fnatic qualify for EPL playoffs over Apeks

Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski and company, now in the Last Chance bracket, will need back-to-back wins on Sunday to earn their own playoff berth.

fnatic became the third team from Group C to earn an ESL Pro League Season 18 playoff berth following a 2-1 win over Apeks in the lower bracket final. The Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong-led roster got off on the wrong foot following a 5-16 hounding on Vertigo, but answered back with a comfortable 16-10 win on Inferno and a narrow 16-13 victory on Ancient to complete the reverse sweep.

A noticeable takeaway from the series was fnatic's underperformance despite ultimately taking home the win. Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen and William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman, who topped their team's charts, only posted dead-even 1.00 ratings, with the other three fnatic members trailing behind. On the flip side, Apeks had three of their individuals end the series with strong numbers: Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad (1.40), Aleksandar "⁠CacaNito⁠" Kjulukoski (1.25), and Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson (1.23), even if the BLAST Paris Major semi-finalists ended up conceding defeat.

Apeks now fall to the Last Chance Stage in Malta where they will need two wins on the trot on Sunday, first against 9z at 12:30 , to join fnatic in the playoffs.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
17/09/2023	9z 12:30 Apeks	Match

The series got started on fnatic's pick of Inferno, a map the European roster sport a 60% win rate on in the past three months. Regardless, it was Apeks who came out of the gates swinging, a solid team effort with jkaem at the head powering the team to a comfortable 10-5 lead by the end of their CT-side effort. From there, Apeks, eager to punish fnatic's veto choice and prevent any chance of a comeback, turned it up a notch and posted a flawless six-round T-side, locking in a lopsided 16-5 victory and sending the series to Inferno in the process.

fnatic proved a tougher nut to crack once Inferno rolled around, even in the face of a sublime performance from jkaem. The Norwegian ended his team's CT-side campaign with 20 kills to his name, the most in the server, but Apeks were still only able to head into the break with a one-round advantage under their belt. This slender lead crumbled once fnatic moved over to the defensive side of things; the international squad erected a stalwart defensive wall, holding Apeks to just two rounds in the second period to steal Inferno, 16-10, and force the Ancient decider.

By now, the momentum had fully shifted in fnatic's favor. The black-and-orange raced to an 8-1 lead on the T-side, bullying their way onto the two bombsites as they planted the C4 in all of those nine rounds. It was only thanks to a breakout, 15-kill performance from CacaNito that Apeks were able to reduce the initial deficit down to a more manageable 6-9 scoreline at the side swap. Apeks did continue their recovery as the second half played out, but fnatic didn't crumble and went on to win the map, 16-13, to earn a Pro League playoff spot.