FNATIC had a comfortable start, winning their map pick (Ancient) 13-4, and hoped to close things out 2-0 in the second map before ELCOT bounced back and stole Inferno from them 11-13. The final map, Nuke, understandably went into overtime where FNATIC came out on top 19-17. Qualifying for the Shanghai Major means a lot to FNATIC given that they missed Copenhagen earlier this year.
A crucial qualification for boddy
The qualification was very important for Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro, who has finally qualified for a Major after five years. The last CS major he played in was IEM Katowice 2019 on G2 Esports. He expressed much enthusiasm after the game: “I think it was really tough, there were moments of doubt for sure. I've come to many places where I've been two rounds away from qualifying, one round away, one overtime away, one kill with an AK away, but I actually never gave up, I never let go of my dreams. Coming here and qualifying is a big relief.”
While many were expecting FNATIC to comfortably beat ELCOT, the game did get very close, partially because this is the final Major of the year and any team would pull out all the stops to qualify. In this year, boddy said: “The RMR is probably the hardest tournament for every player. We have been approaching this game as if we were about to play anyone else, it's not because on paper we were supposed to beat them that we were not taking them seriously. Coming to that Ancient, we really appreciated them picking that map, it was a really good start from us on the CT side and MATYS' pistol probably got us really deep into that game. We had really good plans about not letting them play and I think it paid off.”
Now, boddy and the rest of the FNATIC look ahead as they set their expectations for the Perfect World Shanghai Major. The following were boddy’s closing remarks before signing off for the day: “Looking back on those Majors that I didn't play, I felt like RMR was the hardest part, and the first stage of this Major is probably going to be less stressful. I feel like we can definitely go further and further into this tournament. My goal is achieved, making it to the Major again, but I'm eager to keep on going and grinding back. I want to make the playoffs, I want to play.”
