Melany M. October 28, 2018
Fnatic secured its pass to the 2018 World Championship final after defeating Cloud9 in the semifinals.
The European champion continued its dominant performance in the World Championship, this time against the only North American representative to made it out of groups.
Game one started with an early first blood in the mid lane in favor of Fnatic. Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen then tried to get a kill in the top lane, but he overextended and gave Fnatic a second early kill.
The pace of the game was defined by Fnatic’s Danish duo Rasmus “Caps” Winther and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen. Their assertive collapses and stifling map control allowed Fnatic to secure a baron at just 20 minutes.
Cloud9 struggled to find any kills and objectives during the game and couldn’t stop Fnatic’s push. At 25 minutes, Fnatic won game one.
Both teams were ready to fight in game two. The two sides exchanged heavy blows and at 20 minutes the scoreboard and gold remained even. Cloud9 grouped and secured map objectives whenever they could find openings.
Fnatic was focused on fighting with Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov on Rakan leading the team’s initiations. As was the case in game one, Fnatic was able to translate a successful skirmish into a secured baron buff and march into the enemy base. Caps proved why he was the summer MVP in Europe with a quadra kill as the mid laner set up match point.
The third game of the day was just as scrappy as the second, but unfortunately for the North American squad, Fnatic came out on top of most of the resulting fights. With better engage in their draft and through careful positioning, Fnatic was able to take over the game.
Cloud9 tried and failed to find the necessary picks to stay relevant in the game. After killing four members of Cloud9, Fnatic claimed the baron and pushed for the win. A couple of minutes and a team ace later, Fnatic won game three and qualified for the grand final, becoming the first European team to do so in the modern history of the World Championship.