Frag eXecutors have become the first finalist at the IEM5 World Championship after beating SK Gaming on three maps.

On de_train, Fx, who started out on the stronger defensive side, picked up the first four rounds, before seeing SK do something with their guns in the fifth round. However, the Polish team then strolled to a 9-1 lead, and despite SK trying to recover, all they did was to get three more rounds as the scoreboard  showed 11-4.

In the second half, Fx showed some good coordination in the pistol round, and after a lot of kills kills from both sides, a 1-on-2 situation was something SK could not handle. Fx went on to win the second round quite comfortably, and SK’s famas purchasing third round almost did some serious damage to them, but Jarosław "pasha" Jarząbkowski cleared the way on the inner bombsite with his AWP. With FX needing only two rounds to win the map, it was expected that they would go all the way, but some good famas and Deagle work by SK set them back into the game. Two more rounds bagged by SK forced Fx to call a timeout, but it would take three more rounds before the Poles could react, as they won the map 16-10.

Fx win first map

On de_nuke, SK, who lost the knife round, had to start on the offensive side, but that did not seem to worry them too much, as the Swedes’ outer rush onto the ramps proved successful. Fx almost equalized right after, when they tried to defuse the bomb after SK had left the upper bombsite thinking it was safe, but TaZ could not defuse the bomb just but an inch. The Swedes were cruising all over the map, breaking down Fx’s defensive setup every time, until the eighth round. The Polish team then finally reacted, picking up four rounds in a row, and despite SK adding one more round to their tally, Fx’s recovery was underway, as they went from 0-7 to 7-8.

Now playing as CT, SK found in f0rest a driving force to increase their lead, as the former fnatic star picked up four frags in both the first and third rounds. Fx almost scored six rounds into the second half, but SK took control of the inner bombsite while the former MYM team were trying to wallbang the defuser. In fact, Fx would only score once, as SK ran out 16-9 winners to take the decision to a third map.

SK equalise

Both teams jumped onto de_dust2, where Fx, who began as Terrorist, showed what has become a very common strategy in the pistol round: long rush with glocks and grenades and send the HEs onto the CTs as they try to defuse the bomb. This was right on the spot, as the Poles took the lead. In the first gun rounds, Fx stayed away from the B site, and instead went for long/stair splits, a strategy that gave them a 6-0 lead. SK then responded, but their recovery was short-lived, as Fx added two more rounds to force the Swedes to call a timeout. That moved proved to be the turning point, as SK went from 1-8 to 6-9, a result which gave the Swedes more confidence for the second half.

SK went for a middle rush in the pistol round, but they found themselves cornered by Fx’s players covering middle/B and those who quickly rotated from catwalk. Fx picked up the second round as well, but SK’s third-round buy put them back into the game as they picked snared five rounds in a row to level the match on 11 rounds. Fx then called a timeout to try to counter the situation, but it did not work out at first, as SK went 14-12. However, in the last rounds Fx proved a very strong figure and turned the score around to win it 16-14.

IEM5 World ChampionshipBest of 0 Frag eXecutorsMatchpage 2 1 4th March 2011 SK Gaming 2Best of 3 1