fnatic knock out FaZe in Atlanta

fnatic are through to Group B's decider match at ELEAGUE Premier after moving past FaZe on two very close maps (19-15 on Dust2 and 16-14 on Mirage).

The battle for survival in Atlanta started on Dust2, where the early matches were played at a frantic pace as rounds went back and forth and neither side could stamp their authority on the game. FaZe eventually came out on top of this scrappy period with a string of rounds after punishing fnatic for failing to hold short.

It was only when they were down 2-7 that fnatic's defence finally switched on, with the Swedes managing to bring the deficit to just three rounds by the end of the half to keep their comeback hopes alive.

The second half began with FaZe further adding to their lead after winning the pistol round and the subsequent anti-ecos. But once fnatic had money to work with, the landscape of the game changed immediately. With a series of precise executes, the Swedes kept their opponents' economy to a minimum, eventually levelling the score at 13-13.

Double kills from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács twice put FaZe ahead, but the current No.3 team in the world could not deal the finishing blow and let fnatic force the overtime with a trio of kills from Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell in the 30th round.

Carrying their momentum into overtime, fnatic had a perfect 3-0 Terrorist half to hit map point before Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström shut down the FaZe offense with a tremendous quad kill on short, giving his a hard-fought victory and the lead in the series.

JW opened up with the action on Mirage with a quad kill to put fnatic in the lead. After a successful anti-eco from fnatic, the game entered a highly-contested period as the teams started trading force buys, until a succession of rounds from the Swedes left FaZe's economy in shambles.

Down 2-6, FaZe made a slight climb back into the map with two rounds, but then lost a round against just CZs and were once again left with no money in the bank. The Swedish team continued to press on and quickly hit double digits before FaZe secured the final round of the half to bring the scoreline to 5-10.

The second half began with fnatic taking the pistol round following a true Mexican standoff on the A site. FaZe hit back on a force buy thanks to a quad kill from NiKo - a man on a mission to keep his team in the game. A few rounds later, the Bosnian prodigy pulled off a 1v2 clutch to rescue FaZe once again and prevent fnatic from reaching match point.

But despite NiKo's efforts, fnatic would still hit series point at 15-10. FaZe refused to throw in the towel, however, and put together a string of rounds, only to fall at the final hurdle against a very low buy - a truly fitting ending to a chaotic match.