Lions top Group B; M5, fnatic follow

After an initial loss to fnatic, Lions went on to win four matches in a row, including a 16-9 victory over WinFakt in the last round, which secured them the top spot of Group B. Moscow Five overcame fnatic in their last match 16-9 and leaped over them to 2nd place, while the Finns of WinFakt will kick themselves for ruining their excellent start and exiting the tournament early.

In a similar fashion as Group A yesterday, Group B of IEM6 World Championship was wide open until the very last match. A very interesting day of Counter Strike ended with Lions on top of the group, Moscow Five second and the main favorites fnatic in 3rd place.

The first placed Lions had a bad start with a loss to fnatic, but they recovered perfectly and won their remaining four matches to top the group.

Moscow Five found themselves in a similar situation as Natus Vincere yesterday, needing to win their last match against fnatic in order to make it throught. The Russians were up to the task as a 16-9 victory sent them to 2nd place and anulled their previous hiccups, loss against Lions and draw with WinFakt.

The group's main favorites before the tournament were fnatic, who fielded their new lineup containing Andreas "MODDII" Fridh for the first time. However, theory doesn't always get proven in practice as despite a good start against Lions, fnatic was then upset by WinFakt 16-3. A really close match against semXorah followed later and in the end they succumbed to Moscow Five to finish third.

Perhaps the most interesting story of the day was Finnish team WinFakt who produced an excellent start with convincing wins against semXorah and fnatic. A satisfying draw with M5 followed, but then they repeated that result against eSahara which eventually proved to be the nail in their coffin, as in the end they finished fourth.

#	Team	W	T	L	RD	Points
1.	Lions	4	0	1	70-52 (+18)	12
2.	Moscow Five	3	1	1	71-63 (+8)	10
3.	fnatic	3	0	2	60-60 (0)	9
3.	WinFakt	2	2	1	71-54 (+17)	8
3.	semXorah	1	0	4	56-76 (-20)	3
4.	eSahara	0	1	4	56-79 (-23)	1

Lions have secured a day off and a direct spot in the semi-final of the tournament, while Moscow Five will meet ESC Gaming in the quarter-final tomorrow, same as fnatic and Natus Vincere.