fnatic win GameGune 2012

fnatic has won their fourth title in 2012 by defeating Natus Vincere in the grand finals for the third time in a row, this time with scores of 16-7 on de_dust2, 14-16 on de_mirage and 16-8 on de_train. They win 12,000€ for first place while Na`Vi have to settle for 6,000€.

fnatic opened up the grand final by winning the all important pistol round and Na`Vi's two save rounds to go up 3-0. Fourth round went to the Ukrainian side who then cut fnatic's lead to one with Yegor "markeloff" Markelov's three AWP frags in round five. Three kills by Andreas "moddii" Fridh brought fnatic back, and they went on to win five rounds while Fridh reached 20 frags.

Na`Vi rallied back by winning the next two rounds despite of some sick AK shots by Martin "trace" Heldt in the counter-terrorist spawn area, but were forced to attempt saving their weapons in round thirteen. As Markelov was chased down, Na`Vi was on a full save round on the second to last round and were not able to win the final round of the half, trailing 4-11 after fifteen rounds.

The in-game leader of Na`Vi took matters in his own hands on the terrorist pistol round as Danilo "Zeus" Teslenko's two USP entry frags allowed his team to win the round. fnatic would go down 0-3 to start the half, but wasted no time in winning round four. Na`Vi looked to have cracked fnatic's defense on round five with two entry kills, but Finn "karrigan" Andersen scored four quick AWP frags from A ramp to give fnatic the boost they required to to win the remaining four rounds to clinch de_dust2 16-7.

Two best teams in Bilbao battling it out on the stage 

Teslenko and Ischuk converted a two-on-three situation into a win on their terrorist pistol round and Na`Vi went up three nil. Andersen once again turned the tables in the first gun round by hitting three AWP shots, but Sukhariev won a on-on-two situation in the following round to make it 4-1. fnatic won the next two rounds, but Na`Vi took home the eighth round to make it 5-3 in their favor.

The Ukrainians won a two-on-three on round nine and after trading rounds to make it 7-4, Markelov and Ischuk won a two-on-five situation to force fnatic on a save round and effectively make the score 9-4 in their favor. Top fragger Sukhariev defeated Andersen in a one-on-one shootout on the next round as he upped his frag total to 19. Last round of the half went to fnatic with Fridh scoring three FAMAS headshots.

fnatic entered the bomb site easily with a well placed smoke on their pistol round, but Teslenko's heroics stopped them from planting the bomb as he charged in and scored three USP frags. After turning the round into a two-on-one, a misread on Sukhariev-s position allowed him to win the round with a well placed headshot on Andersen with his silenced Colt M4A1.

Na`Vi attempting to make a comeback in the grand final 

Michael "Friis" Jørgensen and Andersen combined for two frags each to win fnatic's first round as terrorists but Na`Vi quickly striked back to make it 14-6. Led by Andersen, fnatic won the next four rounds fairly easily and Jørgensen's one-on-two made it 11-14. Na`Vi's force buys did not work out, and fnatic tied the game to 14-14 with eight straight rounds. As so often in the past, it would be Trynozhenko who stepped up in the final rounds to help Na`Vi win 16-14 and force a third map.

After Heldt's knife round clutch fnatic started as counter-terrorists and won the pistol round as Na`Vi's outside rush proved ineffective. Two save rounds put Na`Vi down 0-3, but a successful inner attack brought the score to 1-3. fnatic won three more rounds to up their lead to 6-1, but Natus Vincere fought back and won the next two rounds with successful attack to the outer and inner bombsites.

The tenth round saw tables turn once again, with Landström picking up three kills as fnatic stopped Na`Vi's rush in a matter of seconds, and Na`Vi's slower attack suffered the same fate right after as fnatic widened the gap to 8-3. Last four rounds of the half would go to fnatic as well, as the only time Na`Vi were even close to winning a round was the last round's two-on-two situation which they were unable to convert.

trace celebrates GameGune championship and his first win over Na`Vi 

Sukhariev's risky terrorist middle push and the two USP frags that followed allowed Na`Vi to win their defensive pistol round despite of Fridh scoring three kills in a one-on-four. Two rounds later fnatic attacked the outer site but despite of the third teamkill on the map, Na`Vi prevailed and made it 7-12. Next round started with two kills from the Ukrainians as well, but Andersen and Heldt combined for five kills to give fnatic their thirteenth round.

Big plays by Teslenko and Trynozhenko's one-on-one victory gave Na`Vi some life on round six, but fnatic forced them on a cheap Desert Eagle buy by winning the next round. Na`Vi's inner push put them in a favorable four-on-two position, but Landström's four kills including a one-on-three clutch gave fnatic tournament point at 15-8.

Next round proved fatal for Natus Vincere as Heldt secured his career's first victory over the Ukrainian side after countless devastating losses he suffered in mTw. fnatic attacked the inner bomb site and Andersen's opening frags allowed the team to secure a 16-8 win and become the champions of GameGune 2012.

GameGune 2012 final standings:

1. fnatic - 12,000€
2. Natus Vincere - 6,000€ 
3. ESC Gaming - 3,000€
4. DELTA - 1,500€
5-6. Virtus.pro
5-6. KerchNET
7-8. zNation
7-8. Karont3
9-12. k23
9-12. tp.uSports
9-12. Bz
9-12. ENTiTY

Regardless of what people might say about Counter-Strike 1.6's popularity as a tournament title, we are proud to see that the grand final gathered over 26,000 viewers despite of being held at an odd hour.

Although action at GameGune 2012 is now over as fnatic was crowned champions, stay tuned to HLTV.org for more content from the event as will still release a couple of video interviews as well as more highlights from the tournament.