The North American team iBUYPOWER weren’t able to upset another top European team, and lost the FaceIT finals against Fnatic 3-1.
But afterwards, the Swedes’ coach Jonatan ”Devilwalk” Lundberg complimented their performance during the lan finals.
– Hats off to them, they will be considered a force to be reckoned with at the coming tournaments this year, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Devilwalk wasn’t able to make the trip to the FaceIT lan finals in Milan because of an upcoming promotional trip to Australia along with fellow Fnatic profile Patrik ”Carn” Sättermon. But he watched as his men claimed yet another lan victory this fall, following their SLTV win in September.

And afterwards, he lauded the North American opponents iBUYPOWER, who earlier during the tournament upset French top squad LDLC and made it to the finals of a European tournament as the first NA team ever.
– They were definitely impressive. Some of the players didn’t perform at the top of their game but the team was still incredibly dangerous. They play good Counterstrike and are tough to face. Tyler ”Skadoodle” Latham is an amazing AWP-player, they have good setups and CT side. I’m impressed, there isn’t much else to say than hats off, they will be considered a force to be reckoned with at the coming tournaments this year.

”Helping the scene to grow”

What do you think it would mean for the CS:GO scene as a whole if the NA teams started claiming titles from the European squads?

– It would be good for the scene if they managed to win, it would lead to a bigger rivalry and discussions about ”Europe vs The US”. But generally, I think the US is doing pretty good. They have some high profile players. Even though they might not win the tournaments but you still know the players. Cloud9:s Spencer ”Hiko” Martin, for example, is streaming a lot and helping the scene to grow. Maybe the American teams don’t even have to win a finals because of how profiled their players are.

”Been amazing the whole tournament”

In his own team, the standout player for the evening was Freddy ”Krimz” Johansson, who put up a beastly 89 frags during the four final games, and ended on a +29 in his k/d stats.
– He’s been amazing the whole tournament, but especially in the finals. He’s awesome, and when they won SLTV he also played incredibly well and carried the team. During online games he can be a bit quiet, but at lans he always shows up.

”Not happy about onliners reputation”

Now, Fnatic are looking forward towards ESWC, the Fragbite Masters playoffs and the main price this fall: DreamHack Winter. And the coach thinks this victory will help boost his players to outperform themselves at the coming tournaments.
– This victory means a lot. They’re not happy about getting an ”onliners” reputation lately. It’s a bit unfair, just because they lost a semi finals at DreamHack Stockholm. Maybe that’s where the motivation comes from, to prove to everyone that they’re not onliners but guys who win lan tournaments.