Fnatic beats Splyce, secures second seed in LEC for Worlds

William Davis Published 15/09/2019

Fnatic secured the LEC’s second seed in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship with a convincing victory over Splyce.

As expected, Fnatic managed to take the series in three quick games. Despite the result, Splyce still managed to show good macro plays and an ability to stand their ground against Fnatic.

European teams are looking like strong contenders for Worlds this year. All three squads have a different play style and possess strengths that could take them a long way in the competition.

Fnatic and Splyce break even

In a taste of what was to come, game one was largely even. Splyce was proactive and executed successful rotations in multiple lanes, while Fnatic consistently matched Splyce’s output.

Neither team had an advantage in gold or objectives, but Fnatic managed to take control with one big play. Fnatic captured the baron buff and secured the objective off a successful team fight. Powered up, Fnatic marched into Splyce’s base.

Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss was Splyce’s sole survivor and it fell on him to defend the nexus. The top laner transformed into Mega Gnar at the right moment to use his ult against four Fnatic players and protect the exposed nexus. Fnatic limped away from the base as the rest of Splyce respawned.

Those heroics bought Splyce some time but they didn’t actually help to make up the power difference that followed Fnatic’s previous victories. Fnatic healed, pushed, and took the game after another successful team fight.

Broxah uses Nocturne against Splyce

Fnatic accelerated the pace of the series in game two.

Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen lead the charge on Nocturne, using his ultimate to set up ganks. Splyce knew full well how powerful the champion can be, using it on Saturday to dominate FC Schalke 04 Esports. They also knew how to counter it, as Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir stole Paranoia with Sylas and used it effectively.

Fnatic had a clear advantage but still opted to play a slow game. That changed when Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek blew the game open with an ultimate from Cassiopea that caught four Splyce players. Fnatic followed the mid laner and notched four kills, setting up a push that went all the way to the nexus turrets.

The squad moved back to the baron when Splyce began to respawn but Splyce moved to contest. Fnatic took advantage of the confusion and used TPs to get into the base and destroy the nexus.

Nemesis shines, eliminates Splyce

Fnatic closed the series with an outstanding performance from Nemesis. Broxah surprisingly picked Ivern, an off-meta jungler that plays a support type of game instead of a standard aggressive style.

Nemesis and Broxah took turns roaming to the bottom lane in an effort to help their carry start snowballing. Fnatic’s strong rotations and positioning during skirmishes allowed them to keep Splyce off-balance early on.

Splyce still found a way to keep the gold close, but Nemesis was not going to be denied the sweep. The mid laner was in position for every play, scoring kills and setting Fnatic up to seal the game emphatically.

Fnatic took down the nexus, won the series, and secured second seeding in the LEC for the 2019 LoL World Championship. Splyce takes the third seed and now has to go through the play-in stage.

Splyce returns to the stage on October 2 when the play-in stage kicks off live from Berlin.

William Davis

About William Davis

View full profile