G2 defeat fnatic, advance to playoffs in Malta

G2 will need to restart their winning streak on Nuke after suffering a 4-16 trouncing by fnatic.

G2 are through to the ESL Pro League Season 17 playoffs, which will run from March 21-26, after getting the better of fnatic in a three-map series in the lower bracket final. Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen and company set themselves up for success after stealing away Vertigo (16-8), but a loss on Nuke (4-16) ultimately forced the side to pay a trip to Inferno (16-9) before eventually casting William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman and company down to the last chance stage.

The defeat on Nuke also marks the end of G2's roster-long streak, one which began with the signings of HooXi and Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage in August and saw the squad go on a 13-map winning spree on LAN. HooXi mostly attributed the loss to a better-performing fnatic, with a particular focus on his former teammate of Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen, whom he previously played with on Copenhagen Flames.

"We started off on the wrong foot by losing the anti-eco and then we throw a 4vs3 after to mezii who got the 4k from CT vent. Then, I think roeJ was positioning really well, he was always where we wanted to go. If we killed KRIMZ on Ramp and we wanted to go Under fast, he was Under already because he wanted to go Secret. If we went Inner, he was on the rafters or CT vents already. I don't know, I guess it's just my old teammate beating me a bit."

fnatic now require two best-of-three victories in the last chance stage to clinch a playoff berth in Malta. Their first test will be against IHC, who recently eliminated Evil Geniuses in joint-last place, on Sunday at 12:30 .

The action between the two European combines began on Vertigo, where G2 came out of the gate swinging to build a comfortable 6-1 lead on the CT-side. It was a feat made possible by brilliance from Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and jks, who combined for 19 kills by the seventh round. G2 extended their buffer over the black-and-orange as the half progressed, but an inability to close rounds out cleanly kept the IEM Katowice champions' finances honest. In the end, it was this economic fragility that prevented G2 from running away with things, with fnatic using their new-found weaponry advantage to snatch away the final two rounds of the half and bring the scoreline back to a more recoverable 4-11 at the side swap.

The two teams both dropped the ball at the outset of the second half; fnatic failed to convert their pistol round victory, while G2 also fell to a low-investment buy to gift their opponents a way to reduce the deficit down to just four rounds, 8-12. Alas, G2 quickly made good on their blunder once rifles and sufficient utility were in hand, picking up four rounds on the trot with few issues to surge to a 16-8 victory and force a trip to Nuke.

G2 picked up their second pistol round of the series once play resumed, but a momentum-shifting double kill from roeJ and his CZ-75 in round two and a quad kill from mezii in round three prevented HooXi's men from nurturing another early lead. It was these heroic efforts which spurred on a blinding streak of excellence from fnatic. Prowling around all areas of the map with deadly precision, the squad shut down their foes at every turn to sit firmly in the driver's seat, going on to post a stellar nine-round streak to end their defensive effort with a commanding 12-3 cushion to their name.

A triple kill from Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi kick-started fnatic's time on the T-side, and the international ensemble made sure to convert their pistol round victory to inch closer to equalising the series. A quad kill from jks in the 18th round stemmed G2's bleeding, but a 2vs5 clutch from roeJ and nicoodoz in the ensuing round gave fnatic a platform from which to put the final two rounds on the board, 16-4, a victory which also brought an end to G2's 13-map LAN winning streak on Nuke.

The series-wide war of attrition continued once Inferno got underway, with both teams prevailing with just pistols in hand and exchanging rounds back and forth in a skirmish which ultimately went the way of G2. This early-map triumph paved the way for a G2 domination on the CT-side; both Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and jks led the server with 100+ ADR, confining fnatic to the extremities of the map and enabling the No. 1 roster to coast to a 7-1 showing. fnatic did show some signs of life thanks to impactful moments from both mezii and nicoodoz, but G2 refused to let off the gas and eventually waltzed up to a 10-5 advantage at the interval.

G2 made their five-round lead count once on the T-side. A methodical and well-executed offensive campaign left little room for fnatic to manoeuvre and it didn't take long for HooXi's troops to be within two rounds of overall victory, 14-5. A two-round spree kept fnatic alive a little longer, but the Kovač cousins — NiKo and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač — joined forces with pistols in round 22 to thrust G2 onto map and series point before the side closed things out two rounds later, 16-9.