League Analysis — Fnatic vs G2 Esports— LEC Week 6
27 FEBRUARY 2021 — by League Analyst
Can Fnatic 2–0 their rivals in G2 Esports?
FNC vs G2? You guessed it, it’s the match of the week! These two organizations have battled it out for the European trophy since 2016 and their eternal rivalry continues to grow year by year. This clash of titans is bound to bring us some great League of Legends and today, we’ll add a new chapter to this legendary showdown. It’s emotion and aggression versus chaos and tempo and only one can come out on top.
Last time the two teams faced off, Fnatic drew the longer straw and won out despite being the underdogs in the matchup. Today it’s a similar story with G2 being tied for first in the standings together with Rouge. G2 has looked as dominant as ever, crushing just about every other team that opposed them. The team averages +1136 gold at 15 minutes and has won 100% of their games when being ahead at that point. They are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the region and a thought hurdle to overcome for Fnatic.
But despite the numbers, we have to remember that one of the two losses that G2 has suffered so far this was handed to them by Fnatic. The game in question was however, full of problems with G2 reportedly having internet issues, resulting in a long in game pause. The issues were not able to be fixed and due to league regulations, the game was forced to continue.
After the game concluded, G2 coach GrabbZ took responsibility for the issues and apologized to the fans who had looked forward to the game. Today we’ll get to see if a lag-free G2 can reach their peak performance and get their revenge against their rivals.
Draft breakdown
Finished draft shown at the bottom of the breakdown.
Blue Bans:
Ban 1 — Thresh
Like many other times, Thresh finds himself on the ban list. His lantern combined with immobile carries is still highly valued and has resulted in a very high ban rate in spring.
Ban 2 — Seraphine
The strongest of all enchanters. Seraphine has looked extremely powerful because of her flex potential and generally diverse and powerful kit.
Ban 3 — Kai’Sa
Kai’Sa has been one of the premium ADC’s since the beginning of the split. Her high mobility and snappy engage has proved to be a very valuable tool in game.
Red Bans:
Ban 1 — Senna
Rising in priority over the weeks, Senna’s incredible scaling and supportive attributes has made her on of the most impenetrable botlaners in the meta.
Ban 2 — Udyr
Unarguably one of the most OP picks right now, Udyr’s raw stats and insane jungle clear has made him into a must ban on red side.
Ban 3 — Twisted Fate
Permabanned since week one, Twisted Fate is yet to drop off in priority. Gold card = OP.
Picks:
B1 Pick — Rell
I’m personally a bit surprised that Rell isn’t the 3rd ban on red side at this point in time. Her engage potential is out of this world and makes her worthy of the first pick in most drafts.
R1 Pick — Alistar
Alistar has been the natural response to the Rell for many weeks now. Not necessarily as a counter, rather because the pick can accomplish it’s own goal regardless of Rell being in the game.
R2 Pick — Lillia
With many other junglers dropping in priority because of bans or jungle changes, Lillia has slowly turned into the go to pick in the meta. Her flexible approach to the game combined with reliable engage and a fast clear are key points to that uprising.
B2 Pick — Jhin
One of Rekkles’s personal favorites and his most played champion in 2021. Jhin has not been super high in priority for all teams but his reliable damage and follow up potential seems to fit the style that G2 is going for.
B3 Pick — Olaf
The viking just doesn’t go away despite multiple nerfs. Early game domination and objective control is the name of the game, and when the time comes he’ll be the one to charge into the enemy backline with the ragnarok ultimate.
R3 Pick — Kalista
With the Samira nerfs on 11.4, I asked the question about what pick Upset would turn towards. The Kalista makes a lot of sense as one of the infamous lane bullies and early game playmaker. Her CC combos with Alistar further incentives the pick, making it a natural go to for the aggressive bot lane duo.
Blue bans:
Ban 4 — Aatrox
As pointed out on broadcast, G2 has been hovering toward the Gragas in blind pick scenarios. So the expected bans here are natural counters to the champion, Aatrox being one of them.
Ban 5 — Gnar
Another strong pick into the Gragas taken away.
Red bans:
Ban 4 — Ryze
Ryze is one of Caps’s comfort picks and a strong matchup into most of the common control mages in the meta.
Ban 5 — Ekko
The Ekko ban further hints toward a control mage coming in for Fnatic on one of the last picks. Ekko is one of few melee champions that can match the waveclear of the mages and his high mobility makes him a dangerous foe in the sidelanes as the game progresses.
Picks:
R4 Pick — Azir
Azir is the mage that we were looking for, both safe and reliable with high and consistent damage output. Generally a strong blind pick with few hard counters.
B4 Pick — Gragas
Here comes the Gragas that we mentioned earlier. It’s the go to tank pick in the meta that also can opt into AP build’s if the game supports it. Very hard to counter and can act both as engage or disengage with his cask.
B5 Pick — Syndra
Syndra into Azir is a very neutral matchup that shouldn’t favor either side too much. They are both very reliable and look to achieve their own goals in the game.
R5 Pick — Yone
Fnatic’s head coach recently hinted towards the fact that something spicy was coming in today, but in no world could I predict a Yone top. This is not a matchup that I am very familiar with but it should be pretty straight forward.
Yone into Gragas ensures top priority for Fnatic and the goal is to scale up and sustain through the “low” damage output that Gragas provides. If the Yone can reach that point in the game he should be able to hunt anyone down in the sidelane whilst also having strong collapse potential with his “in and out” ultimate.
Pre-game prediction
This is in my opinion the closest draft I’ve seen all split with both teams having a lot of tools to find picks and snowball the game. The pick to keep a close eye on is obviously the Yone. Whilst making sense in lane, it is important to keep in mind that the pick is very volatile and can become very hard to operate if he falls behind at some point in the game.
Personally, I cannot pick one side or the other based on draft alone. This is one of those games that will come down to execution and how well the teams are able to maneuver their team compositions.
Key moments
Jankos was quick to take action in this game, clearing topside into an early gank to shut down the last pick Yone. Fnatic responded by getting a 2v2 kill with their aggressive botlane.
Following that, a cat and mouse game began as G2 tried to get Gragas out of the Yone matchup, always rotating their sidelaners around to avoid getting snowballed upon.
The gamebreaker was the fight over the 3rd dragon where Mikyx found an unbelievable 4 man magnet storm, setting up his team to rip Fnatic apart. The gold lead grew to big for Fnatic to bounce back and with the infernal drake and baron buff secured, G2 closed out, showing the viewers why they are considered one of the best teams in the world.
Post game takeaways
Today was one of those days when it felt like no team in the world could have stopped G2. Fnatic went for an unconventional pick to put a caveat on the draft, but today it simply didn’t work out. The game could have gone either way, but G2 found some early advantages and Fnatic failed to get enough back to keep themselves in the game.
A team as well versed as G2 will not let anyone back into the game once they have found an advantage, making every mistake feel so much more impactful. For Fnatic, this is a small setback on their path to the playoffs. But as the team continues to grow, players have to look towards the BO5’s and become as diverse and mechanically sound as possible. Learn from every loss and make sure you are prepared when it matters.
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