They may not have an organization right now but they have 2009 WCG gold medals instead. The Polish team, AGAiN , who famously won the WCG in 2006 have repeated their amazing feat by overcoming the most dominant team of the year, fnatic , to take home the first place in Chengdu.

The final, which was rightly billed as an epic clash of the titans, was a rare occasion which pitted perhaps the two best CS players of all time, NEO and f0rest, against each other with everything on the line. An impossibly close first game finally went the Poles' way at the last moment and in the second half of the second map they put up unrelenting pressure to take home the victory. fnatic will no doubt be having nightmares thinking of the rounds they could have won in the nuke game.



fnatic 26:28 AGAiN (nuke - 6:9 9:6, OT1 - 1:2 2:1, OT2 - 0:3 3:0, OT3 - 1:2 2:1, OT4 - 2:1, 0:3)

The first half was very evenly contested as the lead stayed close the whole way, often two rounds or less, until AGAiN finally took the last round and a three round advantage overall. Still fnatic are legendary for being able to lockdown the CT side of nuke and win games by huge margins. This seemed set to be the case once more as fnatic got up to a 9:2 lead to sit at match point. At this point the Poles dug down deep and found whatever reserves they needed to draw from as they rallied to win four straight rounds and send the game to overtime against a shocked fnatic.

In overtime both teams constantly battled to a standstill. The second overtime had the pressure on fnatic as they knew losing a single round in the second half would mean the map but they managed to match their Polish oppositions and send it to a third overtime. Finally in the fourth overtime AGAiN were able to come up with a shutout in the second half and claim the victory in a 28:26 war which few are likely to forget, despite the fact few actually saw it thanks to a constantly crashing stream.



fnatic 12:16 AGAiN (train - 8:7, 4:9)

First half

fnatic immediately put any stress from losing the first in such close fashion behind them and began putting on an offensive clinic on the Poles to get back into the game. 3:0 turned into 8:1 and fnatic looked well on their way to getting the series tied up. When fnatic's terrorist game is on in a train match the other team needs to be very careful because fnatic can completely dominate CT sides. A TaZ four kill round managed to stop the Swedish momentum though and suddenly it was the Poles who were reeling off rounds. Big play from the entire team, seemingly taking it in turns to get three kill rounds, had them win all the remaining rounds and make it 8:7 in the Swedes' favours.


Second half

The last 7 rounds of the first half had seen NEO get dialled in and play up to his reputation of being one of the greatest of all time. That carried over into the second and his team saw themselves going up 3:0 and then 8:1 to reach map and game point. The entire series would be decided with the next round win for the Poles and they knew they had potentially six to get it in. At this point we were reminded that what made this finals matchup so tantalizing was the presence of the other great player of the modern CS era: f0rest. The Swedish colt demigod awoke from his slumber and won a 1v3 to prevent his team's elimination. The next two rounds saw him racking up multiple kills as he had apparently decided his team was not going to lose. In a 5v5 game no player can do it all on his own forever though. Eventually the f0rest onslaught died down and at 8:4 the Poles went inside and from a 1v2 situation Loord managed to get the kills he needed to win the round and the match for AGAiN.



AGAiN complete their storybook victory to take their second gold medal placing at the WCG. They also continue their tradition of winning the huge events that seem to matter the most in a given time period. This also adds another chapter to their rivalry with fnatic, who they have now bested in a major final. Despite all of fnatic's victories this year losing this one adds some questions that will need to be answered in the future. Both f0rest and NEO's legacies have had a few more lines written added to them.

Final placings:
1st AGAiN (Gold) $35.000 + $2.000 hardware
2nd fnatic (Silver) $18.000 + $1.500 hardware
3rd mTw (Bronze) $10.000 + $1.500 hardware
4th CMAX.gg ru

AGain please fans after WCG victory



Neo and Kuben interviewed during the tournament



Fnatic honoured for their efforts by fans



Fnatic.Dsn signing autographs despite loss



Follow the rest of the WCG via our tournament page.