FURIA defeated fnatic 2-0 in the ESL Pro League Season 17 finals to claim their first victory. The Brazilians won the first meeting between the two groups in more than three years, with their most recent meeting taking place in October 2019 at StarSeries i-League Season 8.
Fnatic's tenure in Malta came to a close with their recent defeat. During their EPL run, the European blend did not really stand out, as they narrowly qualified for the playoffs after a nail-biting match against Eternal Fire, but did not capture any other noteworthy victories. Their other victories in the group rounds came against MIBR and IHC, two teams ranked considerably lower than them.
Match opener
Fnatic won their first pistol round on Ancient, but FURIA soon replied with an effective force-buy assault on the A site. The Brazilians then won four more matches in a row, thanks to Kaike #KSCERATO Cerato, who dominated the T side with several multi-frags, gliding to a 1.64 rating and 16-8 K-D advance of the break. Late in the half, William #mezii Merriman and companions rebounded, particularly as Nico #nicoodoz Tamjidi started firing on all pistons on the A site, saving fnatic a 7-8 result.
The Europeans took the lead momentarily in the second half before FURIA stopped their progress on the B site. Fnatic were denied four more times from the same bombsite before changing their strategy, falling behind as arT and Yuri #yuurih Santos came alive on the CT side. The Brazilians kept their calm late in the match and won the final three rounds decisively to win the opener 16-13.
Mezii's men got off to a strong start on Anubis by dominating the first five T rounds, putting a solid buffer between themselves and FURIA in the early phases of the map. Yuurih's triple kill gave the Brazilians the first round, allowing arT and Rafael #saffee Costa to roll out the double-AWP configuration on the CT side. From then on, the two snipers tormented fnatic, propelling an unbeaten nine-round defensive run that easily placed FURIA ahead before the break.
Fnatic attempted a recovery in the second half, drawing even at 12-12 thanks to Freddy #KRIMZ Johansson's performance on the CT side. The Brazilians had gained more experience on the field over the last three months, and it showed when they were able to rally their attack late in the game to reclaim possession. On round 26, a saffee 1vs2 clutch shifted the tide in favor of FURIA, enabling them to win the series 16-13.
What’s next?
The Andrei #arT Piovezan-led team faces Finn #karrigan Andersen's FaZe in the round of 12 if they want to advance to the quarter-finals. The two teams will meet for the first time this season on Wednesday at 15:30, with FURIA looking to snap a four-match losing run to the Europeans.
