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OpTic Gaming routs Fnatic to take last ELeague quarterfinals spot

Spanish AWPer Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas plays for OpTic Gaming during ESL One 2016 during their match vs. G2 Esports at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Rob Tringali for ESPN

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team OpTic Gaming earned the final spot from Group D, thanks to a clean sweep over Fnatic in the final best-of-three series on Saturday. OpTic is the final seed from the group stage, solidifying the ELeague Season 2 playoffs bracket.

Day 2 started out with OpTic Gaming facing off against EnVyUs in a best-of-three series to determine who would play Fnatic to stay alive in Group D. After Optic took an early 6-0 lead on the T side of Overpass, EnVyUs earned some momentum of its own, winning two consecutive rounds. However, that momentum all but disappeared as the Green Wall stood strong, steamrolling EnVyUs en route to a convincing 16-3 victory on the first map of the series.

Dust2, the second map of the series, was neck-and-neck throughout much of the contest. Then, a late momentum swing helped EnVyUs claim a 16-13 map win.

Staring at a series-deciding Game 3 on Cobblestone, OpTic came out on fire, putting together a 11-4 score early in the match. EnVyUs was able to cobble together a few round wins thereafter, but it never really appeared to threaten OpTic as the Green Wall was able to win the deciding match 16-8.

In the Group D decider rematch against Fnatic, OpTic's Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz was a model of consistency, racking up an impressive 42/22 in kills/deaths (KD) and 96.3 average damage per round (ADR) in the game for OpTic. His team came out strong on its Cobblestone pick to open Game 1, jumping out to an 11-4 lead at the half thanks in large part to Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas, who picked up three critical kills to close the half. In the second half, OpTic only allowed one round to sneak by as it secured Map 1 with an impressive offensive side, earning a 16-5 victory.

Despite it being Fnatic's choice to start the second game on Dust2, it was OpTic who enjoyed all the success, jumping out to yet another 11-4 lead at halftime. This time, however, the second half was more contested. After OpTic took the second pistol round, Fnatic came back in the following round thanks to Simon "twist" Eliasson's 1-vs-1 clutch to give his team some much-needed momentum. As a result, Fnatic managed to win seven out of the eight following rounds to nearly even out the series. Despite the massive comeback effort though, mixwell had other plans, as he earned an impressive quad kill after winning a 1-vs-1 to close the series out on Dust2 with a 16-11 victory.

With OpTic's win, the teams for the ELeague Season 2 playoffs have finally taken shape. OpTic Gaming will now join SK Gaming, Astralis, Dignitas, Virtus.Pro, Ninjas in Pyjamas, mousesports and FaZe Clan in the quarterfinals. The playoffs will begin on Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 2:00 PM ET and continue Thursday, Dec. 1, at 2 PM ET. Semifinals will start Friday, Dec. 2, at 5 PM ET. The weekend will conclude with the ELeague Season 2 Grand Final on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 4 PM ET.