(courtesy of ESL)
Both teams came into this series feeling very confident in their chance to advance. Qiao Gu had already beaten Fnatic earlier in the day and did so with relative ease. Fnatic had just won two straight games to reach the Losers Final and were looking stronger with each passing game. Let’s see which team was able to keep up their momentum and earn a spot in the semifinals.
Game 1
(courtesy of ESL)
It’s never as simple as saying a team lost because of their draft, but Fnatic’s was suspect and certainly did not put them in a great position to win. They opted into a composition which did not split push or siege particularly well. Instead they picked a comp that needed to fight in order to secure objectives. The issue here is they decided to do this against one of the premier team fighting rosters in the world. QG make their living forcing team fights. When the opposition has this same win condition, the game is ultimately playing on QG’s terms. Fnatic really shot themselves in the foot trying to play this type of game against QG. Eventually QG found the fights they needed and were able to secure a victory.
Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao’s Lucian is downright dirty. In both their earlier game and throughout this one, he displayed a real mastery on the playmaking ADC. Uzi has always been one to jump into fights and attack with reckless abandon and Lucian is the perfect ADC for his playstyle. It was great to see tournament mode Uzi activated, as he has always played exponentially better in a tournament setting. Overall this was a strong performance from each of QG’s members and they certainly had the momentum entering into Game 2.
Game 2
(courtesy of ESL)
Whatever Fnatic did wrong with their draft in Game 1 they did right in Game 2. I loved the Quinn Mid pick and from a strategy standpoint was quite an interesting pick. Quinn being the main counter to Fiora is rendered slightly less effective when there is a lane swap. So knowing that they will probably encounter a lane swap, Fnatic opt to put Quinn Mid. This allows Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten to easily change the balance of any lane and it gives Quinn incredible freedom around the map. This also frees up Yeong-Jin “Gamsu” Noh to play Nautilus and he has shown he is much more comfortable on tanks. Finally, when Fiora is finally ready to split push Quinn will be ready to equal her pushing power. This was an incredibly thought out draft and it was reflected in the game’s outcome.
Another phenomenal draft change between Game 1 and Game 2 was the Lucian ban. This forced Uzi on Corki who is a far less mobile champion, yet Uzi’s playstyle did not alter accordingly. Despite his decreased mobility, Uzi continuously got caught in the front lines without an escape. His damage was certainly pacified by way of the Lucian ban.
Beyond this great draft Fnatic just straight outplayed QG. QG continuously chased without vision, trying to force fights to find a way back into the game. Yet Fnatic was ahead this time, and were able to turn these skirmishes into objectives. Overall Fnatic just looked like the better team in this game.
Game 3
(courtesy of ESL)
Even with Quinn banned this game, Fnatic were gifted almost the same exact comp. The only difference between the Game 2 and Game 3 comp for Fnatic was having Zed in the Midlane. This gave them the same sort of split push AD damage that Quinn brought to the table. Much like Game 2, Game 3’s play was dictated almost entirely by Fnatic. They seem to have grown in confidence throughout the day, culminating in this dominating Game 3 victory.
This was definitely the best Fnatic has looked, perhaps all split. They developed vision control very early into this game and this allowed Fnatic to safely and smartly invade the QG jungle. Fnatic were able to gain multiple picks just sitting in the QG jungle. As the line of vision advanced, Fnatic stifled QG and eliminated any threat of a miracle comeback.
One last side note: Martin “Rekkles” Larsson’s Jhin. Many have speculated that Jhin’s kit is a little overloaded, but before today we really hadn’t seen these claims come to fruition. Rekkles was a monster on the newest AD champion, landing stuns and slows while pumping out immense numbers of damage. Expect to see bans for the foreseeable future.
While expectations for Fnatic to succeed at IEM were relatively low, they must now feel as if they have a chance to progress even further. If they can play like they did in Game 2 and Game 3 they really do have a chance to reach the finals. It will be interesting to see which version of Fnatic shows up tomorrow.
