fnatic 's game against Natus Vincere to open their campaign in Group B was supposed to be their test, their first moment of pressure in 2011. Here, against the World Champions, was where the world would see the level of the retooled Swedish team. Few were expecting they would win, rather it was a case of whether they'd be blown out, make a game of it or even manage to keep it close most of the way. Instead fnatic slowly put together an impressive initial performance to stake their claim to being players in Group B's first place picture. Suddenly winning the group becomes a possibility where before it seemed more likely they'd be battling Lions for the ranking amongst the quarter-final spots.

Instead Na`Vi exited the game the ones with questions being asked of them. A loss in a game they were soaring in, backed up by the joyous roars of a very partisan home crowd and feeling as though any moment they would kick into gear and end the match. Waiting for that last gear proved fruitless and the Ukrainians find themselves beginning their IEM adventure on the back foot. Everything about the manner of their defeat must leave a bad taste in their mouths as they felt victory snatched away from them bit by bit to the extent they didn't fully recognise the magnitude of some of the earlier swing moments until they had already passed.

So far so good

Na`Vi had taken the early back and forth, and seemingly figured fnatic out, allowing the Ukrainians to run off a ton of rounds. Every close numbers battle went Na`Vi's way and their confidence grew and grew until they could attack the sites with confidence that they'd find their way if they simply executed their strategies. fnatic looked to be floundering as they let close round situations get away from them and again and again found themselves struggling to keep pace with the rolling Na`Vi train. The faces of the players told the story as fnatic looked frustrated, trying hard to get into a game which was running away from them, and Na`Vi looked mad at the few rounds they did lose and words went back and forth between players after even small mistakes. Then the half ended and it wasn't just the players which ended up switched.

The tone of the early second half felt like one of Na`Vi taking a little too long to re-engage the game with full focus. They lost some rounds in which they were outplayed or outshot but even so they looked to be on cruise control, thinking it was only a matter of time before things swung back in their favour. When it began to become apparent that wasn't going to happen without strenuous efforts on their part Na`Vi seemed to snap back into full attentiveness but by then fnatic had their own momentum maxing out and it was fnatic whose hunger seemed to inevitably gobble up rounds at a rate where even lost opportunities were quickly followed up by round wins. By the game reached 14:14 Na`Vi were in trouble, not out of the game by any means but with the added pressure of knowing they'd given up a little too much in the match already, which could easily cost them, and also that they faced their own small mountain to climb to close out the game with a win as opposed to having to settle for a draw.

The last chance

Even fnatic hitting the 15th round didn't seem insurmountable. It still felt as though Na`Vi had a good shot to tie things up and leave the game with a draw to head off into an inevitable argument about what went wrong to cost them those extra points. Indeed as the round played down even a situation which should have been a lock for fnatic as three of them rushed a Na`Vi player was turned on its head as it happened to be the mercurial markeloff who was the player in question and he summoned up a fast paced triple kill sequence which had him rapidly moving from target to target fluidly and without hesitation. After that Na`Vi got themselves down into a 2v1 and began defusing.

In this moment the entire game hung in the balance as had Na`Vi continued to defuse and not peeked then they would have completed the defusal and won the round a large percentage of the time. Their problem was the seed of doubt planted by not being sure of where and how quickly cArn would attack. So it was that an overly risky peek from the first Na`Vi player, coupled with a nice shot from the fnatic leader, put the round to a 1v1. From there the script that was written was not of Na`Vi tying up the game but of cArn getting the hero billing as he finished out the round and the last Ukrainian to squeeze his team over the finish line. The first test had been passed and as the Swede jumped up and down shouting it was a mixture of excitement at the prospect of what might be ahead, the thrill of having battled through early adversity and even relief at turning what would have been a confidence crushing blow into a character building moment for a young team.

Reflections

For fnatic it's difficult to be happy with the way the first half played out and a brutal honesty must be employed to realize the same game played out again from the half onwards doesn't go their way many times. Even so to edge a team of Na`Vi's calibre is no mean feat and so credit must be given where credit is due. For Na`Vi this may be a case of a semi-troubled group stage which leads onto better things in the playoffs. There were a couple of occasions in 2010 where the Ukrainians couldn't get their A game going in the group stage but after making it out were able to fully lock down their concentration in the playoffs to win in superlative fashion. Can they afford to wait around for that higher focus to arrive of its own accord, as they seemed to within this game against fnatic? Is this the first crack in Na`Vi's armour in 2011 or the catalyst to resurrect the form which has made them the best team in the world hands down?

When the test came to a close and marks were handed out fnatic didn't pass with flying colours, didn't earn themselves honors or graduate from scrutiny just yet. All the same a solid B- in their first outing, with room for improvement and signs of something present that may yet be developed further.


Follow the rest of fnatic IEM journey via SK Gaming's coverage page.