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With the quarter finals of TECHLABS Cup finally over, it is now time to preview the upcoming semi finals matchups that are both scheduled to take place tomorrow.

The first quarter final saw Natus Vincere take out Moscow Five 2-0 with an overtime win on de_inferno followed up by a 16-9 victory on de_tuscan. Moscow Five looked to be in the driver's seat early on in the series but lost a sizable lead on the first map, and couldn't keep up with 2010's best team in the second half of de_tuscan.

In the second matchup fnatic took on WinFakt. The Finns started both de_nuke and de_tuscan Counter-Terrorist sides very well, going up 11-3 and 9-3 in them, but were unable to close out games and well short 14-16 and 12-16.

Earlier today SK Gaming faced Vifort and had no problems putting the Russians who tied Na`Vi in group stage away. The Swedes start off by winning de_train 16-4 and then finished the series with a convincing 16-7 win on de_inferno.

Last but not least ESC Gaming played against KerchNET in a match that saw the Ukrainians escape with yet another upset win. They won de_train 16-8 starting as Terrorists and then closed the series on de_nuke after two close 8-7 halves.

Schedule for semi finals:

Friday 18:00	Natus Vincere	vs fnatic
Friday 20:30	SK Gaming	vs KerchNET

Natus Vincere vs fnatic

These two teams have met multiple times in the previous months and ever since Michael "Friis" Jørgensen started wearing the black and orange jersey, fnatic has actually been more successful. That was turned around at the IEM Global Challlenge in Kiev where the Ukrainians beat fnatic 2-0 in the semi finals. Since then fnatic has recruited Andreas "MODDII" Fridh to replace Faruk "pita" Pita, a move that gives the team a lot more firepower.

Natus Vincere seems to have gotten a lot of momentum ever since Sergey "starix" Ischuk became their in-game leader and have been putting in solid performances with the exception of their Kingston Trilogy Tour loss. Before yesterday I might have predicted fnatic to win this match, but seeing how much trouble they had against WinFakt I think right now Na`Vi is slightly better than them.

That is not to say this match won't be close or can't go either way though, as the addition of Fridh definitely gives fnatic a new weapon against the top teams and takes some pressure off of Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl. Na`Vi will remove de_nuke as always, but I could see fnatic removing de_train, de_dust2 or even de_inferno. Out of those, I think Na`Vi might actually be favorites on all four maps, which is going to make it hard for fnatic to pull this one off.

Prediction:Natus Vincere > fnatic 2-1

fnatic's captain will try his luck against Na`Vi once again

SK Gaming vs KerchNET

SK Gaming has been dealt at least on paper by far the easiest semi final, much like in the quarter finals earlier in the tournament. Although KerchNET has been impressive so far in the event, taking out Moscow Five, eSAHARA, Anexis and ESC Gaming, I have a hard time seeing them put up a real fight against SK. I think SK Gaming has far too much skill for KerchNET to handle and I believe they are still bootcamping which should give them an advantage as well.

KerchNET are by no means pushovers but the problem is I think their best bet against SK is de_tuscan which the Swedes are very likely to remove. Another strong map for them has been de_train, but I think SK has the edge over them on it, as they do on de_nuke. I think de_inferno and de_dust2 might actually turn out fairly competitive depending on pistol rounds, but I still don't think it will be enough.

SK are heavy favorites going into this match regardless of the map selection, and just about anyone would be surprised if Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström and company were not traveling to Moscow a month from now.

Prediction:SK Gaming > KerchNET 2-0

B1ad3 is hoping for yet another upset in TECHLABS Cup

Unfortunately the semi finals will once again only be streamed and will not feature HLTV. The grand final of TECHLABS Cup will be played on LAN on March 18 at MEGA shopping center in Moscow, Russia.

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