fnatic have eliminated G2 from ESL One Cologne 2016 after winning 16-13 on Train, thus removing the second best team in the world early on from the ninth CS:GO Major.

The 'Group of Death' elimination match was a match that could have possible been fit for a grand final of the Major and was instead nestled into a best-of-one corner of Group D as G2 and fnatic fought a desperate war of attrition to determine who would leave ESL One Cologne 2016 in 13-16th place.

The Swedes won the first pistolround on Train via a T-side take that saw Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell pick up two kills for his team. After the anti-ecos, G2 began to deploy a solid defense as Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux picked up double AWP kills each to win the first gunround for the French-Belgian team.

An AK47 triple kill from Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom on the fifth round shut down a fnatic take and G2 continued to dominate fnatic for a few more rounds, such as on the eigth round when Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy won a one-versus-three clutch.

With G2 on a 6-3 lead, fnatic called a tactical timeout and resorted to the tried and tested "Rush B with Tec-9s" tactic, which actually worked out. With fnatic on the comeback, the eleventh round saw a highlight worthy shot as Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist won a one-versus-two in an afterplant situation on the B site with a double kill collateral AWP shot.

fnatic barely survived their elimination match scrape with G2

G2 claimed the fourteenth round but fnatic eventually closed out the half with a 8-7 lead. The second pistolround saw G2 opt for an A-site take but flusha shut that down with three USP kills and Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson cleaned up the round with the final two as fnatic advanced to 9-7.

fnatic moved ahead to a 11-7 lead but G2 then managed to successfully take the first gunround, partially as a result of double kill from ScreaM in an afterplant situation. G2 picked up the next three rounds to equalise the score at 11-11.

Strong defending from fnatic, including multikills from JW helped the Swedish team seal the next three rounds and put the score at 14-11. The 26th round looked as if G2 had won it despite a pistolbuy, with the bomb planted on A and shox picking up three, but a defuse by Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer was successful due to passive play from G2.

G2 won two more rounds by the skin of their teeth to bring the score to 15-13, and then fnatic pulled a quintessential "fnatic round" out of the bag and closed the map out 16-13, thereby eliminating G2 early on in the tournament.

ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 1 G2Matchpage 13 16 6th July 2016 fnatic 13Train 16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	22 - 19	+3	81.2	1.22
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	22 - 17	+5	85.7	1.19
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	24 - 24	0	88.1	1.10
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	19 - 22	-3	74.8	0.91
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	15 - 23	-8	50.9	0.71

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Adil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomScreaM	27 - 19	+8	107.8	1.46
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	22 - 21	+1	76.7	1.15
Edouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxSmithZz	22 - 21	+1	64.4	1.04
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	20 - 21	-1	72.6	0.98
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianarobodyy	14 - 21	-7	73.1	0.90

Day three of ESL One Cologne 2016 will feature four best-of-three decider matches, as teams will fight for the four remaining Legends and playoffs spots at the Major.

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter

Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Age: 26 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 454 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 Edouard 'SmithZz' Dubourdeaux Age: 27 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 955 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 686 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.64 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 703 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.61 fnatic #3 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerDennis 'dennis' EdmanRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 902 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.66 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 21 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 874 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 G2 #2 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyEdouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom Age: 22 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 745 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 876 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64