The timeout ended, and the match resumed.
The Scout Rifle and Desert Eagles G2 had saved didn't work any miracles.
The score was 10-7.
The first gun round of the Second Half began, and G2 opened by sending three players to take control of A Main.
Perhaps because G2 had been losing round after round, hunter, who was first out of CT Base, had long since lost his hot hand.
As they fought through the Smoke Grenade at the start of the round, hunter was taken out by a single AK bullet from KRIMZ, who landed a headshot through the smoke.
Fnatic easily took control of A Main.
Using a smoke to cover the pit and a Flashbang, Qin Feng dropped into the pit with his Sniper Rifle and held the Bomb Site.
As the smoke dissipated, mezii threw an incendiary at the blue car, then tossed a second Flashbang to keep the defenders off the Bomb Site.
Qin Feng used the Flashbang to peek upward.
"No one A Main."
"Good. Then we'll go for a quiet approach. Aether, hold CT Base and A Site from the pit," ALEX paused, then continued calling the play. "We'll hug the left wall. Watch out for a flash over us. Once we get close to CT Base, we'll smoke it off and hit A."
"..."
With G2 having lost control of A Main, they seemed unable to stop Fnatic from moving in through A Short and CT Base.
The A Main push ended with Fnatic trading three for five.
Fnatic kept picking up rounds. The score was 11-7.
"Damn it, we don't even get a chance to take a fair fight."
Niko was getting tilted.
Losing the aim duels was bad enough, but now it seemed like the whole team had been thrown off by Aether's Sniper Rifle. They were starting to play timidly.
After another ECO round from G2, the score was 12-7, and G2 was already down by five.
During the buy time, Niko took a moment to glance at the team's stats.
Two kills, three deaths.
Niko bit his lip, his brow furrowed.
Aside from him and Little Qian, the rest of the team didn't seem to be playing very well.
Maybe he needed to do something?
"12-7. G2 finally has another gun round."
"Niko's pushing up mid straight to B Lower Floor. Is he going to rely on his individual skill?"
"He's getting impatient."
"Oh no, Aether's jumping to scout from behind the boxes in Underpass. Looks like he spotted him."
"KRIMZ, holding the default position on B Lower Floor, knows he's there."
"Can Niko win this?"
"Ooh!"
"KRIMZ takes him out with a single AK bullet."
"Oh no, Niko's rolling his eyes again."
"He slammed the desk. That was a loud one."
"Haha."
"..."
[Here comes Niko, the Japanese version!]
[He's tilted. His teammates keep getting picked off, so Niko wants to get the opening kill himself.]
[I thought they had it in the bag at 7-1, but I forgot this was G2.]
[No way, I picked G2 for 3-0. I just got here. What happened? Am I about to lose my Diamond Coin?]
The round ended, once again, in a Fnatic victory.
Fnatic led 13-7, with a huge six-round advantage.
But even Ma Xixi and Mo hadn't expected G2 to drag the match into a back-and-forth battle.
G2 had once managed to claw their way back to 12-14 on the strength of m0NESY's brilliant plays.
By this point, the difference in skill between a top-tier team like G2 and Fnatic was already clear.
Aside from the early streak of rounds that the Terrorists had won, G2's ironclad defense had kept Fnatic from reaching the Bomb Site in nearly every other round.
Although Fnatic still held a two-round lead, G2 had built up its economy and gained momentum, throwing Fnatic's attack off rhythm.
Anyone could see that Fnatic was in a bad spot.
If nothing unexpected happened, G2 might just play it steady and lock in the score at 16-14.
But Mr. Wozjiskder once said a timeless truth.
If nothing unexpected happens, then something unexpected is bound to happen.
At the start of round twenty-seven, Qin Feng called ALEX over to help him Double-peek Underpass.
The CTs didn't throw a smoke to block off the crossing. Instead, they tossed a grenade to stir up dust and disrupt the Terrorists' Sniper Rifle holding the angle in Underpass.
But this time, Qin Feng finally seized his chance to fire.
"Bang."
A Sniper Rifle shot rang out.
JACKZ, trying to use the smoke from the grenade to cross over to B, was wallbanged in the head.
Qin Feng's Sniper Rifle tore a hole in G2's defense right at the start of the round.
"Holy crap, JACKZ is dead?"
"I didn't even notice. You can wallbang him there?"
"JACKZ is definitely cursing them out."
"G2 threw a grenade on purpose to make dust, so they could cross safely."
"Aether's finally getting kills again?"
"..."
On G2's side, Little Li Zi, who was about to take A Main, suddenly furrowed his brow.
They'd finally started to claw their way back, and now Aether had gotten the opening kill again?
G2 had gone for an unconventional setup, with four players taking A Short and A Main at the same time.
If JACKZ went down first, G2's B Site would be left completely open to Fnatic.
The situation had instantly turned against G2 again.
On Fnatic's side, after getting the information from Qin Feng, ALEX immediately called for a fast push to B.
Qin Feng might miss information from mid while recovering after firing his Sniper Rifle, but JACKZ was also G2's main defender on B.
Fnatic threw another Execute and pushed into the undefended B Site.
Facing a four-versus-five retake, G2 had no choice but to save their guns again.
Fnatic reached match point first.
Aleksib called G2's second timeout.
But the timeout gave G2's players no chance to catch their breath.
In round twenty-eight, Fnatic rushed B and traded one for one to take out JACKZ at B Site, leaving a four-versus-four post-plant.
The defenders had no reason to save their guns anymore.
G2 sent all four players back from CT Base to retake, but Fnatic used utility to burn through their time.
"Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick..."
The increasingly urgent C4 beeps reminded G2's players that they were running out of time.
In that situation, G2's players used a Flashbang and dry-peeked simultaneously through B Doors and the window.
The Terrorists holding the Bomb Site gave G2 no chance to retake.
16-12. The match was over.
Fnatic advanced to the 2-0 group first.
The moment the score was finalized, the Fnatic players' section erupted in jubilant cheers.
Coach Samuelsson could barely contain his excitement. He went around and gave every Fnatic player a big hug.
"Congrats, everyone."
"We beat G2."
"If we win one more BO3, we'll make it to the Legends Stage in Antwerp."
Of course, not long after they finished celebrating,
Fnatic's players packed up their things and headed over to G2's side.
The post-match handshake was standard procedure at CSGO LAN events.
There was no bad blood between Fnatic and G2.
After a quick round of handshakes, Fnatic's players headed through the players' tunnel to the apartment hotel provided by PGL.
Their two BO1s for the day were over. All they needed to do was prepare for tomorrow's BO3.
In the Swiss-format tournament, all matches that determined advancement or elimination were played as BO3s.
That meant Fnatic still had three chances.
They only needed to win one of them to qualify directly for the Legends Stage of the Antwerp Major.
Before you continue