Intel Extreme Masters V- Frag eXecutors defeated FnaticMSI.CS

Frag eXecutors (Neo, kuben, Loord, TaZ and pasha) confidently win with Fnatic (Delpan, pita, dsn, cArn, Xizt) 2:0 on de_dust2 (16:13) and de_nuke (16:10). Polish-(hardly)Swedish duel was the main attraction of quarter-finals (beside this match FX won with UMX-Gaming on de_inefrno 16-12 :D). This battle have given us some of the greatest series of all time but this instance proved a little anti-climactic as FX moved past fnatic without being pushed too hard.

Here you have a review of the battle on :

Dust 2 16-14 (CT 9-6, T 7-8) (sk-gaming.com)

The first map saw FX arrive in form as they pushed the game from the CT side of dust2 while fnatic won enough rounds to stay within striking distance but still not ever feel comfortable. After FX finished the half with a three round lead everyone had to know fnatic were set for a tough time coming back against one of the great offensive teams of this era.

fnatic did manage to pull back rounds, as Delpan showed off his AWP talent and fnatic showed they could retake B as FX continually attacked it. Eventually it had developed into a fully fledged nail-biter as the teams were clearly going to go down to the wire. A few key rounds saw the momentum switch to FX's favour such as one where a low health Xizt decided to save at A, thinking kuben was safely tucked away at the catwalk box when in fact he was above him inside the site and had looked quite tentative in their first exchange.

Most noteworthy for fans of CS highlight clips was neo's AWP round late in the game. The man some consider to be the greatest CS player of all time once more showed his special touch for the game as he saved an AWP and on a round where most of his team-mates had glocks he went to work demolishing fnatic at bombsite B. The part which thrilled the crowd and frustrated fnatic came when the Pole faced a 1v3 and killed each in succession, the last even coming through a box as the player rushed around towards him. The legend had once more lit up the big stage and many will look to tomorrow's face-off against f0rest as another chapter in their storied history.

Another theme of the dust2 game late was that fnatic seemed overly greedy, or perhaps a little panicked, as they bought weak over and over with famas and deagles only to lose round after round. On a map they had a few chances in the Swedes left one down and with work to do on nuke.

Nuke 16-10 (T 7-8, CT 9-2) (sk-gaming.com)

Despite losing on dust2 a couple of the fnatic players had shown some nice moments and once more it was individual rounds doing it for fnatic in the early going on nuke as they won the pistol round and third round with clutches. After that though FX locked the train into top speed and rolled over fnatic with classic FX aggressive nuke play. Few teams in history have been as good on nuke T side as this side and once more they proved a tough nut to crack for the CTs. Losing the first half 7:8 was no shame for FX as they had been down 4:7 at one point.

On the second half Neo aced the CT pistol round and it was clear FX were zoned in to take the series then and there. They charged forwards and fnatic simply couldn't find the answers to hold back the Poles.

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"Interestingly in the series FX used their timeouts very well and discussions seemed to be constructive rather than divisive, so they came back into the game each time and improved their approach. For fnatic this series suggests Kiev was a great few days but that's all it was. In reality their team is most likely more in the range of 3rd-5th than legitimately #1 or a big favourite for every event. Of course they'll have their chances to prove themselves at the next event and show some evolution positively in their game." -commented Thorin.

Fx will now face SK-Gaming (dennis, face, f0rest, GeT_RiGhT and RobbaN) tomorrow in the Semi-finals.

Today also mTw and Na'Vi defeated CompLexity on : de_nuke (16-3 for mTw) , de_dust2(16:10 for Na'Vi) and de_train( 5-16 for Ukrainians too). These first two teams will play against each other in Semi-finals too.

Source: sk-gaming, frag-executors.com, HLTV.org