Fnatic vs Cloud9 Match Decided the First Team Eliminated from the ECS Season 5 Live Finals – Recap

Mike Kent

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The first matchup on day two of the ECS Season 5 Live Finals saw a heavyweight clash as Fnatic and Cloud9 fought to stay in the $660,000 tournament.

Taking place at the SSE Wembley Arena in the heart of London, the event is the culmination of an online season spanning from March.

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Day one of the event saw NRG Esports and Astralis advance to the semi-finals on Sunday, with the remaining teams playing on Saturday for a chance at the playoffs.

Group A’s elimination match kicked off day two with Fnatic and Cloud9 duking it out for a shot at playing Team Liquid in the decider match later in the day.

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With Fnatic debuting their new roster featuring Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström and Cloud9 playing their last tournament with Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta, it was a scrappy affair as individual performances shone above tactical team moves.

Cloud9 started the game well with a 16-14 win on Overpass, with both sides winning back and forth rounds, with Fnatic’s JW shining but not enough to win the map.

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The Swedish side bounced back on Train with a convincing 16-9 result to win their map pick, taking it to Cache to decide who’d be the first team eliminated from the event.

Fnatic took a 5-1 lead but Cloud9 finished the half strong with a 9-6 scoreline with Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik topping the leaderboard.

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It wasn’t enough for Cloud9 to hold on and an incredible 1v3 clutch by Xizt in round 26 resulted in Cloud9’s economy being decimated, with Fnatic capitalizing to end the map 16-13 and end the game 2-1.

Fnatic advance to play Team Liquid later in the day in a second best of five, while Cloud9 finish in 7th/8th position and take home $35,000.

Follow our coverage of the ECS Season 5 Live Finals via our dedicated coverage hub.