FnaticMSI takes out Cuddly Dogs to win Fnatic PLAY Tournament

Posted by Joakim "Rythian" Hellstrand 1 year ago

Game 1: Match ID 10667392
Nymphora goes banned, but not Pandamonium, which is weird, considering how absolutely dominating MSI have been with that hero in the past. Notail on Pandamonium, Freshpro on Pharaoh and Nova on Tundra will be the carries for MSI, all of them strength. CD has Fntastic and pallet on Night Hound and Valkyrie and some great support in Demented Shaman and Plague Rider. Trixi as Andromeda is a bit of a fun choice, seeing one of MSIs' top carries as support is not something you see every day.

Pharaoh who was supposed to solo top against the opposing trilane, makes the wise decision to just abandon the lane entirely, and go jungling instead - let's face it, he's not gonna be able to do much. Poor Valkyrie who's going up against MSI's trilane has no jungle to go to herself, so she is basically doing nothing. After a little bit, she goes to their jungle as well.

Nova's Pandamonium gets incredible freefarm (500 gold per minute), and the bottom lane is completely pushed before the 10 minute mark, both towers down. Fntastic plays a great Night Hound, and for quite a while he seems like he might be the only hope for CD. He got his early farm and he's makign great use of it, at the 14-minute mark he takes out the ENTIRE MSI team, getting an Annihilation! MSI maintains a strong advantage, 6 towers down to none, but Night Hound is a beast, and he's almost singlehandedly turning the tide, at least in terms of teamfights and kills.

He can't do it all alone though, and once MSI picks up Wards, Dust AND an Eye, and completely focuses Night Hound down as soon as they see him with ultimates and Cursed Ground... poor Fntastic just drops. It's all inevitable from there, and MSI takes the first game, 1-0.

Game 2: Match ID 10673035
This time around, both Pandamonium and Andromeda is banned, along with Tundra (and of course, Chronos). Nymphora stays unbanned, and CD picks her up. My favourite pick is Maliken on Trixi, although Doctor Repulsor on Darkwonyx is excellent as well.

Nymph/Glacius/Madman trilanes top against Jester/Behemoth/Maliken. Fntastic's Madman gets two early kills, including the bloodlust kill. pallet's Hellbringer goes mid against Notail's Soulstealer and it's a fairly even matchup until Soulstealer gets the level advantage and his hands start amplifying his creep kill lead. Doctor Repulsor vs Bubbles down bottom lane is a very entertaining fight with lots of mobility and nice maneuvers.

CD starts strong, with a kill lead and good farm on Repulsor and Madman. Fntastic has a brilliant escape at one point, and he's definitely making a name for himself in these matches. Soulstealer is just such a powerful hero when played by players of this quality, and Notail just starts taking over the game, with so much farm.

Eventually MSI's team just starts the ball rolling, winning teamfight after teamfight, giving Maliken and Soulstealer the level and gold advantage, and although CD fights back valiantly with some great kills at some moments, they can't do enough. MSI wins it 2-0.