Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca is underway and today we were treated with watching the unraveling of Fnatic. Fnatic lost to Envyus capping off a tournament where their performances were all over the place. Whether they were doing well or getting their teeth kicked in, Fnatic just could not find that consistency in their play, and it showed. The first map was Fnatic’s pick of Mirage and would prove fortuitous for Fnatic, winning convincingly 16-9 where Flusha and Kirmez lead the charge as it has been the entire weekend when the team looked hot. A lack of map experience might have been what made this so difficult for Envyus. Map two is where we saw the gaps in Fnatic’s game-plan, and where we could see the tournament slip away from them. Envyus on Cobblestone just would not allow themselves to be killed and not letting any one player go over 20 deaths; all the while Fnatic had 4 players with 20 or more deaths.

Fnatic had a solid first half on T side picking up six rounds, but they could not transition that to the CT, with Kio, NBK, and KennyS ending the game with 23 kills each. No one wants to watch as a ship goes sinking down, but if you were watching the third round on Cache that’s exactly what happened where Fnatic looked feeble on the map. The first half saw Fnatic picking up a total of 2 rounds and it did not stop there, with Envyus easily picking up the last rounds with relative ease, booking themselves a spot in the semi-finals and sending Fnatic home on what most would say was a disappointing tournament showing. This game Fnatic could not buy a kill with no one on Envyus reaching 10 deaths. This was a tough outing for powerhouse Fnatic and a strong showing for Envyus want to be in the running for favorites to win the whole thing up there with TSM…that is if TSM won, but we will get into that soon enough.

The second match of the day could be seen as the upset of the tournament when G2 locked horns with Virtus.Pro. This series, unlike the last one, was not a compete routine despite the series score showing 2-0. G2 won, but VP made them work for it. Map one was on Cache where the game score ended up being 16-10 for G2, but VP was in this map and had their chances, however, Cache had G2’s Jkaem going berserk. Jkaem played with a certain edge that VP could not match. Jkaem ended the game with 32 kills and 12 deaths giving him a ratio of +20, a monstrous performance. VP’s Snax was trying his best to keep his squad in the game with his 30 kills and a ratio of +11, but his teammates could not match his performance to keep up with G2’s stride.

Map two was VP’s pick Train. Not a real surprise since Train is a very practiced map for VP, but G2 had strong performances from Jkaem and Fox who had a less then steller outing on Cache ending up -6, but this was a different game with Fox top fragging for his team. The first half had G2 putting up 9 rounds on their CT side, but VP started rolling in the second half to send it into overtime with plays like Neo picking up 4 Awp kills on round 23 and Snax shortly thereafter picking up 3 kills in a row one after the other with the Swag 7. In overtime, NEO, Pasha, and Byali put VP up on rounds before the flip, but then G2 won the next three straight to put the game in the bag and move to the semis.

Match 3 between TSM and NIP was a shock as well considering that many saw NIP as a team that limps into events. A team that is good, but is forced to sit at the kidde table while TSM, Envyus, Fnatic, and VP receive all the accolades. This DreamHack, however, NIP has played like a team with something to prove. This game they fought hard to fend off a TSM who was always looking for the opportunity to strike back. Train ended 16-10 in NIP’s favor, but it was anything but easy with strong plays from Karrigan and Device, putting TSM within breathing distance of NiP. Karrigan tried like a mad man to take his team to the promised land and just before the half aced NiP, clutching a round that could be described as the definition of impossible.

Friberg was the man who decided to stomp any thoughts of a turnaround, ending the game +13 and not allowing for TSM to set in motion the plays they had on Train. Supporting Firberg was Xizt who had an even score line at 20 kills and 20 deaths, seemingly having Karrigan’s number and killing him many times, thus taking out the only ace TSM had this map. NiP’s map Dust 2 was just too much for TSM to handle at times. It looked like in the later half TSM packed it in, with everyone on NiP lighting up the scoreboard. The win sends NiP to the semis and sends TSM back home with a surprising and crushing defeat.

The last game of the day had Na’Vi playing Luminosity, the team who moved to NA to play in the CEVO CS:GO league. The first map was on Dust 2 and it was not a downright drag’em out fight. Luminosity may not have impressed on the score board this game, but their rotation play kept them in the game. Na’Vi’s Guardian was trying so hard to slowly apply the pressure that would choke out Luminosity, but they would just not allow themselves to get swept up by Na’Vi’s tempo. Fer picked up 4 on round 24 with an M4. The next round he would pick up 3 inside a smoke grenade, putting Na’Vi on their heels, scrambling, and allowing Luminosity to rotate and win the round. Guardian was an animal with the awp this game, dropping 36 kills and picking up the last kill on the last round of the map.

The second map on Overpass was a match to have you glued to the screen with how close it was. Boltz and Steel from Luminosity were hammering away at Na’Vi, but strong shots from Flamie and Zeus brought their team back from the brink and gave them the lead later on, allowing Guardian to go unnoticed and wreak havoc this game on the back end of it. Flamie on round 24 picked up three with his AK and putting Na’Vi in the driver’s seat with the semifinals in their sight. Zeus, the man who has had highs and lows this tournament has a triple kill in the last round to send them to the semifinals. The teams that will be there will be Na’Vi, G2, NIP, and Envyus; who will be attending the last leg in the tournament on Sunday.