SK narrowly overcome fnatic's challenge, to Major semifinal
Inferno began with fnatic opening the game up with the pistol round on their T-side, thanks to Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson taking four kills, but saw SK instantly force up and win the following round. But fnatic performed the same to SK, or more specifically Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson did, with an 1v3 clutch forming an ace.
This was the start of an exciting half, as fnatic pushed on to secure the next three rounds. But it was a fairly close half, as the two sides traded rounds between each other. Epitacio "TACO" de Melo and Marcelo "coldzera" David consistently linked up to keep themselves within the game. But the Swedish side were on top for the majority of the half, including an eco round win facilitated by Lekr0. This left fnatic 9-6 ahead at the half.
It was SK who secured the pistol round on their T-side, but fnatic instantly answered back on their own force to keep ahead in the second half. From there they quickly pushed on to fourteen rounds, keeping themselves within touching distance of the first map. But their Brazilian opponents weren't done just yet.
Round after round, fantastic site takes and defenses saw SK keep a hold on the map. Incredible leadership, and AWP'ing display, from Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo saw his team take the majority of rounds. Although fnatic put themselves on map point, SK weren't done and forced the game to overtime after 15-15 in regulation.
The overtime began with fnatic's CT side starting the train, before SK replied instantly. fnatic then pushed on for the half time advantage, and in the second half of overtime did reach map point once again, but SK kept them away through their sheer determination.
The second overtime started with Robin "flusha" Rönnquist losing out on a clutch against João "felps" Vasconcellos, but the Swedes ended it with them being in the advantage. Two rounds later, and fnatic had finally secured the map with a 22-19 scoreline.
Overpass was up next, and SK began the game with the pistol round on their T-side, thanks to coldzera securing a 1v3 clutch. The Swedish side then instantly answered back with a forcebuy in the following round, before SK followed up with their own force. fnatic then secured the next round in another forcebuy, but SK then repeated the favor. The Brazilians finally ended the ping-pong match and secured three rounds in a row.
fnatic always remained in contention, as straight away they took four defuse wins in a row, including one saved by Jesper "JW" Wecksell with a 4k. But it was SK playing the strongest throughout the first half, as the Brazilians secured the final four rounds of the half for a 9-6 lead.
The second half began with fnatic taking the pistol round, but SK forced up the following round to secure the advantage. Three rounds later and they were within touching distance of them securing an equalizing map in the series. But fnatic weren't to be outdone just yet, as the two sides viciously battled it out on the server.
The Swedish side took six rounds in a row to even out the game, with KRIMZ taking four multi-kill rounds throughout. SK then secured the two rounds they needed to get to match point, before fnatic secured the next round to be just behind them. But the Brazilians secured the final round to avoid another session of overtimes, as they secured the game 16-14.
This left the decider map to be played, and Mirage began with SK taking the pistol and first anti-eco on their CT-side, before a fnatic forcebuy allowed them into the match from the third round. SK secured a round to even the game after three T-rounds went against them, but were instantly reset by the Swedes. With fnatic looking strong, SK started to get a foothold back in with FalleN turning up for his side, with his own multi-kill rounds to even the rounds once again.
But fnatic remained ahead, albeit narrowly. Maikil "Golden" Selim won a 1v1 clutch to avoid SK from gaining a lead, although SK did then take the next to even it once again. But fnatic were to take a narrow lead at the half, thanks to an ace from Lekr0 as the Swedes saw a 8-7 scoreline in their favor.
The second half began with a repeat of the first half, with SK securing the pistol round and first anti-eco. But fnatic's CT side came out from round three, securing round after round to retake the front foot in the game. But as is form in this matchup, SK came back to even the game up once again, securing three rounds in a row as evened the match up.
But from there SK pushed on to the end of the match, taking the final few rounds they needed to get to map, and match point. With the final round on the cards, the Swedes were unable to get back into the map and the Brazilian side secured what they needed and took the final map 16-12, for a 2-1 Quarter-Final win.
SKfnatic| SK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
73 - 63 | +10 | 80.8 | 72.7% | 1.11 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
73 - 67 | +6 | 77.1 | 64.6% | 1.10 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
65 - 67 | -2 | 74.2 | 67.7% | 1.03 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
63 - 70 | -7 | 73.3 | 72.7% | 1.01 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
57 - 71 | -14 | 74.4 | 66.7% | 0.97 |
| fnatic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson |
85 - 69 | +16 | 87.5 | 67.7% | 1.24 |
| Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson |
72 - 64 | +8 | 75.1 | 70.7% | 1.07 |
| Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist |
61 - 65 | -4 | 78.2 | 67.7% | 1.04 |
| Jesper 'JW' Wecksell |
66 - 69 | -3 | 75.7 | 71.7% | 1.03 |
| Maikil 'Golden' Selim |
54 - 65 | -11 | 62.3 | 68.7% | 0.94 |
This result sees SK take on Cloud9, in the second semifinal scheduled for 6pm EST. The next game will be the first semifinal, with FaZe taking on Natus Vincere.
