mousesports have just beaten fnatic in a simply brilliant final to win the IEM EU Finals

The Final of the Intel Extreme Masters European Championship, it doesn't come that much bigger than this on a European scale. Two teams faced up against each other, fnatic and mousesports. fnatic went into the game the favourites, but they hadn't really played any big games yet. They had just destroyed Ravens in their semi final game and had no problem in the group stages at all. mousesports on the other hand had had to fight their way through only just beating KerchNET and then having a very close game against SK.

But that was all at the back of their minds, and all 10 players were focusing on one thing and one thing only, that trophy and a cheque for $25,000.

The first map they went into was fnatic's choice, de_nuke, one that most people thought they should win comfortably. But this wasn't the case.

mousesports started off as Terrorists and immediately lost the pistol to a fnatic team that looked very comfortable. Subsequently they lost the next 2 rounds to take it to 3-0.

But this is where things picked up for the German players. Through some excellent slow pushes and some simply sublime work from gob b, they were able to take a relatively large lead. However, the experience on fnatic shone through as they were able to take the half winning it 8-7.

However things changed considerably when they changed sides. mousesports were simply brilliant, locking down the bomb sites brilliantly. fnatic were just not able to break through at all. Soon the scores were racking up in favour of mousesports, and they took a comfortable first map win, winning 16-9.

Onto the second map, mousesport's choice, de_inferno. They had had a brilliant game on this map against SK going to double overtime, but this was definitely going to be a different matter.

fnatic were just a different team, as they plowed on through inferno as CT, locking down all the sites and playing incredibly well as a team to retake the sites each time. They soon had the score to a health 8-1, and the way it was looking they could have been even further in the lead. mousesports were able to claw it back a bit to take the first half to a 10-5 deficit, but this was largely down to the work of gob b again, who was timing everything he did so well.

At the change of half, fnatic looked set to win out quite comfortably, but mousesports had other ideas. They never really were able to buy properly, and had to rely on famas's a lot, but they won the rounds they needed, though in a rather gritty and unattractive way. At one stage they were just 2 rounds away from forcing it into overtime, but fnatic came out stronger in the 29th round to secure the 2nd map.

Most people expected mousesports to flop after this. They had put a huge amount of effort to come right back into the game on inferno, to then lose it with only 2 rounds left to go. Could they maintain this effort going into the 3rd and final map, de_tuscan?

Initially they could, winning the first few rounds as Terrorists, and then looked to take a comfortable lead in the 1st half. gob b and roman were just on fire, getting the frags where needed, but also calling some excellent strats for the team to utilise.

At half time they were a comfortable 10-5 up and knew that they only needed 6 rounds to secure first place. But it wouldn't be a final if it didn't have a twist or turn in it. mousesports were just a few rounds away and then started to lose vital rounds. The experience of fnatic was shining through, as they clawed yet more rounds back to take it to 12 all.

But mousesports were able to clutch the next two rounds and soon they were just one round away from winning the tournament. It all rested on the hands of f0rest in the 30th round, in a 2on1 clutch situation, but mousesports were able to deal with him. A huge cheer erupted from the 5 mousesports players and you could see this meant a lot to them.

mousesports are your European Champions for the Intel Extreme Masters and will go to the Global Finals hoping to becoming World Champions.