fnatic won the FACEIT League Season 2 Finals following a 3-1 victory over iBUYPOWER (8-16 on de_dust2, 16-8 on de_mirage, 16-10 on de_inferno and 16-14 on de_nuke).
On de_dust2, fnatic, who got to play on the highly-favoured Terrorist side first, came out very strongly and ripped their opponents apart with a push onto short, with Jesper "JW" Wecksell opening things up with four kills to his name.
With 3-0 in their favour, fnatic then added the first gun round to their tally after defending the B site flawlessly in a 3-on-3 situation following a quick mid-B split.
Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, who is having a phenomental tournament, then turned things around with two CZ headshots in the double doors that not only deeply hurt fnatic but also caused them to lose the bomb. This round propelled iBUYPOWER to embark on an eight-round winning streak thanks to some great defensive work from all of their players, especially Skadoodle and Braxton "swag" Pierce.
fnatic responded by getting two rounds to reduce the deficit to 6-8, but the last round of the half went to iBP, who enjoyed an impressive 9-6 lead at the break.
Skadoodle's CZ double cut fnatic's winning streak short
In the second half, iBP kicked things off with an impressive middle push towards B with Lucas "steel" Lopes dropping down from short to delay fnatic's players who were rotating from A, a strategy that caught the Swedes off-guard.
After winning the following two anti-eco rounds, iBP fell short in gun play as they allowed fnatic to get two rounds of their own, but the North American side kept their composure and strung four rounds together in convincing fashion to secure a 16-8 victory and take a one-map lead in the series.
Next up was de_mirage, a map on which iBUYPOWER are traditionally not very comfortable. With the clear territorial advantage here, fnatic got off to an early 4-0 lead, a winning streak that came to an end following an impressive ace from steel in A.
Still, fnatic were not shaken by iBP's response and remained in the driving seat for most of the first half as they landed a 12-3 lead. The other two times that iBP managed to get around it was more because of individual brilliance than teamplay: in the ninth round it was steel who gave his team the win with two crucial kills in A, while in the 12th round swag won a 1-on-3 clutch in B.
In the second half's pistol round, Keven "AZK" Lariviere stole the show with a triple kill, including a 1-on-2 clutch in A, to keep iBUYPOWER in the race. The North American side went for a double AWP setup in the first gun round to counter JW, a strategy that bore fruits at first, with Skadoodle getting three frags, but then they found themselves out of place for the rest of the game as fnatic cruised to a 16-8 victory.
KRiMZ had 33 frags on de_mirage
The third map of the series was de_inferno, where iBUYPOWER, who played as Terrorist first, came out strongly and took the lead after an A push in the pistol round, with two kills going to both Sam "DaZeD" Marine and Skadoodle.
A CZ/armor combo from fnatic saw them reduce the deficit to 1-2, and the Swedish team never let go as they strung an impressive 11 rounds together. The highlight of such a streak came in the 10th round, when Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson defended the B site practically alone and picked up an ace.
iBUYPOWER still got the last two rounds of the half to take the scoreline to 4-11, but the North American side knew they would need to up their game to win this map.
Things then went from bad to worse for iBP as fnatic easily entered the B site in the pistol round and held it down. Robin "flusha" Rönnquist then saved fnatic after a massive blunder in the first anti-eco round by winning a 1-on-2 situation in A with the bomb planted.
In gun rounds, iBP gave a really good account of themselves, which allowed them to close the gap on their opponents, but in the end fnatic secured the two rounds they needed to walk away with a 16-10 success.
flusha topped the scoreboard on de_inferno
The two teams then moved on to de_nuke, with fnatic starting off on the highly-favoured CT side. The Swedish giants ran riot during the early stages of the match and pickd up an impressive 10-0 lead. At the 11th attempt iBUYPOWER finally managed to break through fnatic's defense following swag's 1-on-2 clutch in the lower site to complete a four-kill round.
iBUYPOWER still added another round to their tally to take the scoreline to 2-13 in favour of fnatic, who now had to win just three rounds to walk away with the $20,000 cheque.
It was easier said than done, however, as iBP showed great fighting spirit until the end, but a mistake in the final round, when fnatic planted the bomb in the lower site with all 10 players alive, proved costly and gave the Swedes their third map win of the series.
FACEIT League Season 2 FinalsBest of 5 iBUYPOWER
Matchpage 1 3 26th October 2014
fnatic 16Dust2 8 8Mirage 16 10Inferno 16 14Nuke 16
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 1.0 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 89 - 60 | +29 | - | 1.39 |
![]() | 74 - 66 | +8 | - | 1.09 |
![]() | 72 - 72 | 0 | - | 1.02 |
![]() | 67 - 67 | 0 | - | 0.96 |
![]() | 47 - 66 | -19 | - | 0.75 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 1.0 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 82 - 65 | +17 | - | 1.15 |
![]() | 71 - 70 | +1 | - | 1.03 |
![]() | 66 - 67 | -1 | - | 0.95 |
![]() | 58 - 77 | -19 | - | 0.82 |
![]() | 54 - 71 | -17 | - | 0.79 |
FACEIT League Season 2 Finals standings:
1.
fnatic - $20,000
2.iBUYPOWER - $10,000
3-4.LDLC - $5,000
3-4.Virtus.pro - $5,000
5-6.dignitas- $2,000
5-6.Cloud9 - $2,000