HellRaisers to New Champions Stage over fnatic

HellRaisers are through to the New Champions Stage at the FACEIT Major following a 2-1 victory against fnatic which eliminated the Swedes (17-19 on Mirage, 16-9 on Dust2, and 16-2 on Cache).

The best-of-three game featured fnatic and HellRaisers who both had 2-2 records going into the match. Mirage kicked off with the T-sided HellRaisers taking the pistol as Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker grabbed a quad kill.

fnatic couldn't get on the scoreboard until the sixth round, and even then, they got reset as they lost the following round (6-1). HellRaisers extended their lead to 9-1 but fnatic managed to partially claw back and finished the half 11-4 behind.

Even though the Swedish side kicked off the second half with the pistol victory, HellRaisers responded with four rounds in a row (14-5). Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell's team then went on a seven round streak that got them to the 12 rounds but they couldn't prevent HellRaisers from earning three match points (15-12).

fnatic clutched a 2vs3 in the 28th round and also picked up the last two rounds to take the game to overtime. The Swedes completed the comeback and won the map 19-17 as woxic and Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad couldn't make their presence felt towards the end.

fnatic secured the pistol round on Dust2 where they started on the CT-side. HellRaisers hit back with a 3vs4 victory in the first weapon round and followed it up with five more rounds to lead 6-3. JW found his groove after the ninth round, picking up eleven kills in six rounds as fnatic finished the half with an 8-7 lead.

woxic's double kill gave the second half pistol to HellRaisers who had a nearly impeccable CT campaign, winning nine of the first ten rounds and closing out the map 16-9.

The decider was Cache which kicked off with HellRaisers on the CT-side. Kyrylo "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow’s team secured the first five rounds during which fnatic players only got five kills combined. JW found an opening kill in the sixth round but ISSAA responded with a triple, making it 6-0.

After losing the first nine rounds, fnatic got their first with pistols but HellRaisers, unfazed, closed out the half 13-2 as ISSAA got 20 kills and only died five times. ISSAA got a quad kill in the second pistol as HellRaisers clutched a 2vs4. They went on to win the map 16-2, and the series 2-1 to secure their place in the New Champions Stage and eliminate fnatic.