fnatic surge forward at Cologne Major

fnatic are the last team to secure a spot in the ESL One Cologne playoffs after beating FaZe 2-0 (16-9 on Cache and 16-7 on Mirage).

Cache began with FaZe in control of the game as they got out to an early lead after taking the pistol round and following that up with an anti-eco round. A third-round buy from fnatic would have paid off if it were not for Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey's 1vs2 clutch, with Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard winning a similar situation in the following round to damage the economy and the morale of the Swedes.

FaZe continued dictating the pace of the game, with the scoreline blooming to a 7-0 advantage for them. That is when fnatic's offense finally came to life, with the Swedes, powered by an in-form Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell, taking control of the game and even reducing the deficit to a minimum at the end of the half.

Carrying their momentum into the second half, fnatic were simply far too hot hot to handle on the CT side, giving up just one round to FaZe before securing a comfortable 16-9 victory.

fnatic advance to the playoffs 

Map two was Mirage, which began with fnatic winning the pistol round following a successful A retake, with Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman getting three kills to his name. Despite giving up the first full gun round, fnatic never lost control of the situation as they quickly bounced back and brought the scoreline to 9-1, leaving the European mixture in disarray.

With no room for error, FaZe got three rounds straight thanks to key opening picks with the AWP, but fnatic would still close out the half with a commanding 11-4 lead.

fnatic piled more pressure on their opponents by winning the pistol round as Terrorist with a trio of kills by Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer in a 2vs4 situation, but FaZe hit back in the next round with pistols. That allowed FaZe to get some breathing room and slow down the pace of the game, but once fnatic got money in the bank again it was all over for the former G2 side.

ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 3 FaZeMatchpage 0 2 7th July 2016 fnatic 9Cache 16 7Mirage 16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	43 - 26	+17	89.5	1.36
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	40 - 32	+8	85.3	1.31
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	34 - 25	+9	81.0	1.30
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	35 - 29	+6	77.2	1.22
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	36 - 25	+11	82.4	1.22

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	34 - 37	-3	78.4	0.99
Ricardo 'fox' Pachecofox	28 - 36	-8	65.1	0.87
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	28 - 39	-11	65.0	0.77
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy	23 - 38	-15	60.0	0.74
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	22 - 38	-16	60.2	0.68

Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 688 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.64 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 378 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.70 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 21 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 876 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Dennis 'dennis' Edman Age: 25 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 442 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 731 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.63