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After six days of competition, surprises and ridiculously close games we finally have our IEM Katowice 2018 champions: Fnatic.

The Swedish team went undefeated throughout the event, only dropping three maps across all six days.

They took down the likes of Heroic, G2 Esports, Team Liquid and FaZe Clan twice to take home the historic IEM trophy and $250,000.

An amazing group stage saw Fnatic head straight to the semi-finals, meaning they only had to beat Team Liquid to make it to the last day.

They did this with ease, securing a 2-0 win with 16-13 and 16-7 victories, and set up a rematch with FaZe Clan, who they also beat 2-0 in the group stage, for the grand final.

Things started out poorly for Fnatic in the final, with FaZe taking a dominant 16-5 win on Cache, leading many to assume this would be a quick 3-0.

But Fnatic fought back, map two went to double overtime before Fnatic came out as victors and tied the series up at 1-1.

They then took the lead after a convincing 16-7 win of their own, clearly the long map two loss had impacted FaZe and they needed to get their heads back in the game.

Map four then went the way of FaZe, setting us up for an epic fifth map to decide who would become the champions.

On Train the two teams were evenly matched throughout. At the half it was 8-7 in favour of FaZe and then at the end of regulation, it was even closer, with the score being tied at 15-15.

Overtime in the final map of a best of five final would decide the winner, and it was Fnatic who came out on top, although it did take them all six rounds of OT to do so.

The crowd erupted and Fnatic were champions, reclaiming the IEM title after two years and securing a first championship for this version of the Fnatic roster.

“It’s amazing, hard to put it in words but it's a really good feeling, that's the easiest way I can explain it,” says Fnatic player Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson moments after the win.

“I'm really happy that it was such a close game. Like when you're playing you probably hope like let's win fast, I just want to win, but now after, it's like it's really nice because I think we gave the crowd something to watch for and it's even more memorable for us because we felt the audience and everything like that for five whole maps. And that's sick.

It is rare that a grand final goes as long as this one, which took the best part of seven hours and featured two maps with overtime.

Matches like this really do require a lot of stamina and determination and are not something that many people in the world would be able to do, especially on a stage like that.

“I think that toughest part was at like 6-3 or something on Train on their T side,” says Lekr0. “That's when we kind of grind back a few rounds and then we lost one and got back. So 8-7 half it's not good, but that's when it got scary because we had to win the pistol to have a chance it felt like. But it worked out anyway.”

That last map was quite something, with both teams playing incredibly well. At times it looked like both would take it in regulation, before eventually, it went to OT.

All of this was against FaZe, the superstar line up featuring some of the most mechanically skilled players in the world, and a team many tip as the best in the world.

While taking them down in the grand final was a big achievement for Fnatic, they still believe they have some way to go before they can try to take that number one spot.

“It doesn't make us the best team in the world but we have a promising future, for sure,” says Lekr0. “Because we made playoffs at almost every single tournament we've gone to except for two I think. But I think we have a lot to build on and I think we can move forward really fast with this team.”

There is no doubt that this team of experienced veterans and exciting young talent has a lot of potential to make it to the very top, but for now they can sit back and enjoy being champions once again.