fnatic send LDLC packing at EMS One

fnatic are through to the semis of the RaidCall EMS One Summer finals following a 2-0 victory over LDLC.com.

Fnatic went into this tournament in a do-or-die situation knowing that perhaps only a repeat of last season’s campaign, in which they reached the grand final, would prevent further roster changes from happening, as the Danish side pulled out of the StarSeries finals to "find a consistent strategy for the future".

As one of the most in-form teams in Europe at the moment, LDLC.com were highly favored for this match, but right from the start it was seen that this would not be a walk in the park for the Frenchmen.

The first map of the tie was de_nuke_se, where fnatic, despite playing on the Terrorist side, got off to a great start and won the first two rounds. LDLC then responded and pulled one back in the eco round, with Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez picking up three frags. It was expected that the French side would take control of the game, but a buying attempt from fnatic bore fruits as they made it 3-1.

The Danish giants continued in the driving seat, but when the score was 5-1 in their favour they were handed a major scare as LDLC were very close to winning another eco round, but Finn "karrigan" Andersen saved the day when he was up against Kenny "kennyS" Schrub in the decisive one-on-one.

Down 6-1, LDLC finally managed to pick themselves up and stop fnatic's attacking attempts, but the Danish team still had the upper hand as they went into the break 9-6 before switching to the CT side.

LDLC made a flying start in the second half, pulling one back after winning the pistol round following a rush onto the lower bombsite, and then went on to string five rounds together to make it 12-9 in their favour. But just when everyone thought that the French team had this map in the bag, fnatic gave a great account of themselves in the final stages to turn the score around and win nuke with 16-13 scoreline.

fnatic through to last-four stage

Next up was de_mirage_ce, fnatic's choice of map, and this was a very curious choice indeed, considering that the Danish team had recently lost to LDLC on this very same map.

LDLC were the team to claim bragging rights first on this map, having won the pistol round thanks to a three-kill action from Vincent "Happy" Cervoni with a double headshot in the end.

After losing the first anti-eco round, fnatic opted to make a full buy, but such a move produced no effects, allowing LDLC to enlarge their lead to 4-0. The Danes then finally managed to respond thanks to a triple entry kill from Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth, giving fnatic their first round of the map.

After reducing the deficit to 4-2, fnatic were stunned by LDLC's impressive Desert Eagle eco round, with Dan "apEX" Madesclaire alone adding three kills to his tally. The rest of the first half was a very close affair, but once again fnatic enjoyed a convincing 9-6 lead when it was time to switch sides.

In the second half, LDLC were able to win the opening three rounds, but then fnatic regained control of the match, going all the way as they picked up a 16-11 victory to move on in the tournament. A three-kill round from Madesclairewas pretty much the only thing that LDLC had going for them in this round.

RaidCall EMS One Summer 2013 FinalsBest of 2 LDLCMatchpage 0 2 29th June 2013 fnatic 13Nuke_se 16 11Mirage_ce 16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	50 - 35	+15	-	1.31
Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMODDII	49 - 37	+12	-	1.30
Michael 'Friis' JørgensenFriis	37 - 37	0	-	0.96
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	33 - 36	-3	-	0.91
Martin 'trace' Heldttrace	33 - 35	-2	-	0.89

LDLC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	46 - 41	+5	-	1.19
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	37 - 39	-2	-	0.92
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	36 - 40	-4	-	0.86
Gordon 'Sf' GirySf	34 - 41	-7	-	0.83
Mathieu 'Maniac' QuiquerezManiac	27 - 41	-14	-	0.69

fnatic are now through to the semi-final stage of the tournament, in which they will tackle the winner of the match between Copenhagen Wolves and VeryGames.