The unthinkable happened tonight at WCG Seattle. Swedish powerhouse Fnatic got eliminated from the tournament in the first group phase. The Swedes have, over the course of the last 20 months, been the very definition of consistency. It is the first time they have placed outside the top three in their time together.

Much has been said about their de_dust2 play but despite dropping the map they have been able to win their matches in the recent tournaments. The World Cyber Games utilizes a group phase system where maxrounds 15 are played and the format is best of one map. As chance would have it, perhaps not looking favorably on the Swedish superstars, they were forced to play it against their two toughest opponents; MIBR and eSTRO.

Earlier in the day they struggled to tie their game against the Brazilian’s and their captain Patrik “carn” Sätterblom commented that he was happy with their efforts as they had lost both pistol rounds and still fought back. The concept of clawing their way back to life has become some sort of trademark for Fnatic as they have pulled back seemingly impossible deficits in the past, also on de_dust2.

Tonight their Achilles heel proved too much to overcome and it deprived them of a spot in the playoffs. The Korean’s from eSTRO were absolutely ecstatic as they realized they had beaten one of the favorites to win the entire event. They were jumping up and down in the tournament area, hugging each other and exclaiming what must have been praise and sheer joy in Korean before they even thought of going over to shake the hands of disillusioned Fnatic players.

All the while MIBR was watching, waiting in the wings, their eyes shining with anticipation. Did the Koreans just award them a place in the playoffs? Would the 25 rounds the picked up against Simplex be enough?

Captain Alexandre “Gaules” Chiqueta desperately tried to get hold of an admins but even the guys in the striped shirts seemed unsure of the ramifications of one of the biggest upsets in WCG history. The confusion in the tournament area was absolute for five minutes as the seconds while the rounds were counted must have seemed like an eternity for MIBR. The Fnatic players and management had done the math in advance though so they did not care to follow the deliberations as their players gathered their equipment; extremely disappointed and perhaps even a little shameful of their performance. “Carn” walked around the tournament area, eyes on the floor, saying how Fnatic perhaps did not deserve to progress the way they were playing.

The Koreans were still running around hugging their supporters and doing victory-interviews when the first hint of controversy struck. Fnatic manager Sam Matthews made his way over to the referees to “talk to them.”

Apparently Fnatic was told that the Koreans had been exploiting the infamous “duckjump” movement, something that under WCG regulations were disallowed. As the discussions heated up though, the administrators pointed out that Fnatic had in fact signed off on the result after the match.

WCG and its referees obtain signatures from both team captains when the final result of a match is clear. The players were very well informed of this procedure at a team captains meeting. If any complaints would arise from any given game it would have to be filed before signing off on the result. In effect the signatures are a waiver of the rights to object or contest the result or anything that happened in the game in question.

Needless to say Fnatic was clutching at the only straws they had left and manager Sam Matthews filed an official complaint. The ruling came down on the wrong side for the Swedes. The fact and the signature on the match results put an end to Fnatic’s run at this year’s WCG event.

Harley “dsn” Örwall came down the stairs from the tournament area, visibly hurt by the loss but repeated “carn’s” initial statement that it was the first time they had been eliminated that early.

When asked what they were going to do now Örwall lightheartedly replied; - I don’t know. We are taking the bus back to the hotel to cry.
The group of death that looked so conventional a mere hour ago turned into a heartbreaker of sorts, this time with one of the two best teams on the receiving end of it all. As WCG moves into the playoff phase there will be cheerful Brazilians and a strong playing Korean side moving on from group G.

There is no denying that with the absence of Fnatic the tournament will be one attraction poorer as the “dream final” will not take place as upsets galore seems to be the word of the day.