League Analysis — Fnatic vs Astralis— LEC Week 3
6 FEBRUARY 2021 — by League Analyst
We are entering the third week of the LEC spring split. Fnatic is currently tied for 5th place with a 2–3 record and today they’ll be facing of against Astralis, a team that hasn’t looked good so far in the split. All things considered, it should be an easy victory but Fnatic has been very hit or miss in the first two weeks of the split.
If the squad falters today, it would be a very worrying sign. The weeks are flying by quickly and falling too far behind in the standings will cause problems later on in the split. That being said, I have a hard time envisioning a world where Fnatic doesn’t win today’s match.
As for the match itself, stability and clear communication will be the focus point once again. Another big question for me is how Fnatic’s draft theory evolves over the split. In last week’s match against the lions we saw Fnatic go for very volatile picks: Irelia, Evelynn, Pantheon, all in the same game.
In a match like today, where Fnatic on paper is a very clear favorite I wonder if they’ll draft in a similar fashion or move back to a more stable and scaling reliant teamcomp. Are they willing to take a more disciplined and calculated approach or will we continue to see non stop aggression? How will the team opt to play and how much are they willing to risk in a game like this?
Draft breakdown
Finished draft shown at the bottom of the breakdown.
Blue Bans:
Ban 1 — Taliyah
Taliyah remains 100% PB in the LEC as one of the premium junglers available.
Ban 2 — Thresh
An interesting ban that keeps showing up in the LEC. I wonder if the reasoning is to dissuade teams from picking Aphelios or if the main reasoning is something else.
Ban 3 — Graves
One of Selfmades comfort picks and a solid jungler in the meta.
Red Bans:
Ban 1 — Twisted Fate
TF remains as one of the best midlaners in the current meta and has seen a lot of play across all regions. It’s most likely a pick that will remain in the meta as he was untouched in the 11.3 patch.
Ban 2 — Olaf
Olaf is also one of the champion that remains 100% PB in the LEC and should in my opinion remain so until next patch when he gets hit both directly and indirectly with the goredrinker nerfs.
Ban 3 — Alistar
One of many reliable engage supports taken away.
Picks:
B1 Pick — Pantheon
Pantheon is the 3rd and last champion with 100% PB so far and he gets immediately snatched away by Astralis. A strong flex that can fit into most teamcomps. I don’t love the pick as it can get very outscaled, especially when being shown so early in the draft.
R1 Pick — Kai’Sa
So far a very basic draft with both teams picking away the powerpicks in the current meta.
R2 Pick — Udyr
Udyr is currently 1–5 in the LEC but has showed a lot of potential internationally. He is the ultimate stat checker and has a very good clear speed.
B2 Pick — Samira
Samira is an interesting pick and I personally think it could work out, especially with so many cc heavy supports in the meta.
B3 Pick — Rell
A very good pick that synergizes well with both Samira and Pantheon. Rell has been showing up more and more recently and has looked very oppressive both in and out of lane.
R3 Pick — Renekton
Renekton comes in as a blind pick for Fnatic and since bans are coming up, they’ll be able to remove some key conterpicks. He’s still a fine pick but I personally like Ornn much more.
Blue bans:
Ban 4 — Leona
Engage support removed from Hylissang.
Ban 5 — Natilus
Even more engage removed!
Red bans:
Ban 4 — Gragas
One of Renekton’s main counters removed.
Ban 5 — Kennen
Don’t really like the Kennen ban. He’s not exactly a top tier champion at the moment and I would be surprised to see it.
Picks:
R4 Pick — Rakan
I mean it is Hyli so the Rakan pick is to be expected here but it really isn’t a good pick. He struggles versus the Rell in lane and if Astralis picks more heavy frontline he won’t have a good time.
B4 Pick — Orianna
Another pick that I really don’t like. With the Udyr and Renekton on the other side I’d say that Azir is a much better pick. Even Anivia could be viable here but is yet to show up in the league.
B5 Pick — Gnar
So Gnar comes in as a counter to Renekton. Personally I’m not a big fan as the champion is very one dimensional and predictable in game as he relies so much on rage to maneuver in fights. Once again I’d hover toward Ornn since he is such a reliable pick that is very hard to shut down.
R5 Pick — Azir
Azir is a solid pick here for sure and rounds out the Fnatic draft very well.
Pre-game prediction
This draft was very standard in terms of pro play. That being said, I really don’t like some of the picks that have come in here. It seems like the teams just draft on autopilot, running down the tier list without considering other options.
For this game, I don’t think any team got a sizable advantage in draft. That being said, Fnatic should be the better team and I would expect them to come out on top.
Key moments
Another game of League of Legends, fantastic. The game started of in favor of Astralis with the botlane making an early roam to pick up first blood. Fnatic quickly responded with Selfmade catching Promisq in rotation.
After that point the game turned into an absolute fiesta. With both team butchering dives in very questionable fashions. The game was an absolute bloodbath with 18 kills being traded before 15 minutes. It was sloppy, chaotic and honestly, very bad play from both teams. I think the gold difference showed the effect of that as well.
In the end Fnatic came out on top, mainly by winning out in key teamfights before finishing the 44 kill game.
Post game takeaways
As Bwipo said in the post game interview, this really was a disgraceful performance by both teams. In the end Fnatic got another point on the board, but gameplay like this is not going to be enough going forward. It’s the same mistakes we’ve seen since the beginning of the split: overaggressive plays, sloppy executions and some very questionable plays all around.
For today, getting the victory was the important part. Sure the game was bad and we could sit here all night and flame their performance, but we are still early in the season and in the end it really doesn’t matter until playoffs rolls up. A victory is a victory and tomorrow is a new day and Fnatic will have another shot at cleaning up their play.
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