fnatic celebrate return to Majors with victory over Cloud9

The European squad's victory marks the end of the first Swiss stage round.

fnatic defeated Cloud9 in a surprising match on Inferno to celebrate their return to the Majors with a victory at IEM Rio 2022 Challenger Stage. The Russian squad will continue their Brazilian adventure from the 0-1 pool despite coming into the fixture as heavy favorites.

Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov's men stared down the barrel of a one-sided defeat with a 5-14 deficit, but successfully came back to force overtime thanks to the heroics of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and fnatic stubbornness to attack the B site.

Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi kickstarted the match with four crucial frags in the opening pistol round, setting fnatic up to take the early lead. An Timofey "⁠interz⁠" Yakushin 1v3 clutch allowed Cloud9 to get their first on the board, but that lifeline was quickly shut down after a successful pistol stack on the B site brought the momentum back on the side of the Europeans.

Cloud9 failed to get back in the match until the end of the half, taking the last three rounds to salvage a 5-10 half. Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen was the star on fnatic's
CT side, but nicoodoz and Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson also performed admirably.

William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman and company temporarily took back control of the game with another pistol round win and were on course for a comfortable victory until sh1ro came online. The Russian AWPer dominated the CT side, pushing Cloud9 to an impressive 10-round winning streak before a last-ditch push from fnatic forced overtime.

Ultimately, the European squad swept through the defensive half of extra time, securing their advancement to the 1-0 record and their first victory at a Major since IEM Katowice 2019.