The opening matches of ESL Pro League Season 17 playoffs have just concluded, and the victors have been decided. Furia and fnatic went head to head as G2 and Movistar Riders duked it out on the B stream. As two teams that have never faced each other, all eyes were on Furia and Fnatic in their best-of-three.
Despite close scorelines on both maps, Furia managed to keep it together and take the win over their European competitors. Here’s how the match played out.
Furia knock out fnatic 2-0 at ESL Pro League round of 16
Initial impressions from the map veto were not in fnatic’s favor as they let their permaban, Anubis, through. The veto went down like so:
- Ancient (fnatic’s pick)
- Anubis (Furia’s pick)
- Vertigo (Decider if needed)
Starting off on Ancient, Furia looked to be in charge with a 5-1 start despite fnatic winning the pistol. However, a late resurgence from the CT side saw the half closed out at 8-7 in Furia’s favor. What followed was a streak heavy half with momentum switching between each side. Despite winning the second pistol, fnatic was on the back foot once again, losing four rounds in a row.
Eventually, Furia managed to stabilize after a couple timeouts, tying up the game 13-13. However, a few clutch plays an great reads in the final stretch let Furia take the win 16-13.
Moving to Anubis, fnatic looked to silence the doubters with a flawless 5-0 start. Despite a strong start, they seemed to run out of steam mid-half and let Furia back into the game. Furia responded with a spectacular CT side, stringing together 9 rounds before fnatic won the last round of the half, ending up down 9-6.
In the second half, fnatic continued their pistol dominance, closing the gap 9-9. Once the buy rounds rolled in, no team managed to dictate the pace, trading blows at every corner. Ultimately, the map reached a tipping point at 12-13 before Furia managed to read fnatic, and break their economy. Furia won the map with another 16-13 scoreline.
