Europe - After a long campaign that stretches back into the early days of March, the European Team Fortress 2 League's 2nd Cup has a last come to it's final pairing, #1 Four Kings v #7 Fracture. It was smooth sailing throughout the entire tournament for both clans, with neither of them dropping a single map along the way despite the big-named rivals they had to overcome.

For 4K^, this tournament has just been pure domination through and through. Until the Quarter-Finals, not only had they not dropped a map but they'd only given up a single point to [FsA] on ctf_turbine, a match they won 16-1. Their toughest matchup was undoubtedly the QF vs ^wotr^, a 3-map match with the first one (2fort) going scoreless. 4-3 on ctf_turbine & 5-2 on cp_badlands was as close as anyone would get to 4K^, but while one might give kudos to ^wotr^ for this feat, a loss is still a loss.

If anything, Fracture had an even more dominating run, dropping less points than 4K^ overall and being in total control every single matchup running up to the SF. The only map that was even a remote contest was one of only two cp_dustbowl's played in the entire tournament, which came in the QF against TLR.Tagan, which Fracture prevailed 6-5. Fracture's only real test was in the Semis against Excello (syre), where they took both maps (granary & badlands) by just two caps over the #3 seeded Swedes.

The time of the finals is still as of yet unscheduled (ignore what the scoreboard says), but we here at GotFrag will endeavour to do our best and keep you up to date with the latest from the ETF2L 2nd Cup.

rk's Prediction

4K^ v Fracture
As our own demo page can attest, these two squads have certainly crossed paths more than a few times, most recently in Week 2 of the ETF2L S2. Their history is fairly even, with maybe a slight tilt towards 4K, but Fracture has been climbing the perverbial ladder of top-tier-teams in Europe over the last couple months and there is no doubt in my mind that a resounding win here would give them an undisputed place in the "best team" conversation, right beside 4K^.

But at the same time, it's almost always a mistake to pick against 4K. They've won or placed just about everything TF2 has thrown at them so far, and have shown no signs of slowing down or losing focus like some other top teams (*cough* Kompaniet?). They thrive on strategic ingenuity, and have a fluid team that can shift and adapt to anything the other team throws at them then turn around and pound their opponents at the first mistep.

There is no doubt in my mind that this will go to 3 maps - both teams are just too strong to not take at least one map from the other. But there are no ties is sports, and certainly not in TF2, so a winner must be chosen.. and so, against my own better judgement, I think this time it will be the Kings who will take the fall, if only to bring them back down to Earth for a short time.
4K^ [1:2] Fracture \\

ETF2L 2nd Cup Finals
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