G2 eliminated from RMR, fnatic keep Major dream alive

The No. 5 team in the world have exited the tournament with a 1-3 record.

GamerLegion defeated G2 in a three-map series, with the squad led by Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek securing an unlikely upset to stay alive in the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR A.

G2 were put in an unfavorable position in the 1-2 pool following a close-fought loss on Ancient against 1WIN, which preceded the loss against GamerLegion that ended their Major qualification campaign. The defeat marks the end of eleven consecutive Major appearances for the G2 organization, which started at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015.

Another historic organization in the CS:GO landscape also played for survival, fnatic, but they kept their hopes of qualification alive by eliminating Eternal Fire to reach the final series of the Swiss stage in the 2-2 pool.

G2 started the series in dominant fashion, winning their map pick of Vertigo 16-3. What looked like a comfortable day in the office for them, quickly turned into a nightmare. The second map of the series was Mirage, with G2 looking bereft of ideas, losing 4-16 to move the series to the decider of Inferno.

The third map started well for the favorites, winning the forcebuy after losing pistol to take a 3-1 lead. GamerLegion didn't let that worry them, however, as they equalized the scoreline almost immediately to go into the interval 7-8 down. A second-half pistol for GamerLegion looked to be the final nail in the coffin for G2, who found themselves 8-12 down. They started reducing the deficit, but a quick play by Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand on the B site broke G2's morale and economy, with GamerLegion winning the map 16-12 in the end.

fnatic had less trouble against Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and his men, as they comfortably dispatched of Eternal Fire in a two-map series, winning Vertigo (16-10) and Overpass (16-11), with Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen leading the way for the European combine. Eternal Fire bowed out of the Major-qualifying tournament with a 1-3 record following losses to Astralis, Bad News Eagles, and ultimately fnatic.