The WESG 2017 World Finals took place between March 13th and March 18th and saw 32 teams descend onto Haikou, Hainan, China to compete for the lion's share of the $1,500,000 grand prize and to represent their home countries. Fnatic, representing Sweden, and Space Soldiers, representing Turkey, battled their way through the tournament to meet in the grand finals where the grand prize of $800,000 was on the line. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went.
Fnatic --- champions of WESG 2017 World Finals! Congratulations!!#csgo #WESG pic.twitter.com/mcTNbG37BE
— WESG (@WESGcom) March 18, 2018
The first map of the match was Cobblestone and saw Fnatic take a 10-5 lead on the counter terrorist side entering the second half. Space Soldiers were able to rack up seven wins in the second half, but with Fnatic's lead already very strong, the Swedish roster only needed to collect six rounds to secure the 16-12 win. This resulted in Fnatic taking a 1-0 lead in the best of three series. Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson was the standout performer for Fnatic on Cobblestone, as he finished with 28 kills, 91.8 average damage per round, an overall rating of 1.39 out of 2 and 17 deaths.
Inferno followed Cobblestone and saw the Turkish roster of Space Soldiers rebound to even the series. However, it was not an easy task for Space Soldiers. Both teams secured eight rounds in regulation to force a 15-15 tie and send the map into overtime. Space Soldiers only let Fnatic take one overtime round, as they would collect four rounds to their name and secure the 19-16 victory on Inferno. This resulted in the 1-1 tie of the grand finals and forced a match deciding map three. Space Soldiers had Bu?ra "Calyx" Ark?n to thank for their match tying win, as he finished with 34 kills, 91.4 average damage per round, an overall rating of 1.6 out of 2 and 17 deaths.
Mirage was the final map of the grand finals. Building off of the momentum that they had created in their overtime win on Inferno, Space Soldiers took a 9-6 lead on the counter terrorist side heading into the second half. Fnatic battled back in the second half, as they collected a win in 10 out of 15 rounds to close out a very tight 16-14 victory on Mirage. This resulted in Fnatic securing the 2-1 grand finals victory over Space Soldiers and the $800,000 grand prize. Space Soldiers took home $300,000 for their second place finish. Jesper "JW" Wecksell led the way for Fnatic on Mirage with 24 kills, 88.1 average damage per round, an overall rating of 1.26 out of 2 and 18 deaths.
Robin "flusha" Rönnquist was a consistent threat for Fnatic throughout all three maps, as he finished with 68 kills, 89.6 average damage per round, an overall rating of 1.17 out of 2 and 64 deaths.
With some believing that Fnatic's championship run at IEM Katowice 2018 was a one time occurrence for their rebuilt roster, their championship victory at the WESG 2017 World Finals has solidified their return to being a consistent threat to take home first place at future events.
(cover photo courtesy of WESG)
