Fnatic tops G2 to take spot in Worlds, breaks viewership record

It wasn’t for the faint-hearted when Fnatic and G2 Esports clashed for the last seed in the 2021 World Championship. 

While it was an absolute nail-biter that went all the way to five games before culminating in a Fnatic victory, it was also a series that got attention from viewers from all over the world. The two LEC giants usually draw in a lot of viewers when they play in a playoffs match and this time was no different. Even though fans are used to seeing them clash in the finals, this was different as only the winner would move on to Worlds 2021. This helped the series peak at over 843,000 viewers, which is by far the most for any LEC match this split.   

The match was expected to hit great viewer numbers even before it started, but it wasn’t until the fifth game where viewership peaked at over 800,000. Luckily, the two former LEC champions are known for playing some of the most intense series ever seen in League of Legends esports and this was another one for the history books. 

G2 Esports was the pre-game favorite and also managed to snag the first win of the series. Fnatic bounced back right after and even looked ready to take two games in a row before G2 made an incredible comeback. This really put the series on a knife’s edge but Fnatic stayed calm in the fourth game and delivered one of the biggest stomps this year. 

It all came down to game five, a situation both teams are familiar with. Even though Fnatic is known to choke against G2 Esports, that didn’t happen this time. Instead, rookie top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane showed exactly how to play Darius under incredible pressure and helped the rest of his team take the victory and punch a ticket to Worlds 2021 in China later this year. 

T1 and Gen.G hold summer split viewer record

The incredible viewership of Fnatic vs. G2 Esports was more than enough to beat the LEC record in this split, which was previously held by Fnatic vs. Misfits Gaming which reached a peak of 455,000 viewers a few days prior. The question is now whether the LEC will even reach those numbers in the grand final where MAD Lions will take on the winner of Fnatic vs. Rogue. 

That said, the teams holding the global viewership record this summer split are none other than T1 and Gen.G, who played the 2021 LCK Summer Split semifinal a few hours before Fnatic and G2 Esports hit Summoner’s Rift. This was a huge match by any measure, where T1 and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok finally secured a spot in Worlds 2021 and earned the chance to face DWG KIA in the LCK finals next week. 

This match reached a peak of 906,901 viewers which is an incredible number for the Korean league. Not only did all of Korea watch this exciting match, but the western viewership on Twitch was also following closely with more than 175,000 viewers for most of the games. T1 ended up winning 3-1, so these numbers would likely have been higher if the two teams went the distance. 

With the finals coming up in all four major LoL regions, it’s still possible that these viewer records will be surpassed.