Since the early days of CS:GO when it first launched and started hosting major tournaments, the international CS:GO community has always looked forward to the match between the two best Swedish teams in the world: NiP and Fnatic, as it is akin to the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona in football. Over the years, the legendary players from NiP and Fnatic have continued to compete professionally, but their careers have taken two completely different paths.
The former stars of NiP like f0rest, friberg, GeT_RiGhT… had to leave the team to make way for the younger generation, but then unexpectedly reunited in a legendary lineup under a new name, Dignitas. For Fnatic, the combination of “old and new” along with their stable performance helped them surpass Na`Vi to officially become the number one team in the world on the HLTV ranking as of April 27. Despite the difference in performance and status, the showdown between Dignitas and Fnatic in the ESL One: Road To Rio was still highly anticipated by the community due to the classic history of their rivalry.
Responding to the viewers’ expectations, Dignitas and Fnatic delivered an incredibly exciting and emotional best-of-three match. The “veterans” like GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, and friberg made a powerful comeback to compete fairly against the world’s number one team, bringing home a 2-1 victory after a staggering… 113 rounds.
After the match, JW – a player from Fnatic, who has experienced countless “classic” matches against Dignitas/NiP in the past, shared on Twitter:
“Although I am someone who really hates losing and am a bit upset, I still feel happy that the people I have stood by or faced since 2013 can still come together to create an amazing match like this. It was a legendary clash, and I’m sure you all enjoyed it. GGs!”
TACO also replied to JW’s tweet right below saying: “A legendary matchup, always exciting and worth watching, no matter the era”
On the Reddit forum, the audience of this classic match showed even more enthusiasm than JW:
“HLTV: Is Fnatic the number one team in the world?”
“GeT_RiGhT: They aren’t even the strongest team in Sweden.”
“Fnatic and NiP (Dignitas) have always been fiery matches, with victories often leaning towards Fnatic… there have been too many classic matches over the past 5 years.”
“NiP has lost way too much, and after changing teams, they have broken their own curse.”
“GeT_RiGhT 2014 has returned, folks.”
“Oh, this best-of-three was longer than some of the best-of-five finals I’ve watched.”
“I can’t believe that a Dignitas that performed poorly just the day before played like a world-class team against Fnatic today. These men always play astonishingly well when facing each other.”
This loss for Fnatic may not affect their number one ranking, but for Dignitas, this is a crucial victory, as these veterans have faced a lot of criticism since their peak. This will be a tremendous motivation for GeT_RiGhT and his teammates to reignite the competitive flame against the younger generation in major tournaments, and fans can rest assured that the day when “the guys” decide to retire is still far away.