fnatic are through to the playoffs!
KRIMZ and company have qualified for the Champions stage of the IEM Rio Major after taking down BIG 2-0.
Fnatic have made it through to the playoffs at IEM Rio Major 2022, following a 2-0 victory over the Germans from BIG in the Legends Stage swiss round 4. KRIMZ and company secured a tight win on Overpass (16-14) before closing out the action in comfortable fashion on Mirage (16-7) to make sure they will be having a spot in the Jeunesse Arena later this week. The fnatic squad advances to the playoffs with a 3-1 record, having previously brushed off Ninjas in Pyjamas and ENCE.
The German squad from BIG will still have one more chance for making the playoffs on Tuesday when they will play in a do-or-die matchup in the 2-2 pool.
It’s not just the first time fnatic are at a Major tournament since Katowice 2019, but now they are also in the Top 8.
Everything started well in the series for fnatic who picked up nine rounds on the T-side of Overpass, however, they still had to fight hard to draw the first blood to the series. The German squad equalized the score at 10-10 early in the second half, which made fnatic once again go a gear up, just like in the first half, to try and brush them away. And they did, at least for the next five rounds to find themselves up 15-11 on the scoreboard. It seemed like fnatic would close out the first map right there, but after some unlikely BIG rounds with pistols, the Germans managed to make the map a bit more interesting than it should have been. In the last round of the map at 15-14, fnatic kept a cool head and locked in a tight 16-14 victory.
The series moved on to Mirage, where we saw a rather one-sided match. BIG sweat and fought hard to get five rounds on the scoreboard on the T-side, but couldn’t find their footing on the CT-side, picking up just two rounds to their score. Maybe it was because fnatic’s KRIMZ was on fire and made it difficult to be a BIG player on the server, as he powered his squad into the champions stage with a 28-13 K/D and 115.3 ADR in a convincing 16-7 victory. The 28-year-old Swedish veteran also finished the series as MVP.
MVP: 
