An attempt at an unbiased look at Group B's strongest teams and their first game, from a rabid fan of them both.
The lights over the stage were dazzling, but even their glare was soon to be rendered a minor annoyance as the casting team finished introducing the last team on their list. As the word Fnatic left their lips, a deafening roar filled the stage as the Europeans in attendance cheered for their home team, and I joined them from my desk in Los Angeles. This was Fnatic, the latest team to step up to the plate and take a swing at being this year’s Great Western Hope, and in the estimation of both myself and many of my peers in the analysis community the greatest hope that we’ve had since Moscow 5 took the stage. To this crowd, this was not just another League team, this was their team, and their reactions showed it. As the teams walked through the crowd and took their leave, the moments grew tense for me, as I knew full what was approaching.
The first game of Worlds is always a tense one, but this particular matchup was critical for both teams and an emotional one for me as it included my two favorite teams in the tournament. For Fnatic, it was an opportunity to take the stage with gusto and prove to every team in the event that they were more than simply the bully of EU; they were here to fight for the Summoner’s cup and any team looking to stop them would be given a run for their money. While Fnatic’s dominance in Europe is hard to dispute, most of the serious analysis crowd still had them pinned as a longshot, with good reason as their finals with Origen showcased a combination of poor drafts and weak form from the formerly immaculate Fnatic. They entered this event with a lot to prove, both as a team and as individuals, as the overall consensus has been that Fnatic is overmatched man to man, despite obvious evidence of the contrary as far back as MSI. For Fnatic, winning this game was all about showing the world that EU would not sit down and fall in the group stage again. There would not be another Kabum!.
For Invictus Gaming, the situation was a bit different. While iG has the luxury of being from a region that is quite packed with talent, they themselves are on the bottom end of that. They managed merely to get third in every major LPL event, and while that was enough to get them to Worlds, many have wondered (myself included) if Qiao Gu deserved to be there over them. Talent was never the problem for iG, and if anything their third place finish is an underperformance, as their roster showcases both KaKAO and rookie, players who have been, rightly or wrongly, considered amongst the best in their position in the world. Even Zzitai stepped up by the end of the season and put up performances on the new carry-style top laners that made him appear to be a real threat. Individual performance, though, is not enough in a game like League, and their iG have has plenty of games where they simply have failed to accomplish much of anything. While their highs are high, their lows are equally low, and while they have a group relatively light of threats to them they would need to showcase the former rather than the latter if they wanted to make it far in the round of eight.
As the teams filed unto the stage, the tension rose even more. While my heart said Fnatic would win the game, my brain told me there was probably more ways they could lose than win. Huni’s recent performances had been uninspiring at best, and if sOAZ could walk all over him there was little reason to believe Zzitai wouldn’t as well.
The draft phase, though, assuaged most of my worries. Fnatic knew that iG would look to make the game be about the top half of the map, with KaKAO trying to get either Rookie or Zzitai snowballing. A nearly immediate Elise first pick already set that plan on the back foot, and the Shen support pick up in the second rotation sealed it, especially considering Huni was given a soft counter in Hecarim to Zzitai’s Riven. KaKAO would need to play out of his mind in order to find an opening to snowball this game.
Consider this a spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the game yet.
In case you confused Huni for Zzitai, KaKAO did, in fact, not play out of his mind. Aside from a single death at dragon by Febiven Fnatic played a perfect game, not even losing an outer turret before forcing a surrender from iG at 30 minutes. While Fnatic’s win was obviously exciting to me personally as a fan, as an analyst I felt a much less euphoric emotion: Embarassment. One thing was obvious above all, iG had not prepared adequately for this game. Their reaction to the standard EU laneswap was delayed and greedy, allowing Fnatic to enjoy an easy early gold lead that they never let go of over the course of the game. iG’s pick-based composition also seemed like a questionable decision against a Fnatic team who had won their region primarily off their superb teamfighting around neutral objectives, where zone control mages like Azir would make a pick based team’s life hell all on his own. When you add in a Zhonya's hourglass and a Quicksilver Sash on not only Rekkles early, but, amusingly, Febiven as well, it can be easy to see why a team comp that was overly reliant on telegraphed single target CC failed so utterly against them.
It wasn’t all roses for Fnatic, though. While they did win the game in decisive fashion, it would be fair to say that iG lost the game more than Fnatic won. They failed to actually get the first turret of the game off the 4-0 push, and while Reignover’s early pressure bottom eased that situation it could easily have been otherwise against a better composition. As it was, Huni did end up on the bad end of a trade early, a situation that would have been lethal with the jungle picks reversed. The midgame, though, was characteristic of Fnatic when they enjoy a gold lead, right down to a 21 minute baron.
Overall, I’d be lying if I said how I knew how this group was going to turn out. While Fnatic’s performance today was clearly dominant, it’s obvious that today iG brought the low end of their proficiency, not the top. Hopefully the next time these two teams meet we’ll get to see them both on their A game and truly judge how they stack up.
If you haven't seen it, catch the game here.
