ESL Pro League Season 14ALEX-led fnatic secure first win after double overtime
The Swedish-British roster shows positive signs as they take down BIG.
fnatic have defeated BIG 2-1 in their second match played at ESL Pro League Season 14, leaving a good impression at the debut tournament with their new roster so far. Their opening match was a 2-0 loss to Natus Vincere, but Alex "ALEX" McMeekin's team put up a strong fight against the world No. 1 as well.
A near-flawless CT side on Overpass set up fnatic for a 1-0 start to the series against BIG, but the German side swept Dust2 with ease to move things to Nuke. It took two sets of overtime to decide the victor, with fnatic edging it out in the end, with William "mezii" Merriman standing out as their best player in the series.
Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson noted a slight stylistic change in fnatic with the addition of ALEX, mezii, and Jamie "keita" Hall in the post-match interview. "We have more structure, but still a lot of freedom," the longest-standing member on the team said. While the roster is still in its early days, the two-time Major winner isn't going to settle with an average result at EPL. "We will take it match by match, but our goal is to reach playoffs."
A 2v5 turnaround from Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattsson and mezii set up fnatic for what ended up being a crucial four-round streak early into their Terrorist side of Overpass, as BIG took reigns of the half following a triple kill from new signing Nicklas "gade" Gade in round five. The Germans swapped to the attack 9-6 ahead, but fnatic was near-flawless on the defense, poking and prodding to disrupt BIG's plans. Jackinho, who had a terrible game against Natus Vincere on the same map on Friday, was towards the top of the scoreboard (22K-12D) in fnatic's 16-10 win.
ALEX's men continued where they left off on the second map, grabbing a 5-1 advantage, but BIG displayed why Dust2 is considered their home map in no time. A round secured with upgraded pistols started their streak and they went on to win 15 out of the following 17 rounds to force the decider.
The winner was decided on Nuke, which was neck and neck from start to finish. BIG were looking solid on the defense before mezii's 1v3 turned the tides in fnatic's favor, who got to 15 first but couldn't close out. Players took turns stepping up with individual plays as things reached overtime, where fnatic kept their composure and closed it out 22-18.
  BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 - 52 | +11 | 71.9 | 70.8% | 1.18 | |
| 53 - 57 | -4 | 74.0 | 70.8% | 1.05 | |
| 59 - 57 | +2 | 68.9 | 69.7% | 0.98 | |
| 59 - 60 | -1 | 65.1 | 67.4% | 0.95 | |
| 50 - 61 | -11 | 70.0 | 60.7% | 0.94 |
 fnatic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 - 52 | +8 | 76.8 | 74.2% | 1.15 | |
| 55 - 55 | 0 | 67.0 | 69.7% | 1.03 | |
| 60 - 53 | +7 | 64.0 | 65.2% | 1.02 | |
| 56 - 62 | -6 | 71.6 | 73.0% | 0.96 | |
| 55 - 66 | -11 | 78.6 | 61.8% | 0.96 |
The Group C standing is as follows:
Natus Vincere
FaZe
MOUZ
Evil Geniuses
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Christopher 'dexter' Nong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
Michał 'MICHU' Müller
Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
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