League Analysis — Fnatic vs Schalke 04 — LEC Week 1
25 JANUARY 2021 — by League Analyst
Third game’s a charm right?
Fnatic is officially tied for last place in the LEC alongside Astralis. Bwipo and Hylissang lead the league for most deaths and Fnatic as a team has already died 47 times across their first two games. The team has looked uncoordinated and sloppy so far and heading into the last game of week 1, Fnatic really has to focus and play better League of Legends.
What are we looking for today then? I’d say the big focus should be on draft and giving Hylissang and Bwipo playmaking tools. It’s already been shown how fiery this squad is and playing to that strength is definitively the way to go. If the aggressive and skirmish heavy style that the team has been showing in-game can be cleaned up in terms of timing and execution, I’m convinced that Fnatic can get their first win of the season today.
Draft breakdown
Finished draft shown at the bottom of the breakdown.
Blue Bans:
Ban 1 — Camille
One of the better toplaners at the moment. I still believe that it could be punished with picks like Jax but I don’t mind the ban.
Ban 2 — Pantheon
Pantheon’s early game prowess are nothing short of amazing and with how fast phased the games is I think it is a good ban.
Ban 3 — Thresh
Goodbye Aphelios! Expecting a first pick Kai’Sa for Fnatic with this ban.
Red Bans:
Ban 1 — Taliyah
Taliyah seems to be the prefered AP jungler this patch and might remained banned on red side in the foreseeable future.
Ban 2 — Olaf
Like mentioned in the last couple of days, Olaf will most likely remain a must ban on red side because of his insane early game strength.
Ban 3 — Renekton
Why though? With Gragas still available I don’t understand the need to remove the Renekton already.
Picks:
B1 Pick — Twisted Fate
Although TF is a fine pick, I’d much rather have seen the Kai’Sa come in as the first pick. With Aphelios of the table her priority is way to high to pass up on, at least in my mind.
R1 Pick —Kai’Sa
Obviously the best pick available here as the only real OP left available.
R2 Pick — Lillia
With Taliyah of the board, Lillia is the next AP jungler on the tier list and is to be expected here.
B2 Pick — Graves
I was expecting Hecarim to come in here but Graves is also a stable jungler that can work in many different modes. Doesn’t reveal much in terms of strategy which is nice.
B3 Pick — Sett
Interesting flex with Sett coming in. Another pick that doesn’t really say anything about what Fnatic is going for. Since I don’t know where it’s going I can’t say much about it yet.
R3 Pick — Lucian
A strong laner that can abuse the TF early, but I’m a bit worried that Rouge will end up with too little frontline, leaving them very susceptible to gold cards by TF or other hard engage abilities.
Blue bans:
Ban 4 — Alistar
Good engage support and front liner that Rouge is looking for. A Leona or Rakan ban should come in as well.
Ban 5 — Leona
Makes a lot of sense. Good ban.
Red bans:
Ban 4 — Xayah
One of the stronger ADC’s left. Would expect a Jhin or Miss Fortune ban to follow.
Ban 5 — Gragas
Don’t really understand the Gragas ban with Renekton and Camille already of the table. Ornn is still a champion and could come in if Fnatic want another tank in the toplane.
Picks:
R4 Pick — Galio
Support Galio doesn’t seem good at all here. With the Sett still being flexed it shouldn’t be able to achieve much. Problem is that I can’t find a pick that is remotely good here as you always can be counterpicked if Sett is sent top. If you have any picks for R4, share them in the comments!
B4 Pick — Samira
I’m a bit surprised that Samira is prioritized over Miss Fortune but I respect the pick and gives Upset a lot of playmaking potential.
B5 Pick — Ornn
I mean this draft is just disgusting and Ornn is a perfect way to round it out. This is also what I meant about the Gragas ban being completely useless as the forge god is left on the table.
R5 Pick — Jax
This Jax pick seems so insanely desperate here. I don’t have anything against the pick in a vacuum, but the setup is simply not there for Rouge. It seems like an hail mary in an already lost draft.
Pre-game prediction
The draft advantage for Fnatic here is out of this world. Engage, disengage, frontline, playmaking tools, they have it all. I absolutely love the teamcomp that has been put together, it’s simplistic and clean. I love what Caedrel said on the broadcast, “Schalke’s comp is a bit all over the place when you first look at it”. It certainly has some tools in the early game, but it all looks a bit iffy.
Schalke will have to put all their eggs in the Jax basket if they are going to have any chance in this game. If Fnatic can keep cool and avoid early mistakes, they should simply outscale and have more tools available in teamfights around objectives.
Post game key takeaways
Fnatic finally picks up their first victory in a very impressive fashion against S04 . They looked calm, collected and calculated. Selfmade controlled the early dragons and synced up with his laners to out-macro Schalke on all parts of the map. Besides trolling a bit on the bot side before the 4th drake, Fnatic pretty much coasted to their first victory of the split.
For the fans, I think there isn’t much to worry about in terms of performance despite going 1–2 in the first week of 2021. It has looked sloppy and uncoordinated, but with this amount of raw talent and experience I’m convinced that the coaching staff can get the Fnatic squad in line and ready for the rest of the split. Today was a good hint of what is to come and I’m already hyped for week two of the LEC!
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