Melany M. June 21, 2019
Fnatic is the last undefeated team standing in the LEC.
Despite facing stiff odds, Fnatic bested G2 Esports in a bloody game. That victory advanced their record in the Summer Split to 5-0 and places them atop the standings.
Though G2 were picked by many to take the match, the team dug their own graves in the early game when they decided to have their players go off-role, with mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther and top laner Martin “Wunder” Hansen switching places. Fnatic top laner Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau punished that with relentless play, securing a solo kill on Caps two minutes into the match.
That scene would play out a few more times in the first ten minutes. Multiple visits from jungler Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen yielded kills, which allowed Bwipo to get a significant lead on the competition.
Fnatic didn’t slow down from there. The high tempo translated into more and more kills, with neutral objectives coming as the game progressed. G2 retreated and regrouped but it became harder to find space as Fnatic began cutting off the map.
Caps tried to rotate to other lanes but never found anything other than more deaths. G2 had a glimmer of hope as jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski was able to keep up in farm but he couldn’t do much as he was frequently waiting for a teammate to respawn.
Fnatic began looking to end things with a long siege after securing a baron buff. With no real way back into the game, G2 decided to go down swinging. It was a valiant effort but they ultimately fell in 26 minutes.
G2 established itself as a world-class League of Legends team by winning the Mid-Season Invitational, knocking the likes of SK Telecom T1 and Team Liquid flat on their faces. G2 has looked no less dominant in the early weeks of the LEC and looked unstoppable up until now. That would have made Fnatic’s victory a huge win for the team on its own but winning in large part thanks to their neutralizing of Caps, who left the team for G2 last year, was likely a cherry on top.
On Saturday, G2 is facing Rogue. Fnatic looks to continue its winning streak as they take on Excel Esports.