Fnatic victorious over Astralis at IEM Katowice

After witnessing an awesome series between Natus Vincere and Luminosity it was time to find out who will face the Brazilians in the grand final. Starting on de_overpass, a map heavily favored by the Danish powerhouse Astralis, one would imagine Astralis wanted to kick off things with a bang.

Winning the knife round, fnatic choose to start as defender at de_overpass. Finding the entry frags against olofmeister and Dennis "dennis" Edman, Astralis quickly opened the B side to grab their first round. Deciding to take rifles instead of SMGs into the next round Astralis carried on their run until the fourth round where Robin "flusha" Rönnquist ended the run for the Danes. With olofmeister holding on as long as he can on A side in a crucial round, as well as doing two frags, fnatic managed to even out the score to 03:03 after their successful first gun round. With some aggressive plays, flusha and company secure map control, especially around bathroom area, steadily gaining the time advantage in their favor. Both teams trading blows on A bomb side, until everything comes down to a one on one between Jesper "JW" Wecksel and Nicolai "device" Reedtz. The Swede decided to smoke the bomb an fake an defuse, picking the slowly pushing Dane through the smoke with his AWP. With fnatic being almost flawless in the gun rounds, the Danish team takes their timeout to discuss and steal away the Swedish momentum. Starting again with a quick go on B side, trading blows back. Unfortunately, Finn "Karrigan" Andersen and company missing the shots, losing another and ultimately in the end the first half with 04:11.

In their first round as attacker, fnatic sprinted around the map trying to find an entry frag against an pushing defender. Astralis did not overcomitted, waiting for the real push. That push followed at 30 seconds on A side. Although the Swedes managed to plant the bomb, the Danes quickly overwhelmed them, taking away the pistol by defusing the bomb. Other then fnatics anti-Eco, Astralis choose to go with two P90 and managed to easily secure the round against fnatics pistols. Going into the first gun round, fnatic boosts JW to aim for heaven. Luckily, the train passes just in the moment the defender peaked. Quick and dirty go on B side again with blows traded left and right until device could clear the field. Sadly for the Danes, the bomb was already ticking too fast. Using the death cam to his advantage, flusha baited Karrigan into going aggressively only to see the the bomb go boom after desperately trying to find the last frag. Olofmeister then secured match point by outplaying both last defending Danes with two fake bomb plants, while sneaking behind the sandbags dupree decided to push forward with his low HP. Spotting Olofmeister moving behind sandbags, dupree felt safe to continue to push but Olofmeister quickly decided to pick his AWP, first trying a no-scope and then taking the easy show to his left. Faking the bomb plant at five seconds left on the clock, device had no other choice then push forward only to watch right into Olof "Olofmeister" Kajbjer AWP, as he stopped the bomb plant and peaked again with his 3 HP left. The Swedes closed out the first map with 16:06 overall.

The second map to be played was de_cache. The Swedes started strong as attacker in the pistol round while some easy shots on the other hand were missed by Astralis. Quickly taking away three rounds, fnatic managed to land the entry frag in the fourth round, bringing it down to a two on two. JW once again showed a strong performance, picking off one defender with his AWP bringing it down to an easy one on two and ultimately killing the last survivor. The Danes then needed seven rounds to finally find into the game, also grabbing the following round despite JW baiting out two frags with bomb plant fakes. Grabbing three rounds in a row, fnatic ended the small run from Astralis in the 10th round, with the scoreboard 07:03 in favor of the Swedish powerhouse. Astralis got overwhelmed on B side, while on the hunt for device the Danish AWP player achieved a small victory by surviving and killing all attackers on the hunt for his AWP. Seemingly pumped by this, Astralis managed to stop fnatic's go, despite JW's effort in mid hitting with his AWP. If he only had a bullet left when he peaked for another no-scope, things could've been gone from bad to doomsday. The Danes manage to grab the last round of the half, bringing the scoreboard to 05:10.

Going into the pistol as attacker, dupree finds an entry frag with his Desert Eagle. Patiently waiting only to fall to Olofmeisters USP. Being outnumbered, Astralis tried to hold B side after successfully planting the bomb. Not today said Olofmeister, as he finishes off all remaining attackers for the pistol ace. Not forcing the issues quite yet, Astralis decided to go for pistols only in their second round as attacker. The crucial buy round began pretty good despite losing map control, the bomb was planted on A side when the Swedes decided to fall back for exit frags. Scared by the huge map control fnatic secured for themselves in the previous round, the game went on slowly as Astralis build up for A side again. All of the sudden all hell broke loose on side, fnatic is not quite there yet as Astralis slaughtered them in the process of securing the spot. Securing the mid area, Astralis slowly but steady grabbing frags, forcing fnatic into a tactical timeout before the Danes tie things up. Playing some mind games with fnatic, Astralis lures the Swedes into A fake, going straight for the B side and avoiding the deadly pistols. Once again a crucial round but this time for fnatic, as the bomb is planted with a one man advantage for the defenders. In the end, everything worked out in favor of Astralis, continuing their momentum as cajunb keeps the hope alive. Things seemed to go wrong in the 25th round as blows were traded back and forth on A side but Karrigan manages to safe the day when Olofmeister missed to spray down the Dane. Trying to stop Astralis with a kind of force buy, Karrigan once again saves the day by getting two entry frags, concluding the round with a four kill. The Danes then once again faking A side and manage to plant the bomb on B side with only four man alive. The Swedes had all five man alive but decided to hold on and not gong for it, match point. Ultimately, The Danes managed their comeback to bring it to another map.

Astralis picks the attacking side on de_inferno after the knife round, Astralis finds an opening on B side and managed to plant the bomb when it came down to a one on one. Krimz then decided to head for a quick defuse and succeeds doing so. Both teams trading frags and rounds back and forth in the following rounds with fnatic coming out on top; 04:01 the score. The Swedes stabilized and took away two rounds in a row with the Danes eventually stopping the run before it goes out of hand, only to lose the following rounds. Astralis showed some life signs, grabbing three rounds but thanks to a nice peak and spray down from Olofmeister to stop Astralis' run. Not giving away another round, fnatic finishes the first half with 11:04.

Playing a B side fake, fnatic manages to plant the bomb on A bringing it down to a two on two and ultimately win the round. Astralis now with the back against the wall decides to play with pistols only, conserving money for the crucial buy round. Playing a A side fake this time, cajun could hear everything in mid as fnatic moved towards B side. Frags were traded left and right with fnatic eventually clearing the spot. Quick A side go for fnatic with frags once again traded left and right but this time it is Astralis who comes out victorious. Xyp9x keeping Astralis alive with a nice spray through the smoke on B side. Unfortunately for Astralis, fnatic reaches match point quickly afterwards. The Swedes taking their time before closing out the series 16:07. flusha and company will face Luminosity in the grand final today at approx.18:30 CET.