G2 defeat fnatic, advance to final

The first map of the second semifinal of the ESL Pro League Season 3 finals was Inferno (a map which will soon make its way out of the Active Duty pool and out of tournament play and which was thus enjoying its Indian summer at this event) and it was fnatic's map pick.

G2 appeared to right away have the map sealed on their CT-side, with the French-Belgian team securing the first pistolround, first gunround, and generally presenting an insurmountable wall for the Swedes and thus finishing up with a commanding 13-2 first half.

However, the second half was the supreme Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist show as the player picked up 29 kills in one half (and finished with a 2.11 rating on the map) and fnatic time and time again proved that they were a team who were not out until the 16th round was reached, which the Swedes achieved with a 16-14 first map win.

shox played a series worthy of his 2014 form

The series moved on to Cache, G2's map pick, and it was a Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon-led defense that yet again put G2 in the driver's seat as they generally shut down fnatic's entry attempts (losing against a few forcebuys in the process) to finish the half up 11-4.

Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman fulfilled caster Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett's prophecy of being a pistoleer of exceptional skill with a very highlight-worthy ace on the second pistolround, and thus put fnatic back into the map.

However, once fnatic had secured their anti-eco's and the first gunround, G2 seemingly turned on the afterburners on their T-side, as shox and Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom secured headshot after headshot to give the French-Belgian team round after round and allow them to take the second map 16-8.

fnatic barely fell short of a third consecutive Pro League final

With Train being the decider map, G2 kicked off an extremely strong CT-side for a third time in a row in the series, this time going up to a 8-0 score with shox in the lead before fnatic were finally able to take A-site and put a round on the board.

However, one round was all it took for flusha & co. to figure out G2's defense as multiple A-site takes continue to overwhelm Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy and the rest of the G2 defenders and the half ultimately finished 9-6 in favour of G2, with fnatic having certainly got some late round wind in their sails.

An easily denied outer site take by fnatic gave John "⁠wenton⁠" Eriksson and the Swedes the second pistolround, but a bevy of Deagle kills by G2 on their force buy somehow put G2 back in the lead of the second half of the third map and G2 rocketed ahead to a 11-7 score.

With RpK finding his form as well, the Francophone team continued to advance and went as far as 14-8, before a classic fnatic hold came into play which included winning a three-versus-five retake on the outer site. However, G2 finally proved they had the mettle to take on fnatic's known ability to come back into the series, and managed to close out the map 16-12.

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter