fnatic knock out Grayhound to join 1-2 pool

fnatic have defeated Grayhound 2-0 at IEM Katowice's New Challengers Stage to avoid elimination (16-9 on Inferno and 16-11 on Overpass).

Grayhound and fnatic squared off in a best-of-three series with their tournament lives on the line. Grayhound kicked off Inferno by winning the first two rounds on the CT-side but fnatic responded in the first weapon round after Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin got a double kill. Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström picked up a triple kill in a 2vs3 in the fourth round to make it 2-2.

Xizt's impact in late-round situations persisted as the Swede picked up double kills in a 2vs2 and a 1vs2 in consecutive rounds (5-2). The first half ended 13-2 in favor of fnatic who went on an incredible run on the T-side after losing the first two rounds.

Ollie "⁠DickStacy⁠" Tierney stopped fnatic's streak with a 1vs1 victory in the second pistol and Grayhound picked up two more rounds to trail 13-5. Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson got an AUG triple kill to give fnatic their 14th round but Grayhound hit back with four round wins (14-9).

fnatic earned six map points thanks to an AWP triple kill by twist in the 24th round. The Swedish team finished it off swiftly, coming out on top of a 2vs2 post-plant situation in the following round thanks to twist's double kill (16-9).

The series continued on Overpass where the T-sided Grayhound secured the pistol round with DickStacy's triple kill. fnatic successfully stopped Grayhound's A-site push in the third round to get on the scoreboard. Two rounds later, DickStacy and Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong found opening kills to reclaim the lead (3-2).

Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga and Euan "⁠sterling⁠" Moore won a 2vs5, extending their lead to 4-2. fnatic won seven of the last eight rounds in the first half to finish it 9-6 ahead. twist opened up the second pistol round with three kills and Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell closed it out with a double in a 2vs2, making it 10-6.

Grayhound's force buy in the second round of the half was a success but the Australian side were unable to tie the game as they lost a 5vs3 in the 20th round (11-9). fnatic managed to win the map 16-10 to take the 2-0 series victory, eliminating Grayhound.