WinFakt over SK to reach upper final

After defeating Natus Vincere in the upper quarter-final, WinFakt have continued their fairy tale and have now surprised SK Gaming in the upper bracket semi-final. The Finns won the match in two maps, 16-8 on de_mirage and 16-13 on de_train and have secured themselves at least a top three finish.

SK Gaming and WinFakt started their upper bracket semi-final match on de_mirage, with the Finns on the harder Terrorist side. The beginning of the match was quite unorthodox, as the teams kept exchanging rounds and refusing to go on an eco. The score stood at 3-3 when Johan "face" Klasson won a 1vs2 situation, which was later followed up by WinFakt winning a 2-on-4 to get back to even score and finally force SK to go on an eco round.

Shortly after that, for the first time the Finns managed to get a two-round advantage at 6-4, but Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund denied them in the next round with 4-kills inside the A bombsite. SK then evened the score at 6-6, but WinFakt got back in the lead and after another anti-eco had secured lead at the half time. Before the sides changed SK clinched the last round and put the score to the closest possible 8-7 WinFakt lead.

The second half started with a successful B retake by WinFakt, and after that they defended a deagle-buy and a full-eco round by SK, meaning the Finns finally secured a more significant lead of 11-7. They rode the momentum for a few more rounds, winning dominantly up until 13-7. SK then put themselves on the second-half scoreboard, but the Finns were right back at it as they played with a lot of confidence to get to match point at 15-8. In the last round, the young star of WinFakt, Timi "aslak" Verkkoperä flanked SK Gaming and took out four of their members with a combination of several weapons - AWP, galil and usp, including winning a 1vs2 situation to secure the first-map win of 16-8.

After a short break, the match continued on de_train, with WinFakt on the CT-side. The Finns continued where they left off and took the pistol-round. SK then managed to plant on a full-eco without getting any kills, but WinFakt successfully defended the following rounds and racked up a 5-0 lead. SK finally came close to winning a round, but WinFakt converted a 2-on-3 retake to another round-win. Despite losing that round, SK figured out what they need to do, and went on to win 4 in a row before WinFakt finally replied, the score standing at 7-4. Still, SK was back in the game completely now, as they got as close as 7-6, and despite WinFakt winning the half 9-6, the Swedes must have been happy with their T-side score.

The second half started with SK on fire, as they allowed WinFakt only to get four kills in the first five rounds, taking the lead 11-9. At this point, the next few rounds were exchanged and SK were now in a minimal 12-11 lead. An important round followed, as Martin "trace" Heldt took out three opponents in an impressive manner with his AWP, and then SK's leader Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström won a 1vs2 situation to up the advantage to 13-11.

The Finns still had some spirit left in them, winning the next round and forcing SK, somewhat surprisingly, on two ecos. Having a 14-13 advantage now, WinFakt was in the driving seat, and thanks to some nice AWP kills by Timi "aslak" Verkkoperä they managed to make a first-class surprise by taking the second map 16-13 and the match 2-0.

Copenhagen Games 2012Best of 0 WinFakt.fiMatchpage 2 0 7th April 2012 SK Gaming 16Mirage 8 16Train 13

Match statistics:

WinFakt.fi	K - D	+/-	ADR	-

SK Gaming	K - D	+/-	ADR	-

The Finnish team, who are playing with a stand-in Miikka "dRiim" Toroi instead of their in-game leader Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen, have now made it into the upper bracket final which secures them at least a top three position.

Their success is even more surprising considering that on their way to the upper-bracket final they defeated two of the three main favorites, Natus Vincere and SK Gaming, and now they will be up against fnatic starting from 17:00 .

SK Gaming still have a chance for redemtion, as they will have to fight through the lower bracket, starting with the winner of Lemondogs versus Anexis.

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