At this point in a tournament this large, it is usually hard to find a bad match. On paper Fnatic vs. 4Kings had some promise; however, it did not live up to it by any means.

Fnatic opened up strong on defense, taking the first half pistol round and the first few gun rounds. In round 7, three players from 4Kings attempted to attack outside. Archi peeked out from behind a box and mowed them down leaving Fnatic in an easily winnable 5v2 situation. The next two rounds 4Kings focused on attacking outside, but came up short in a similar fashion.

Following Fnatic’s outside lockdown, 4Kings moved back to their inside door rushes. The strategy begins by having the best spawn opening up the squeaky door with a flash, and having the team follow a series of grenades out into the upper bombsite. With this, 4Kings was able to trade kills and gain entry to the inside site, but former Begrip teammates f0rest and Tentpole surprised them time and time again with effective multi frag counter-attacks.

Round 12 saw 4Kings take their first advantage of the half. The round began with a series of trading frags until the teams were narrowed down into a 2v1 in favor of 4Kings vs. Fnatic’s dsn in the upper bombsite. Despite having the advantage, dsn was able to frag both players and prevent the pair from planting the bomb.

Winning the final three rounds of the half, Fnatic puts 4K down 0-15, essentially ending the match. The chances of 4K stopping Fnatic 15 rounds in a row on their best map were extremely low.

Even with the match all but lost, 4Kings manages to win the second half pistol round. As if nothing could make the match worse for them, an all out save rush by Fnatic in round 17 breaks 4Kings backs. The Swedes managed to get the bomb planted in the lower bombsite and force a 1v1, (after Natu fragged himself with worldspawn) despite starting the round with mere glocks. Akuji, the lone 4King, was able to finish off the glock equipped Fnatic member and gave his team their second and final round of the match.

Needing only one more round to win, Fnatic took the upper site with a fast rush and ended the match with no trouble at all.

It was unfortunate for 4Kings to end their impressive tournament run with such a terrible showing and unfortunate the team had to play one of the best teams in the world on that teams best map. Throughout the match 4Kings lacked the necessary animation and excitement that could have potentially generated some momentum for the team.

MVP: Most of the players for Fnatic could be chosen as the player of the match, but Archi probably had the most influence. With 19 frags and 6 assists, he locked down the outside area, rendering 4K’s default inside/outside split useless.