Disaster Hits — Week 6
31 July — by League Analyst
When we last discussed the LEC, Fnatic had a 3 game winning streak and just demolished G2 Esports in one of the most dominant games since the creation of the roster. The question asked after that game was: could the team replicate their patient and controlled gameplay and assert themselves as one of the strongest teams in the region?
With the end of week 6 just behind us, we can confidently answer that question with a resounding no. Back to back 0–2 weeks resulted in the team diving in the standings. Individual underperformances were the major talking point in the community, and the mid- jungle duo of Humanoid and Razork caught a lot of heat from the displeased Fnatic fanbase. But the individual performances were not the only factor haunting the team.
In their week 4 game versus Misfits, an unnecessary jungle invade with a siege focused Caitlyn draft swung the game in Misfits favor. In the following game, a cocky Kayle pick with zero frontline got punished by Team Vitality, resulting in another loss. Week 5 had a questionable Corki pick which just got nerfed, followed up by a Vex that got utterly destroyed by Excel. The point to take away from this is that the meta read has been all over the place and the attempted off-meta picks has had a disastrous success rate. Pair that with poor macro executions and unimpressive individual performances, and the losses quickly start to stack.
Week 6 saw a slight resurgence of earlier form as Fnatic showed signs of life against the #1 team in MAD Lions. Despite not getting the victory, the team finally managed to end their loss streak against a struggling BDS team in their second game of the week.
It’s a cheesy line, but at this point in time it’s only fair to say that every game counts. There are only two weeks left of the regular season, meaning each team has 5 games left to play. The rules are simple:
- Top 6 reach the playoffs
- Top 4 get seeded into the winners’ bracket
Fnatic has been clear in their messaging. They won’t allow themselves being denied a playoffs spot. But for that to come true the team has to step up, dig deep and show up in the high pressure moments. It’s time to rise, and we’ll be able to follow their journey as we finish off the 2022 summer regular season in the coming weeks.
That's it for today! We’ll be back once again with more LEC goodness after week 8. But if you want more fun content in the meantime, I’d recommend checking out the International Summer Update where I highlight some rising teams from the other major regions.
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