After getting beaten by the Ukrainian Na'Vi at the IEM finals, the Swedes were keen on getting even. And now they have - fnatic won the Arbalet Cup of 2010.

After playing the first two maps, fnatic & Na'Vi created a result that served as an obvious tribute to WeMade Fox - a tie. As such, a third map must have been played. This third map turned out to be everyone's favorite de_dust2. To my disappointment, the Ukrainians lost and came second. But the finals were still absolutely fascinating to watch. This is a recap of the third - and the final - match out of the finals of Arbalet Cup 2010.

Na’Vi started off at the terrorist side on de_dust2. The first round quickly went to the Swedes, who had clearly shown how skilled they were with pistols. During the second round Na’Vi got onto the B bombsite, pulled off a neat kill and stole an M4 from one of the Swedes. This started to look good for Na’Vi, as the reason that they had gotten into the B bombsite so smoothly was the return of their flawless teamwork. Or so it seemed. The flawlessness was taken out of the teamwork and chaotic behavior was put instead already the next round. The Swedes remained cool however and smoothly retook the bombsite. After failing to win a round by going B, the Ukrainians did the unimaginable – they went A. Two Ukrainians were sent short and three long. Essentially, the strategy was a good one – the two people at short were meant to serve as bait for the Swedes at A. While the A Swedes would do their best to pick off the Short Ukrainians, the Long Ukrainians could push up long and take the bombsite. Naturally, that’s not the way things went. The Long Ukrainians shat themselves and ran away towards the B bombsite, meaning the Short Ukrainians were pointlessly blasted apart. Afterward –as you can imagine – it was the Long Ukrainians’ turn to be torn apart in their desperate attempt to run to B with their pants around their ankles. For the rest of the first half it seemed as if Na'Vi had brought back their excellent team-work, which enhanced the effectiveness of their - already excellent - strategies; however the aim of certain players managed to undermine all of this (*cough* Edward & Esenin *cough*). Na'Vi failed to take bombsites, and when they did, they would lose their concentration and the bombsite would be retaken by the Swedes in no-time. The few rounds that Na'Vi did manage to get were mostly won due to the fact that fnatic's team managed to either confuse itself, either their communication was simply awful (or better yet non-existent). Then again, it might just be my negativity, because one round Na'Vi confused fnatic so badly that the Swedes thought that the Ukrainians all went to plant the bomb at the 'other' bombsite; after the Swedes carefully ran off - leaving the Ukrainians plenty of freedom to plant the bomb and win the round - the Ukrainians casually walked onto the bombsite, looked around (probably in confusion) and planted the bomb. All in all, Na'Vi managed to get sloppy 4 rounds on the terrorist side during the first half, making the score 11 to 4 in favor of fnatic.

The second half started off with a round going to the Swedes, who then were on the terrorist side. Right after winning the pistol-round, the Swedes bought up the Ak-47's and pitched tents just outside of Long A doors and inside the B tunnels. Three surprised Ukrainians walked into these settlements and were eliminated, effectively securing the second round for the Swedes. It became obvious to fnatic that Na'Vi's weak site was the B bombsite, and as such the Swedes began to push it, peek it and constantly work their way towards it. During the third round of the second half, the Swedes found the awakened markeloff in B with his AWP - markeloff took out four and the fifth one tripped and hit his head, I think. From that point on, I felt something known as ‘hope’. That ‘hope’ died the next round upon my seeing of Na’Vi’s team-work. The Ukrainians rotated either too slowly, allowing the bomb to be planted and the round to be lost, either too quickly, allowing the Swedes to fake and to rotate to the other (open) bombsite. The Swedes gained momentum and became the unstoppable force Na’Vi once was. The second half ended when the Swedes had won their five rounds, effectively making the final score 16 to 6 and the overall score 2 to 1 – fnatic won the Arbalet Cup II.

The finals of the Arbalet Cup Europe were a true phenomenon to watch - they caused feelings that pleased and disappointed one at the same time. Many got to see their favorite team lose and many others got to see their favorite team win. The entire cup was a rarity on its own, in all my honesty. Throughout the entire event we have seen multiple teams bake the infamous LAN crumble, execute strategies flawlessy, perform the most outrageous clutches and moves just to win 'that one extra round'. All in all, this is an event worthy a nice, long and detailed recap of a kind... And you will be able to read one of these later, as this tired volunteer has got to study for tomorrow.