Outsiders defeat fnatic to secure EPL S17 playoff berth

The reigning Major champions are the first confirmed team in the playoffs of the Maltese event.

Outsiders continue their winning start to EPL S17 after a 2-0 victory against fnatic. The game was a rematch of their IEM Katowice 2023 match, with Outsiders getting revenge over the European combine. This time they switched up their map pick from Overpass to Inferno, and their decision paid off in a 16-14 win. The second map of Vertigo was also close, but a strong Terrorist side enabled the Russian squad to end up 16-12 winners.

Outsiders now qualified for the upper bracket final, which will be played on Sunday at 16:00 . They are set to face the winners of the match between Cloud9 and G2, with the winners advancing straight to the quarter-finals of the event.

Meanwhile, fnatic drop down to the lower bracket with the loss and will next face off against Eternal Fire.

Inferno began with Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali securing his team a pistol round with a triple-kill, and the Russian squad made the most out of their captain's highlight. They took the momentum and raced to a 6-1 lead, playing at an uncharacteristically quick pace. fnatic found some success in the middle of the first half and got up to four rounds before Outsiders regained control and ran away to an 11-4 half. Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev was the key piece of the offense, as the 22-year-old terrorized the B defense and finished the half with five opening kills and 113 ADR.

fnatic won the second pistol round despite Outsiders correctly stacking four people on the A site, which enabled the European combine to reduce the deficit to just three rounds. A back-and-forth ensued, which was made even closer due to Outsiders' trademark saving, something especially prevalent on a map like Inferno. The teams remained incredibly close as the map reached the final round of regulation, where it was Outsiders who closed it out 16-14 after a chaotic round on the B site and moved the series on to Vertigo.

The desk pointed out Outsiders' Vertigo CT-side issues at Katowice, where the Russian combine won a total of four rounds in two maps. Those issues once again reared their head at the start of this map and fnatic ran away with the opening exchanges, finding themselves 6-0 up in time after Outsiders ran out of time for the defuse twice in a row. Young gun Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin finally broke their duck with a 1vs1 clutch, but that didn't do much to get them back into the game. At 2-9 down, Outsiders finally controlled Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen's aggression which enabled them to string four rounds in a row, meaning they went into the second half just three rounds behind.

The second half began with forcebuy wars and it was Outsiders that came out on top, tying up the scores at 10-10 in the process. fnatic remained in touching distance until 12-13, when Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev's 1vs2 clutch provided the final nail in their coffin. That round broke the economy of the European team, enabled Outsiders to close out the map 16-12, and booked their spot in the EPL S17 playoffs.