Fnatic managed to do what only CLG have done before: take a map from Moscow Five. It just seemed to anger the Russians, though, who dominated the final game.
The opening game of this semi-final looked like any other M5 LAN game. An early lead for their opponents by virtue of an early dragon was totally eliminated as the game wore on. Teleport on Alex Ich's Ryze combined with Shen's ultimate was a deadly combination that saw Alex end the game on an impressive 7/0. Even though s0az got his trademark Jayce, M5 were just able to counter it a lot better than Curse did in the previous round. Even Fnatic's superior farm wasn't enoughto keep them in the game, and when M5 were able to two-man Baron, Fnatic had had enough, surrendering after just 34 minutes.
Fnatic had to step up their game, and that's exactly what they did. Game two was the exact opposite of the previous one: M5 took the early lead, as Diamondprox ganked over and over with Lee Sin. Using that early lead, the Russians were able to take a two-man Dragon. But when the Dragon respawned six minutes later, Fnatic were there to contest it. They did more than just contest it, though, they stole it and took an ace at the cost of just two of their own team. From there, the game turned irreversibly in their favour. Fnatic won team fight after team fight on the back of Zhyra's immense fight control, leading to a Baron and a 40 minute Nexus kill.
Now M5 were in an unfamiliar situation - losing a map on LAN. A Zhyra ban seemed wise, and when xpeke picked up Ahri, the Russians decided to nail him hard. Back on Ryze for game three, Alex Ich was 3/0 early on, including first blood. The first Dragon also went M5's way, putting them 2,000 gold ahead early on. Alex and his team were starting to look unstoppable, but when Fnatic stole a Baron kill from under their noses there was the faintest glimmer of hope. Still, M5 were up by 7,000 gold and a team fight just before the Baron respawned ultimately ended the game. A triple kill for Ryze allowed Moscow Five to take down the nexus and move into the grand final.
Links
GosuGamers - IEM coverage
