fnatic, HR share the spoils in Moscow

Following Virtus.pro's convincing win over SK Gaming, Group B at EPICENTER: Moscow resumed with an interesting clash between HellRaisers, fresh off signing Bence "⁠DeadFox⁠" Böröcz after a trial period, and a fnatic side determined to make amends after some mixed results.

Cache was the first map of the series, and here fnatic were the livelier of the two teams early on, winning the first three rounds on the Terrorist side. After getting their economy stabilized, HellRaisers picked up four rounds in a row thanks to some great early frags from DeadFox, who was lethal throughout the game with the AWP, and Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk. 

The rest of the half was highly contested as neither side managed to stamp their authority on the game, with HellRaisers securing a narrow 8-7 lead going into the second half.

HellRaisers picked up the first map of the series 

The second half began at a frantic pace, with teams taking turns to put together strings of three rounds. A 1vs2 clutch from Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman in the 23rd round proved crucial as fnatic faced the prospect of an economic reset, but the Swedish team would collapse right after against an ecoing HellRaisers side, who would turn that single round into a string of five to lock down the map, 16-13.

Next up was Overpass, which was a complete blowout for most of the first half as fnatic stormed to a 10-2 lead. It was only then that HellRaisers' offense finally flourished as they picked up two rounds in a row, but dennis punished them in the final round with a trio of Scout kills to give fnatic their 11th round of the game.

Lekr0 fought back after a disappointing display on Cache 

HellRaisers returned from the break with fire in their bellies, winning five of the first six rounds to close the gap to just three rounds. The European mixture was really tightening their defensive line, but fnatic kept their composure and eventually won the map 16-10 to pick up their first points in Moscow.