Fnatic advance to the Grand Final

DreamHack November 2021 is slowly but surely nearing its end as only four teams are left competing for a spot in the Grand Final. The first Semi-Final of the event saw fnatic take on MAD Lions in an intense Bo3-series. Fnatic have been excellent throughout the entire event and were without any doubt the favorites going into their brawl against MAD Lions. Coming out from the group stage undefeated, the British and Swedish boys of fnatic seemed ready and eager to battle once again. And ready they were. With a great amount of confidence, they posted yet another impressive performance and managed to take down MAD Lions in just two maps. The 2-0 victory means that they advance to the Grand Final of DreamHack November 2021.

The first map was the choice of MAD Lions and saw the Bo3-series start on Ancient. To many people’s surprise, fnatic had left the option of Ancient on the table for the side of MAD Lions. Being fnatic’s first official and recorded game on the map it seemed a very risky map to leave open for MAD Lions to pick. It was also the more experienced team on Ancient, in MAD Lions, to start the strongest. Posting a strong T-sided half it was MAD Lions to secure a 9-6 lead going into the second half of Ancient. Once again fnatic had a rough start to the half but quickly managed to regain control. Due to a phenomenal performance from IGL “ALEX” the fnatic roster was able to claw themselves back and ultimately close out the first map of the series at the scoreline of 16-14.

The second map of the series was to be played on Inferno and was, of course, picked by fnatic. The map of Inferno is one of their strongest maps and if you’re facing a “Brollan” in form, going against fnatic on Inferno can be a daunting thought. Whilst fnatic were undoubtedly the stronger side on Inferno it was a close brawl all the way through. At the close scoreline of 8-7 going into the second half Inferno, it was difficult to separate to two sides and it seemed as if it could go both ways. The back-and-forth brawl continued until the late stages of Inferno where fnatic’s defense proved too difficult for the MAD Lions roster to tame. Ultimately it was the British and Swedish hybrid roster to take home Inferno and thereby also the Bo3-series at the scoreline of 16-12 

Highlight of the BO3-series

fnatic – MAD Lions (2-0) | DreamHack November 2021 (Semi-Finals)

16-14 (Ancient) |

ALEX – 1.21 Rating / 27-21 K-D / 86.1 ADR

16-12 (Inferno) |

smooya – 1.30 Rating / 23-16 K-D / 78.9 ADR

MVP: 

William “mezii” Merriman | 1.15 Rating / 43-37 K-D / 74.6 ADR