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell took three and Lekr0 one, but G2 were able to take A the following round to bring it back even. The half finally went to G2, but by the slimmest of margins, 8-7.

The second pistol round went the way of G2, and the French-Spanish team was then able to win the first gun round for a 12-7 lead. They then stopped an A doors rush to further cement their lead heading into the second gun round of the half. fnatic looked hopeful as Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist got the opening frag, but a double by Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro and triple by Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas shut the Swedes down.

Up against the ropes, fnatic were able to start tallying rounds, breaking G2’s six round streak, and started to come back by bringing it to 11-14. G2 got their 15th round thanks to doubles by Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub and bodyy, but were unable to close it immediately as flusha ran down mid and took mixwell out early in the round to open it up for his team. The French side called a timeout with 15-12 on the board, and when the match resumed mixwell got instant revenge on flusha with a crisp AWP shot on mid. G2 then played a 4vs3 retake on B and closed the map out, 16-12.

JW had a great series against G2

The second map, Mirage, kicked off with a 2vs2 afterplant on A in the pistol round which JW was able to close out against bodyy and mixwell to give his team the first round. G2 on the forcebuy were then able to stop a B play by fnatic with a double by kennyS on catwalk and bodyy winning a 1vs1 against Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson. The match kept moving along scrappily as fnatic won a forcebuy of their own. fnatic won the follow-up, but G2 took the first gun round. Once again, after trades on mid, fnatic traded the round and took a 5-2 lead.

The map then started to skew towards fnatic as the Swedes were able to break the CT’s economy several times, taking a hefty 7-2 lead and keeping the French team at bay, although winning the two last rounds gave G2 the chance to get back into it in the second half despite trailing 6-9.

Having won the pistol round, it looked like G2 was indeed going to get back into it, but early individual duels in the second round of the half left the French side down in a 2vs5 which ended up going the way of fnatic. Having taken control on the CT side, it didn’t take long for the Swedes to completely shut G2 down closing the side 16-7.

G2 were unable to seal the deal on Overpass

The third map kicked off with fnatic taking the CT pistol round on Overpass. The Swedes kicked it off in dominating fashion, playing aggressive Counter-Strike and controlling the map. G2 slowly started to get back into it, keeping it close in the middle portion of the half, 4-6, and slowly gaining control of the economic game. The French side kept grinding the rounds out, as well as fnatic’s economy. Up by one, 6-7, fnatic forced a buy with pistols, SMGs, and a glass cannon on JW, which paid off allowing them to take the half 9-6.

The second pistol round went the way of G2, who were able to stop an A push by the Swedish team, but fnatic were able to keep their lead in the first gun round, as JW outplayed mixwell in a 1vs1 on the A site with the bomb planted. Down 8-12, G2 were able to win a big round with doubles by Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt to stay in the game.

fnatic took a force buy to keep their lead, 13-11, but G2 then won one of their own to get it back within one. All tied up, G2 won against a pistol buy on B, taking the lead late in the map, but fnatic then brought it back to a tie with two rounds to go. A huge round by JW in the 29th gave his team the lead going into the last round, which they were able to win to take the match.

IEM Sydney 2018Best of 3 fnaticMatchpage 2 1 2nd May 2018 G2 12Dust2 16 16Mirage 7 16Overpass 14

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	66 - 56	+10	90.8	1.24
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	62 - 49	+13	82.5	1.23
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	56 - 52	+4	74.6	1.09
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	52 - 52	0	73.8	1.06
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden	49 - 54	-5	68.7	0.99

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	62 - 60	+2	86.1	1.08
Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellasmixwell	54 - 51	+3	72.7	1.07
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	58 - 55	+3	70.4	1.02
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	51 - 61	-10	73.1	0.96
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianarobodyy	38 - 58	-20	53.5	0.74

Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Age: 23 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1352 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellas Age: 22 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 572 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Age: 21 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 589 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1099 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1319 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 fnatic #3 Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' Selim Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1186 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.71 Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 562 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.67 G2 #11 Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireOscar 'mixwell' CañellasAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 22 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1244 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63 Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1323 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64