Of course fnatic are a Swedish team, but from what area of Scandinavia are… checks notes… Americas RMR-qualifiers Wildcard from?

Oh, of course. It’s 2024. Wildcard have as many Swedes as fnatic; and as many Swedes as they have NA players.

There’s four Swedish players in this game, making it comfortably the most Swedish game at a Major since NIP were good. If that wasn’t enough to get you excited, how about the fact that Wildcard are lowkey kinda decent, and have some massive chips on their collective shoulders?

Sonic has got something to prove. phzy has been away for a while, and has been slowly getting better - and wants to show Sweden what they’ve been missing. susp and JBa have both been touted as the future of their struggling regions, and a good Major would prove that.

And stanislaw? He’s been angry his whole career for some reason, and he’s ready to show he ain’t done yet.

Wildcard 3-0’d the Americas RMR, and they beat Liquid, paiN and FURIA to do it. They’re genuinely kinda spooky. fnatic got through a much harder RMR, but this will be a tough test. Wildcard are probably better than any team they beat in Europe.

However… blameF has been in sparkling form, and is an imperial player. By that we mean he stomps out any uprisings from the underclasses. Tier two and below get stomped out, and tier one isn’t safe.

Unless they avoid the corner he’s hiding in against them.

nawwk kept phzy out of the NIP team, and KRIMZ has been playing since susp was listening to Baby Shark. They’re not about to let these noisy neighbours upset them.

Are they?