The Decider Match in Group A was a rematch of the round one game between Misfits and Fnatic, one that the North American team came out on top of yesterday. Misfits were reportedly not happy with their performance during that game; after winning Control map Nepal 3-0 the day before and being able to review their vods during the night, they seemed quietly confident that they'd have improved. Both team's tournament lives were on the line.

If you’re looking to get more familiar with the teams and understand their storylines, take a look at the viewer’s guide written yesterday for this tournament. The four teams in each group played in a GSL-style format, running a mini double-elimination bracket. Teams with two losses would be eliminated, while those with two wins would qualify to the knockout bracket.

Decider Match: Misfits vs. Fnatic

Watchpoint: Gibraltar was the first map for the fixture, and iddqd said with a nod that he was, "incredibly confident" on their first map. Misfits began on defense with a triple dps setup, as Kryw picked up Reaper alongside the McCree and Genji, but were playing into a Roadhog from coolmatt69 who kept throwing out hooks in an attempt to grab solo kills and soften up the opposition. Fnatic bunched up and took position but kept bleeding players to the three prodding fraggers, slowing them down as they took checkpoint one and entered the hangar. It took a long time before Fnatic were able to adapt and ball together, picking off supports and the tank rather than focusing down the three dps heroes from Misfits. Once they had done so though they were able to use that momentum to roll all the way forwards (with iddqd hitting headshots at will) and won multiple teamfights to take the attack in 6:42.

As Fnatic went onto defense, rather than a triple dps setup they went for three tanks in Stoop, coolmatt69 and Buds on Reinhardt, Winston, and Roadhog respectively. Unfortunately in the first seconds of the round Vonethil was hooked and in the following spam Fnatic lacked a range of heals. It softened them up and allowed Misfits to get position as the tanks from North America were tentative to take a fight; Zebbosai and his team barrelled through the first checkpoint in just over a minute and took the hangar.

As Fnatic entered the hangar and tried to contest, they were squeezed through the chokes and had to rely on a flank from Buds to get them out of danger. coolmatt69 switched over to D.Va with Stoop still on Reinhardt to provide a ton of stability and tankiness, allowing them to get position in hangar and delay for a long time. As it evened out, Misfits took the point with Zaprey on Tracer with 4 minutes gone, giving them a minute and a half to take the final stretch. iddqd and SoOn were unchecked, destroying people in teamfights and 1v1s, but as Fnatic launched forwards on the back of a key pick they were caught in Kryw's graviton surge and it completely ruined their push. By cleverly saving their dps ultimates and staggering spawns on Fnatic, Misfits slowly took out player by player and rolled the cart past the final stretch and won map one.

Fnatic's pick to get back in the fixture was Dorado, the map that they won in their meeting with Misfits the day before. Zaprey on Tracer caused havoc straight away as Misfits attacked though and with a ton of staying power on their team they extended the first teamfight in courtyard for almost two minutes to get checkpoint one on the first attempt. SoOn hit a huge amount of shots on Reaper as they came towards checkpoint two and they rode the momentum forward to capture checkpoint two in under three minutes.

Fnatic had only one chance to hold on for any length of time, and turned around a fight at the end of the map, routing Misfits out of the entire area and cleaning up huge amounts of kills. Nevix, being chased down, popped off transcendence in a horrible position and Fnatic seemed able to chain ultimate into ultimate for the next two minutes. Misfits were finally able to reset, having fed for many teamfights in a row, and came in with five ultimates stacked up to wipe Fnatic and take the attack in 5:41.

With a great time set on Dorado, victory was within grasp for European Misfits. One good defense at any area could win them the map and the fixture, sending them on to advance to the knockout bracket.

Buds on offense ran Roadhog as the offtank, diving with Reinhardt into house and hitting hooks to secure kill after kill. Misfits had lost their opportunity to hold for any length of time at the fountain as they were forced to give up that hold, but took position on balcony. SoOn popped off a deadeye from behind to try and begin a fight but Fnatic launched themselves forward and caught Misfits offguard, not allowing themselves to stop at all to take the second checkpoint again in under three minutes.

It was set up for an exact replica of the situation seen with Fnatic on defense. Misfits attempted to replicate the same level of brick-wall stalling used against them but got stuck in the corridors and gave coolmatt69 and Stoop far too much room despite not having height. Kryw dropped a graviton surge to bust his team out of danger and it led to a wipe for Fnatic, but the US team maintained a large ultimate advantage with whole hog, earthshatter and sound barrier live. Vonethil dropped the beat as Zaprey and SoOn fell instantly; with whole hog popped off and tanks on the cart there was no chance for Fnatic to be shifted and they won the map with a time of 4:47.

*Dorado picked by Fnatic. Photo Credit: ESL

Misfit's obvious choice for the third and final decider map was Nepal, having destroyed Fnatic on it the day before 3-0. It was perhaps predictable as well as Fnatic looked to have made adaptations right from the beginning. In the pre-game interview iddqd had mentioned that McCree on Control had thrown them off previously, but neither team decided to run the cowboy this time with both teams using a Tracer/Reaper combo.

On Shrine, Buds on Reaper was putting in work alongside Stoop to give them the first capture as both Tracers went off finding solo kills. A messy engagement on the point ended with Buds getting four kills from a blossom. Fnatic stayed in control at 80%. Misfits eventually put themselves on the board but couldn't hold on and Fnatic took the first round.

Again though SoOn did not switch to McCree, still favouring to play Reaper as his opposite Buds went over to Genji for Sanctum. Misfits got the better of the Genji and the dps wasn't enough in close-quarters fighting, allowing SoOn to put out a huge amount more work over the course of the fights. coolmatt69 on Zarya did what he could with some excellent graviton surges but the second round went over to Misfits to tie up the map 1-1. Village next, and a great opportunity for Misfits to finally pull out the McCree from their star SoOn.

Buds switched back to Reaper but SoOn had something special for Village. He switched over to Bastion, forcing a lightning fast reaction from Fnatic. Although he put in a lot of damage he found very few kills in the first teamfight, but his pick worked out eventually as Fnatic were forced to block the point and soon came unstuck. SoOn himself though was stuck on the immobile tank, and Fnatic played it perfectly by diving straight into the point, avoiding any sightlines and forcing a congested fight on the point that favoured their Tracer/Reaper composition. A ridiculous spree from coolmatt69 with godly tracking on Zarya won them the next teamfight and Fnatic's percentage ticked up 80%. coolmatt69 continued to clean up with his high charge and they took the round.

At 2-1 up for Fnatic the teams returned to Sanctum, the stage Misfits had already won. Buds chose not to switch to Genji this time, and his close-quarters hellfire shotguns rained blood alongside Custa and coolmatt69. Fnatic obliterated in the first teamfight and looked in control for the next few minutes; Misfits fought back hard but despite some clutch plays from SoOn and Kryw, Fnatic were not to be denied. By the end Buds had clearly found his stride and was performing excellently, and we saw Misfits crumbling and bowing out of the tournament to the same team who had previously beaten them in groups.

North America had dominated Group A, replying to the European domination of Group B. Fnatic were set up to face REUNITED in the Semi Final of the ESL Atlantic Showdown.