Fnatic has been on a tear since getting dropped into the loser’s Match in the Group Stages of The Dreamleague: Season 11 Major. They’ve won 8 matches on the trot and have steadily become one of the favourites to take home the Championship.
This was exemplified in their Winner Bracket match against Keen Gaming, earlier today, when they quite simply outclassed and destroyed the Chinese team on their home turf. Fnatic had already bested The Kuala Lumpur Major champions, Virtus.Pro, 2-0 and headed into their match against Keen Gaming, with momentum on their side.
Keen Gaming came into the series looking like legitimate championship contenders with wins over Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses and appeared to be a team that wouldn’t go down easily.
Game 1: Things were going well for Keen Gaming early on in the first game, but Fnatic turned up the heat in the mid-game. Securing kill-after-kill and getting pretty much whatever they wanted in team fights and controlled the tempo of the game to secure a net-worth advantage.
Keen Gaming were more than content to sit back on defence and pick their fights, but some miscommunication and botched BKB’s from the Chinese team ensured that they weren’t able to claw their way back into the game.
Eventually, Fnatic came out on top behind a stellar 12-1-7 game from MP on the Juggernaut and Jabz’s clutch plays on the Winter Wyvern.
Game 2: All the pressure was on Keen Gaming in the second game, but as they fought for their top 3 spot, Fnatic seemed to match and outplay them at every turn in the early-midgame. However, Keen Gaming did manage to get a few of pick offs on Fnatic’s core heroes to open up an opportunity for a comeback.
That’s where Abed took over.
He almost single-handedly destroyed the entirety of the Keen Gaming lineup with some immaculate Puck play and caused Keen Gaming to lose any ounce of momentum they managed to build. His outstanding performance only continued from there as he lead Fnatic to an impressive 2-0 victory to secure a Top 3 finish in the Dreamleague: Season 11 Major.
GG @Fnatic! They advance to play again @ViCi in the Upper Bracket Finals!#DreamLeagueMajor pic.twitter.com/gYoYpZBYlV
— DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) March 22, 2019
With that victory Fnatic has secured 2100 DPC points from this tournament, bringing up their total DPC points total to a whopping 3450. Accordingly, one more win will secure Fnatic a spot in TI9.
They will now compete against Chinese powerhouse, Vici Gaming, in tomorrow’s Winner Bracket Finals for a place in the Grand Finals and a spot in The International 9.