League Analysis — Fnatic vs SK Gaming— LEC Week 7
6 MARCH 2021 — by League Analyst
It is the last day of week 7 and today, Fnatic is facing of against SK Gaming in a 4th place derby. The winner will be rewarded by locking in their spot in the playoffs. Both SK and FNC are very likely to get into the BO5’s but both teams are looking for a good seed going into the knockout stage.
Last time the two teams faced off, Bwipo had a popoff performance on Riven, dominating the game from start to finish. In that game, I had strong opinions on the draft and it’ll be interesting to see how both teams adapt going into the rematch today.
For SK in particular, a victory here would be huge. Despite being high in their standings, their strength of schedule is very hard going into the last week. In their last 4 games, SK will face off against FNC, G2, AST and RGE. So securing their spot in the BO5’s today would take a lot of pressure off their shoulders.
In today’s game, all eyes will be on the botlane matchup. It’s two of the most explosive duo lanes in the league and it should be a key matchup to decide who will get the victory today. SK’s duo in particular has been a crucial point of the team’s success, finding a lot of advantages in the laning phase with some very aggressive champion combinations.
Draft breakdown
Finished draft shown at the bottom of the breakdown.
Blue Bans:
Ban 1 — Kalista
One of the picks that Jezu has found a lot of success on this split. It’s one of the aggressive playmaking champions that tends to favor the SK botlane.
Ban 2 — Lillia
The versatile power jungler that we’ve seen rise in priority over the weeks. Very much deserving of a ban.
Ban 3 — Caitlyn
Another strong laner taken away from Jezu. It’s very clear that Fnatic has identified how valuable this botlane is for SK and is now looking to shut them down in the draft.
Red Bans:
Ban 1 — Senna
Senna is a pick that Fnatic found success on just yesterday. But I question if it is a pick that suits the style that Fnatic tends to play towards, with snowballing and engage heavy compositions.
Ban 2 — Thresh
Mr.Lantern gets banned away, this time on the red side. The reason is as we’ve mentioned before; hypercarries with low mobility. Note that either Udyr or Twisted Fate is being left up.
Ban 3 — Udyr
So the Udyr is the pick that gets banned away, but like we mentioned, it means that Twisted Fate is up and available.
Picks:
B1 Pick — Twisted Fate
As to be expected, the TF is picked up straight away by Fnatic. It’s the ultimate form of global pressure combined with a point and click CC. It’ll be interesting to see what SK respond with to shut down the pick.
R1 Pick — Tristana
The Tristana is most likely coming in as an answer to the TF. The pick has a lot of kill treat in lane and can punish roams by quickly taking down turrets.
R2 Pick — Graves
The Graves is definitely a takaway from Fnatic, preventing it from being paired with TF. It does however make the mid/jungle combo very AD heavy, so the Tristana most likely have to be flexed into the botlane instead. I doubt that this is worth it as there aren’t many strong AP counters to Twisted Fate.
B2 Pick —Kai’Sa
The classic Kai’Sa pickup comes in. It’s a pick that always made a lot of sense for Fnatic as they tend to favor engage heavy compositions. The Kai’Sa is a very good follow up on those engages and can burst down any champ that overstays their welcome.
B3 Pick — Rell
A very strong engager to accompany the Kai’Sa. I’m glad that the team decided to get Hyli back on one of his signature engagers. The man exerts an unbelievable amount of pressure on these style of picks and sets up his team for success.
R3 Pick — Alistar
A solid counter to the Rell and a strong frontline that can resist the Fnatic engage. It makes a lot of sense.
Blue bans:
Ban 4 — Seraphine
The Seraphine ban hints towards the fact that Fnatic believes that the Tristana is going bot. Denying the enchanter also makes a lot of sense with two “ADC’s” on the SK comp.
Ban 5 — Orianna
Another mid ban thrown towards Blue. This time it’s the Orianna that gets taken away.
Red bans:
Ban 4 — Nidalee
There are still many junglers available but it is the Nidalee that gets taken away. The gold card into spear in obviously a solid combo but would leave Fnatic with a lack of consistent damage output.
Ban 5 — Gragas
One of many viable tanks banned away.
Picks:
R4 Pick — Ryze
Whist being fine in lane, Ryze is in my opinion a worse version of Twisted Fate in most ways. It’s possible that he can find some advantages in the sidelane but with a TF in the game, that playstyle gets insanely dangerous.
B4 Pick — Taliyah
The rock bender makes a return to the rift. We haven’t seen much of Taliyah since the nerfs on 11.3, but I believe that the pick is viable when drafted together with solo lanes that can set her up.
B5 Pick — Renekton
Speaking of champions that can set a Taliyah up for success, Renekton comes in for Fnatic. Despite not being as strong as earlier in the split, it makes a lot of sense with the composition that has been put together.
R5 Pick — Sion
SK is severely lacking frontline that can take a gold card and zone the Twisted Fate out of fight. So the Sion pick makes sense, but it’s at the same time not a pick that accomplishes much for the SK side. With the amount of global pressure that Fnatic has drafted, it’s very likely that SK will be outmaneuvered on the map.
Pre-game prediction
Leaving Twisted Fate open without a proper response prepared has left SK in a very rough spot here. The amount of global pressure that Fnatic has with both Taliyah and Twisted Fate, combined with two very potent sidelanes makes me strongly favor the Fnatic draft. SK will have to try to find some type of advantage with Ryze in the sidelane, but it is a very niche wincondition.
Key moments
Fnatic used their global pressure to it’s fullest extent this game and I want to put a lot of attention towards the extended bot fight around 5 minutes. Fnatic was extremely quick to collapse on the volatile botlane matchup and a very clever roam by Bwipo to collect the midlane wave left SK behind almost 1.5K at such an early point in the game.
After that point Fnatic had a strong hold on the game and was able to grow their lead by simply outlaning their opponents, always threatening a collapse with their globals. Treatz was able to find some favorable engages to keep SK in the game but in the end there was nothing that could prevent Fnatic from closing out. SK tried to go for a desperate baron attempt after getting a catch, but a collapsing Fnatic was able to win the fight and with that, the game.
Post game takeaways
Clean, calculated and played out with intent. This was another very impressive victory for Fnatic with the whole squad playing towards their wincondition without having to many missteps along the way. There is always some cleaning up to do but as a whole, the team is showing some very good signs.
Compared to yesterday, this victory felt much more convincing and I think the big difference maker was the draft. The team has a much better flow when having the tools to set up their own plays instead of having to play a reactive style.
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