Fnatic outlasted a feisty mousesports lineup over three maps to take the IEM VI Global Challenge Guangzhou title and $16,000 in prize money. The two teams seemed to be on a collision course to decide the title from the moment the team list was revealed. fnatic were seeking their first title since the IEM V European Championship in January, while mouz were still looking for an international trophy since cyx's tragic passing in July of 2010.

The games proved to have a repeating, albeit it peculiar, theme as both teams put up lengthy runs on the terrorist side and it became a battle of execution to decide who would take home the crown. fnatic were often the team to respond, taking mouz's terrorist wave and then coming back with their own. In the decider, forge, the Swedes finally got the chance to start as terrorists and promptly put up their own lead and never trailed for the rest of the game.



Map one - mousesports 10:16 Fnatic nuke (T 9:6 CT 1:10)

The first map saw mouz take the pistol round thanks to an initial surprise boost off the mini roof onto the CT catwalk, resulting in a kill on the CT player above ladder, suggesting gob b had a good idea of how fnatic would attempt to defend. mouz ran the score up to 3:0 before fnatic came back with a gun round win. mouz were not to be denied though and seemed to be in full offensive flow as they pushed the game to 7:1 and later 9:2 scores.

Just when the half looked to be completely out of control for the Swedes they mounted their own comeback to bring the score to 6:9 at the end of the half, taking four rounds in a row. One key round proved to be captain cArn's three kill round to hold the lower bombsite from the players attacking down from the ramp. He followed that up with an aggressive flash push through the hut on the last round, killing two immediately.

Nine rounds as terrorist should be enough for the vast majority of teams in a normal game but this series proved to be anything but normal. If mouz had looked impressive across most of the first half fnatic looked undeniable on their terrorist turn. The pistol round, despite a roman double nade kill, and a 3:0 lead of their own tied the game up. mouz followed fnatic's pattern from the first half winning the first gun round, off of a roman 1v2 clutch at upper as the bomb ticked away, and fnatic responded likewise with their own mouz impression as they too ran the game up to 7:1 on their terrorist side.

The key difference was that where mouz had been stopped and given up rounds at the end of the half fnatic kept going and seemed incapable of losing any clutch round scenarios. A crucial win came on the 23rd round of the game as Xizt won a 1v1 at upper vs. karrigan to keep his team rolling. The Swedes didn't lose another round and closed out the map 16:10 on an emphatic 10:1 T half.


Map two - mousesports 16:13 Fnatic inferno (T 12:3 CT 4:10)

Starting out as terrorists on inferno mouz put the nuke loss behind them and once more look to be a force on the offensive side. Four kills from roman won them the pistol round but their 2:0 lead was temporarily halted by fnatic in the third. That lead was then pushed to 4:1 though before Friis pulled out a number of kills with his AWP, as the only fnatic member with a gun, to snatch one back for the Swedish team. mouz rolled on to a 9:2 lead, varying up attacks from A early on to B later.

On the 12th round Friis again clawed a round back for fnatic, this time sneaking into the A site on a 1v3 and after killing one player successfully defusing the bomb due to the other two mouz players having moved out to hunt for him. These fnatic rounds looked like mere speedbumps along the way though and mouz continued on to a dominant 12:3 first half score.

fnatic again came back with their own display of terrorist prowess. Friis won a 1v2 in B to give them the pistol round and from there they ran off four more rounds to make the score 12:8 for mouz overall. Three karrigan kills gave mouz a round win but then fnatic snapped five straight rounds off, even with a mouz timeout in-between, to make the game 13:13 overall and put mouz's feet to the flames, their huge lead having disappeared.

In an interesting side-note mouz again and again managed to stack the site which fnatic ended up heading to on eco rounds, showing excellent reading ability and prediction from gob b, but was never able to win any of those rounds.

After fnatic finally eliminated mouz's lead on the overall score they found themselves on the wrong end of the closing stanza of the half. mouz took all three rounds to knot the series at a map a piece and head into forge for all the marbles. On the 27ths round a 2v2 went the Germans' way after two zonixx kills. The 28th round was a flawless victory and the 29th sealed the deal after a 3v3 turned into three mouz players left standing and the server switching maps.


Map three - mousesports 11:16 Fnatic forge (CT 6:9 T 5:7)

mouz took their third pistol round of the series as they held B. That turned into a 4:0 lead on the CT side but then fnatic got completely rolling. Nine straight fnatic rounds had mouz in very hot water in a deciding map which looked to be headed out of their hands. The Swedes were able to find success in both sites and even the Germans snatching back the final two rounds still put the mouz lineup in a pressure-packed situation.

Winning their fourth pistol round alleviated a little of that pressure, temporarily, and the team ran off two more to get the score evened at 9:9. karrigan kill two but could not kill the third in a 1v3 and fnatic took the lead again. mouz took the next two and at 11:10 a timeout was called, presumably by fnatic. When they came back to the game the Swedes won all the remaining rounds and the IEM VI Guangzhou title. The 24th round was crucial as two kills from cArn in a 2v2 prevented mouz from tying the game, and forced them to eco on the next round.



Man of the match was likely Friis from fnatic, the Dane making himself stand out from his team-mates with numerous round wins and even solid kills on fnatic's losing inferno effort. Gux seemed to be headed towards the MVP for the event in the group stage but he blended into the background of the final. For mouz their own Dane, karrigan, provided a lot of the highlight plays of the game. In particular his AWP battle with Friis as the former was T and the latter CT helped to spur mouz back into the series.



(Photograph copyright of ESL)