fnatic have handed out the first notable upset of the Esports World Cup open qualifier playoffs by taking out one of the highest-ranked teams in attendance, HEROIC, in 2-0 fashion.
Since swapping out Viktor "Br4tkO" Kondratets and bringing in Volodymyr "mazay" Iorhachov and Artem "cairne" Mushynskyi, fnatic have been on an absolute tear, winning 12 series and losing just a single one since the start of July.
fnatic's excellent form continued in the face of a favored HEROIC side, some dominant play from Nikita "jackasmo" Skyba proving enough to ensure the Ukrainian squad progressed through to the next round of the playoffs, the young rifler posting an incredible 34-13 scoreline in regulation on Inferno.
"I feel like we kinda got overwhelmed with the tempo that was coming at us," Christoffer "Chr1zN" Storgaard told HLTV after the game. "They play very aggressive, very direct, and I feel like we basically just got outplayed. It's not good enough, but to be honest, that's the truth."
With their victory fnatic are now a single match away from making the main event of Esports World Cup, in which they will play the winner of K27 vs. EYEBALLERS, providing the tantalizing possibility of Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson and Jesper "JW" Wecksell facing their old organization.
K27
Timur 'clax' Sabirov
Daniil 'X5G7V' Maryshev
Aleksey 'xeedo' Mikulich
Danila 'kashl1d' Dronov
Daniil 'qw1nk1' Kabilov
Gregory 'balblna' Oleinick
Viktor 'Br4tkO' Kondratets
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
EYEBALLERS
Jesper 'JW' Wecksell
Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson
Max 'maxster' Jansson
Kalle 'Ro1f' Johansson
Sebastian 'dex' Samuelsson
Faruk 'pita' Pita
Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson
fnatic
Rodion 'fEAR' Smyk
Dmytro 'jambo' Semera
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
Artem 'cairne' Mushynskyi
Volodymyr 'mazay' Iorhachov
Miks 'Independent' Siliņš
Jesper 'JW' Wecksell
Artem 'cairne' Mushynskyi
Volodymyr 'mazay' Iorhachov
Christoffer 'Chr1zN' Storgaard
HEROIC
Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin
Linus 'nilo' Bergman
Tim 'susp' Ångström
Antonio 'MartinezSa' Martinez
Christoffer 'Chr1zN' Storgaard
Joonas 'doto' Forss