RESULTS: Fnatic Defeat Team Liquid to Claim Grand Final Spot

Team Liquid came into today's match by the way of a 2-1 victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the quarterfinals. Fnatic made their way to today's semifinal match with a 2-0 victory over FaZe Clan in the finals of the second half of the upper bracket. With a guaranteed spot in tomorrow's grand final and the $250,000 grand prize on the line, both teams needed to put together a strong performance to claim victory. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went. 

Inferno was the first map of the match. Team Liquid would come out on top at the end of the first half on the counter terrorist side, as they would capture nine of the first 15 rounds to take a 9-6 lead. The switch to the counter terrorist side would do wonders for Fnatic, as they would secure a win in eight of the next 11 rounds to take a 14-12 lead. Team Liquid would stop the bleeding with a win in the 27th round to cut Fnatic's lead to 14-13. Fnatic would steal the next round utilizing the power of multiple CZ75 pistols to take a 15-13 lead and force match point against Team Liquid. With their economy practically destroyed, Team Liquid was not able to fend off Fnatic in the 29th round. Fnatic would clinch the map victory with a score of 16-13, with a 10-4 second half advantage being the deciding factor. Leading the way for Fnatic on Inferno was Robin "flusha" Rönnquist with his 27 kills, 107.2 average damage per round and 1.48 overall rating. 

With Fnatic defeating Team Liquid on their map pick, the North American roster would need to steal a victory on Fnatic's map pick, Mirage. This task would not start out well, as Fnatic would win six out of the first seven rounds on the terrorist side to take a 6-1 lead. The next eight rounds would be split by both teams resulting in a 10-5 lead for Fnatic going into the second half. Fnatic would not let Team Liquid get any breathing room in the second half, as they would clinch the victory with a 6-2 round advantage. This would give Fnatic the 16-7 win on Mirage and the 2-0 match victory. Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson was by the far the best player on the map, as he racked up 26 kills to only 7 deaths, 110 average damage per round and an overall rating of 1.79. 

With the win, Fnatic will be facing off against FaZe Clan in tomorrow's grand final to deteremine the champion of IEM Katowice 2018 and the winner of the $250,000 grand prize. 

Interested to see how FaZe made their way to the grand final? Check out our recap of their semifinal match against Astralis. 

(cover photo courtesy of Fnatic Twitter account)