fnatic beat NiP to win Katowice major

The first map of this best-of-three series was Ninjas in Pyjamas' choice, de_dust2, on which fnatic had curiously not played before at this event. NiP got the start they wanted and won the pistol round as Terrorists following an A push, with Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg and Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund each getting two kills, but they were taken by surprise in the first anti-eco round thanks to a great round from Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist in the pit.

fnatic took control of the proceedings and started a streak that lasted for five rounds, even though they came close to losing the seventh round as Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg picked up two entry kills in short. Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell and Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer then came to the rescue and retook the A site.

NiP then won their first gun round and reduced the deficit to 2-6, but they were taken aback by Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson’s triple kill in B in the following round. NiP never stopped trying to get back into the game, but their inability to string rounds together hurt their economy as fnatic brought the scoreline to 10-5.

In the second half, NiP won the pistol round in no small part because of two great frags from f0rest early on, which left fnatic in a tough situation. olofmeister still killed three opponents in a 1vs.3 situation from the pit but he could not stop the defuse.

NiP went on to win the two anti-eco rounds, this way reducing the deficit to 8-10, but then fnatic showed some strong play with guns and enlarged their lead to five rounds. Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström’s men then entered their best period of the match as they won five rounds in a row to level things up 13-13, forcing fnatic to call a timeout.

fnatic came out strongly from the break and regained the lead after a catwalk Tec-9 rush, but a 1vs.1 clutch from friberg in the following round put NiP back in the game. fnatic then played out two flawless rounds to win the map 16-14 and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

1. LDLC - $100,000

2. NiP - $50,000

3-4. Virtus.pro - $22,000

3-4. Na`Vi - $22,000

5-8. HellRaisers - $10,000

5-8. PENTA Sports - $10,000

5-8. fnatic - $10,000

5-8. dignitas - $10,000

9-12. Cloud9 - $2,000

9-12. iBUYPOWER - $2,000

9-12. ESC Gaming - $2,000

9-12. FlipSid3 Tactics - $2,000

13-16. Bravado - $2,000

13-16. CPH Wolves - $2,000

13-16. Planetkey Dynamics - $2,000

13-16. myXMG - $2,000

Next up was de_cache, where NiP, who began on the defensive side of the map, got off to a flying start by winning the opening five rounds, with f0rest once gain taking the plaudits with three kills in the pistol round.

A quad kill from flusha, who showed great positioning, then gave fnatic some breathing room and inspired them to tie the score at five rounds. olofmeister pulled off an ace in the following round to give fnatic the lead, which they kept until the end of the first half despite two great rounds from Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli and friberg in the dying stages.

In the pistol round as Terrorists, fnatic, who had a narrow 8-7 lead, opted for an A push and they almost succeeded in taking control of the site, but in the end NiP came out on top with three kills from allu. This time around, fnatic were unable to cause an upset with the Tec-9s, and they also struggled in gun rounds, winning just two rounds as NiP secured a 16-10 victory.

It all came down to de_inferno, where fnatic finally claimed bragging rights first as they easily denied an A rush in the pistol round, losing just one player in the process. allu then delivered four frags in B to level the score, but fnatic did not take long to respond and equalized the match on two rounds right after.

From here on it was a one-way street as fnatic brought the scoreline to 9-3, which resulted in Xizt calling a timeout. The quick chat brought immediate results as NiP won the following gun round after pushing A, but the final round went the way of fnatic, who were sitting on a sizeable 11-4 lead.

fnatic piled more pressure on their opponents by winning the first three rounds of the second half, but two frags from f0rest in the banana plus three from allu in the middle kept NiP in the race.

The following three rounds then went to NiP, who cut the gap the 8-14, but fnatic replied with one round of their own to become one step short of victory. NiP knew they had a mountain the climb to take the game to overtime, and they showed some impressive mental fortitude as they brought the scoreline to 13-15, when a 2vs.3 afterplant from fnatic in A sealed the deal for Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten's men.

ESL One Katowice 2015Best of 3

fnatic

Matchpage

2

1

15th March 2015

Ninjas in Pyjamas

16

Dust2

14

10

Cache

16

16

Inferno

13

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating1.0
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	79 - 58	+21	-	-	1.29
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	59 - 60	-1	-	-	0.99
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	54 - 54	0	-	-	0.95
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	55 - 68	-13	-	-	0.80
Markus 'pronax' Wallstenpronax	45 - 56	-11	-	-	0.80

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating1.0
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	75 - 54	+21	-	-	1.29
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	74 - 56	+18	-	-	1.27
Adam 'friberg' Fribergfriberg	46 - 57	-11	-	-	0.85
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	54 - 66	-12	-	-	0.82
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	47 - 59	-12	-	-	0.81

ESL One Katowice 2015 final standings:

1. fnatic - $100,000
2. NiP - $50,000
3-4. Virtus.pro - $22,000
3-4. EnVyUs - $22,000
5-8. PENTA Sports - $10,000
5-8. Keyd Stars - $10,000
5-8. Na`Vi - $10,000
5-8. Team SoloMid - $10,000
9-12. Vox Eminor - $2,000
9-12. LGB - $2,000
9-12. CLG - $2,000
9-12. Cloud9 - $2,000
13-16. FlipSid3 Tactics - $2,000
13-16. Titan - $2,000
13-16. HellRaisers - $2,000
13-16. 3DMAX - $2,000