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fnatic advance to the ESL One Cologne 2016 semifinals after defeating Gambit 2-0 (16-5 on Train and 16-3 on Cache).
The final quarter-final of the day was between fnatic and Gambit and the series kicked off on Gambit's pick of Train. The Russian-Kazkah team looked confident and organised on their CT pistolround as they completely shut down a fnatic A-site take to win the round.
Following the anti-ecos, Gambit picked up two early frags but fnatic managed to win the three-versus-five, mostly thanks to three kills from Dennis "dennis" Edman and overall superior mid-round play.
Another solid defensive hold from Gambit on the fifth round reversed fnatic's momentum and brought the score to 4-2, which also gave the impression of a game that going to be close on the first half.
fnatic are through to the Major semifinals
The next round however saw Robin "flusha" Rönnquist nab three Tec9 entry kills and Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer clear out the rest of the round and it proved to be a pivotal moment that would reverse the tide of the rest of the first map.
From that point onward, Gambit began to look less coherent in their defense and fnatic got their famous aggressive style rolling and the Swedish superstar team started to pull away in the first half, with Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson taking the lead for his team. The half finished 11-4 for fnatic.
The second pistolround saw Gambit manage to plant the bomb and bring the situation to a three-versus-three but fnatic edged out the CIS team and went up to a 12-4 score. With olofmeister picking up a quad kill anti-eco in the next round, fnatic looked truly unstoppable and, despite Gambit winning one T-side round take on the A-site at match point, the Swedes closed the map out 16-5.
Train was the KRIMZ show
fnatic's map pick of Cache was next and A-site aggression from olofmeister and his team on their T-side pistolround saw the Swedes claim an early lead. fnatic also had no issue picking up the two following anti-eco rounds.
The first gunround saw Gambit's Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev pick up four M4A1-S kills while defending to give Gambit their first round. fnatic however were pack to the same pattern that they showcased on Train of breaking Gambit's economy and momentum by winning the subsequent round, and the Swedes did so thanks to two entries from Jesper "JW" Wecksell.
On the eighth round, two opening kills from AdreN and a two-versus-two in an afterplant situation won by Ivan "spaze" Obrezhan and Rustem "mou" Telepov netted Gambit their second round to bring the score to 6-2 but then it was olofmeister's turn to break Gambit down in the following round, thanks to three AK47 kills from the player.
Gambit had no luck on either map
fnatic moved up to a 9-2 lead, and then Gambit picked up their third round of the half thanks to a double from Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov and three cleanup frags from spaze. But with the Swedes clearly in impeccable form, the half ended 12-3 for fnatic.
The second pistolround saw KRIMZ and flusha obliterate Gambit on the A site and fnatic advanced through their anti-ecos and closed the map out 16-3, an even more dominant performance than they had displayed on Train.
ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 3 
Gambit
Matchpage 0 2 8th July 2016 
fnatic 5Train 16 3Cache 16
| fnatic | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister | 41 - 18 | +23 | 106.4 | 1.78 |
| Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ | 36 - 14 | +22 | 89.6 | 1.60 |
| Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha | 36 - 17 | +19 | 101.0 | 1.50 |
| Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis | 29 - 22 | +7 | 71.0 | 1.33 |
| Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW | 29 - 22 | +7 | 73.5 | 1.21 |
| Gambit | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivan 'spaze' Obrezhanspaze | 22 - 34 | -12 | 70.0 | 0.78 |
 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevAdreN | 22 - 33 | -11 | 67.8 | 0.71 |
| Rustem 'mou' Telepovmou | 16 - 33 | -17 | 49.2 | 0.55 |
| Dmitry 'hooch' Bogdanovhooch | 14 - 34 | -20 | 54.6 | 0.51 |
| Mihail 'Dosia' StolyarovDosia | 17 - 37 | -20 | 56.2 | 0.46 |
The first semifinal from ESL One Cologne 2016 goes live tomorrow at 15:00 and is a showdown between Virtus.pro and SK.
stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter
Rustem 'mou' Telepov 
Age: 24 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 386 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 
SK #1 Lincoln 'fnx' LauGabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson 
Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 707 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.61 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell 
Age: 21 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 878 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Gambit #20 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevDmitry 'hooch' BogdanovMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovIvan 'spaze' Obrezhan Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev 
Age: 26 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 688 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist 
Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 880 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone 
Virtus.pro #7 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer 
Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 690 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.64 fnatic #3 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerDennis 'dennis' EdmanRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Ivan 'spaze' Obrezhan 
Age: 19 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 248 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.72 Dennis 'dennis' Edman 
Age: 25 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 444 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov 
Age: 28 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 788 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65