FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #2
Boaster
Jake Howlett
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
triumphed over
Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Rank #9
trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko
Kicks
Kimmie Laasner
runneR
Emil Trajkovski
ceNder
Jokūbas Labutis
Sayf
Saif Jibraeel
3-1 in the grand finals of EMEA Stage 2 to be crowned the champions of EMEA. FNATIC has claimed the first regional seed for the group stage of Champions and $100,000 in prize money, while Vitality will be consoled with the second seed and $65,000.
“Some teams right now I feel like are a little bit burnt out, and you can kinda see that in their results recently, whereas for us, we're just getting started.” Boaster said in a pre-recorded segment.
Boaster's words reflect the results; FNATIC blazed a flawless path through Stage 2 coming into this series, including a comfortable win in the upper bracket final against Vitality days prior. FNATIC sought to secure a second stage championship while Vitality sought to dethrone the kings just as
Sayf
did with
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #24
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
Keiko
Georgio Sanassy
one year ago.
For the map veto, FNATIC leveraged their double map ban as the upper bracket finalists to take Icebox and Sunset away from Vitality, the latter of which Vitality beat
Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Europe
Rank #1
MiniBoo
Dominykas Lukaševičius
Wo0t
Mert Alkan
RieNs
Enes Ecirli
benjyfishy
Benjamin David Fish
Boo
Ričardas Lukaševičius
on twice in the past week.
FNATIC chose to open with Haven, where they held a 4-0 record since its return to the pool off the back of their unique Iso and Yoru composition. The duelists were indeed the headliners in the map; Alfajer and Derke took turns dominating Vitality with a combined five multikills. Alfajer barely topped the scoreboard over his fellow duelist with 22 kills and 297 ACS to Derke's 21 kills and 278 ACS.
Round 10 was Derke's turn to mow down Vitality.Sayf in particular was unusually quiet, with only 11 kills to 17 deaths. His 1v3 Blade Storm clutch in round 20 came too late to stop his opponents' momentum and FNATIC took the map 13-8.
Haven wasn't the last that Vitality saw of the double duelist pairing; FNATIC shocked on their opponent's map pick of Ascent with another Iso and Yoru composition. This gamble did not pay off, as after a few chaotic rounds, Gorilla took a timeout and identified FNATIC's inability to hold the A site without an Omen or a KAY/O to secure Vitality a resounding 8-4 attack half.
Vitality carried their momentum forward with a flawless pistol round to secure a 12-5 scoreline. FNATIC attempted to mount a comeback with four consecutive rounds, but Vitality closed out the map 13-9 after Derke failed to clear ceNder out of Wine with his Dimensional Drift ultimate. This time, it was Sayf triumphing in the duelist matchup, racking up 21 kills to 12 deaths and 253 ACS.
“In Vitality fashion, we thrive in the chaos,” Sayf said in the comms replay.
The hornets' IGL goes unchecked and takes advantage.Unfortunately for Vitality, there was much less chaos to thrive in on FNATIC's pick of Lotus, where neither team changed compositions from the upper final. Kicks and runneR rallied for a moment with a 2v4 in round 10, but Chronicle answered back immediately in round 11 with three kills off of Boaster's Paranoia. In a mirror of Vitality's scoreline on Ascent, FNATIC chained an 8-4 half and a pistol into a 12-5 score, staving off a Vitality comeback attempt to take the map 13-9.
The rookie talents of Vitality fight back.Last up was Bind, where FNATIC brought out a Clove pick from Alfajer in place of Boaster's usual Brimstone. Unlike Ascent, Vitality were unable to find a weakness in FNATIC's defense; FNATIC steamrolled the first half, winning the first 10 rounds in a row with significant value from Alfajer's post-death smokes and concluding the match with a commanding 13-3 score. Boaster demonstrated a statement fragging IGL performance on Viper with 18 kills and 320 ACS over 16 rounds.
Boaster is indeed in the Lamps.With this victory, FNATIC cement themselves as back-to-back EMEA stage winners and a strong candidate to make a deep run at Champions. When asked who they wanted to face most in Seoul, almost every member of the team answered
Gen.G
Gen.G
Korea
Rank #1
Munchkin
Byeon Sang-beom (변상범)
t3xture
Kim Na-ra (김나라)
Meteor
Kim Tae-O (김태오)
Lakia
Kim Jong-min (김종민)
Karon
Kim Won-tae (김원태)
.
“I need to get revenge against Gen.G, and I just need to get my revenge in general on the world for doubting FNATIC,” said Boaster.
FNATIC and Vitality will return in the group stage of Champions, which begins Aug. 1.