Top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Fnatic have been knocked out in the quarterfinals of MLG Columbus 2016. No, this is not an April Fools’ joke, Fnatic really did lose 2-0 to Danish side Astralis.
Fnatic are widely regarded as the best team in the world. The most surprising thing about them losing is that Astralis, who are generally considered a top-four team, looked perfectly comfortable on both maps during the best-of-three series. Astralis took Overpass with a score of 16-10, and then managed to grab themselves 13 match points on Cache, before finishing it off 16-5.
Overall Fnatic have had a disastrous tournament. The Swedish side lost to North American Team Liquid in the group stage and had to overcome FaZe Clan to set up their quarterfinal against Astralis. Star player Olof “Olofmeister” Kajbjer commented in a post-match interview earlier in the tournament that he was suffering from a wrist injury, which may explain his poor performance in the tournament.
This is the second time in a row that Fnatic have fallen in the quarterfinal of a Valve major. Last time at Dreamhack Cluj they fell to EnVyUs, who dropped out in the group stage of this tournament. Between Dreamhack Cluj and MLG Columbus, they had won five events in a row, a run that has now ended.
Astralis move on to the semifinal and are now considered one of the favorites to take the whole competition, alongside semifinal opponents Na`Vi, and Luminosity Gaming. We will see Luminosity face off with Virtus.Pro tomorrow in the last quarterfinal, while the other quarterfinal will see Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid go head-to-head. Though neither are favoured to win the tournament, with Fnatic out it might be time for a dark horse to strike.
Photo by Rob Paul
