A Victorious Fnatic Closes Out the Group Stage

After 7 days of the most exciting League of Legends to have been played in what seems like years… Group B managed to kick it up a notch further!

Cloud 9 started the day squarely ahead of the competition, leaving ahq e-Sports Club, Fnatic and Invictus Gaming in the dust with a fast pushing Tristana composition bolstered by Azir and Morgana picks.

So how then, did Cloud 9 end up not advancing to the quarterfinals? Who could have predicted Fnatic to regain their composure so swiftly (aside from when Aika Rojas did, of course)?

Flawless Fnatic

Suffice it to say that many fans were disappointed with the outcome of Fnatic’s Week 1 games. A 21-win streak in the European LCS and the biggest hype train a western team has ever had heading into a Worlds event ending in a 1-2 record? For shame!

But that was the Fnatic of yester-week. This Fnatic? On point. Early aggression? Check. Explosive team fighting? Double check. Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim relentlessly roaming around the map? Triple check. A QuaaaaAAAAdra kill for Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon? Quadra check, according to Phreak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3BfElTWnW8

Fnatic went on to outright demolish Cloud 9 and Invictus Gaming to remind the world why they are Europe’s finest. And while everyone on the team stepped up, including their coach Louis “Deilor” Sevilla for figuring out when and how to run a Kennen AD Carry composition, Fabian “Febiven” Diespstraten will be the name on everyone’s lips after today when it comes to talk about the next big star.

Febiven conserving his energy in order to carry his team through the day’s games.

There’s something about this team. Count them out and they always surprise. Call them boring, and they always excite. Fnatic have consistently been putting on dazzling performances on the big stage for years now, and none more showstopping than their last match of groups.

Never Underestimate the Little Guy (Taiwan)

That last match was against ahq, a team many were quick to dismiss as has been the curse of all the Taiwanese teams since Season 2’s dark horse champion, Taipei Assassins. Nobody expects them to win… until they do.

Just like yoe Flash Wolves in Group A, ahq slowly cruised through their group picking up modest wins of their own. In fact, their own team dynamic is a reflection of Group B, where all eyes were trained on Fnatic and Cloud 9. When people think ahq they think Liu “Westdoor” Shu-Wei, the perpetual Fizz picker and assassin master, because of his flashy play. But throughout this tournament, it’s actually been Chou “AN” Chun-An and Chen “Ziv” Yi that have been carrying the team.

ahq’s 2nd match against Fnatic can only be described as an instant classic. So much so that I’m posting the entire game right here because you all HAVE to see it.

The Taiwanese squad opted for a modified protect the Jinx composition with a Tahm Kench and Kennen, while Fnatic went with a double assassin lineup of Ekko and LeBlanc, bolstered by Shen support for dives.

Kang “Albis” Chia-Wei may have very well earned a medal of honor with how much he saved AN from Fnatic over the course of that game, allowing the Jinx to run wild on the unsuspecting Europeans. There were fights left and right, Baron plays, Baron steals and of course in true Fnatic fashion, desperation plays around an overly exposed nexus.

Fnatic will remember AN as the man who nearly sent them into a tiebreaker scenario with his rockets.

It was as bloody as it was glorious, but in the end, Europe’s will proved too strong for ahq, and they fell into a tiebreaker scenario with Cloud 9 as Fnatic claimed the number 1 slot.

No More Faith

Yes, people said the Faith Age died with Counter Logic Gaming’s early exit from the tournament, but North American fans would argue that the faith wasn’t lost… only transferred to Cloud 9. With Cloud 9 being 3-0 after Week 1, the best of any NA team at the event, that would be a fair assumption to make. After all, C9 only needed to win a single game to advance.

Except C9 lost all their games in Week 2.

The death of the CLG into C9 bandwagon fan meme.

After the magic of their 3-0 start when next nobody counted Cloud 9 in to top the group, fans and analysts alike were left wondering what other strategical cards the hope of North America had up their sleeves in order to remain ahead of the curve. Turns out the answer was nothing.

Every team got to style on Cloud 9. Even Invictus Gaming, the other team aside from LGD Gaming affected by the Chinese Worlds curse of underperforming, got to look like their normally aggressive selves. Lee “KaKAO” Byung-kwon brought out his feared Nidalee, which combined perfectly with Song “RooKie” Eui-jin’s Lissandra for the perfect AP dive buddy pair. A fitting last hurrah for the 2nd Chinese team to be eliminated from the tournament.

KaKAO looking dapper in IG’s new team apparel as he proceeded to murder Cloud 9.

Cloud 9’s performance highlights just how important a strategic edge is. Once their enemies figured out their draft, the skill disparity between C9’s members and the rest of the group was all too apparent. Even if they looked to barely squeeze by groups on a tiebreaker win against ahq, the Taiwanese squad turned the game on its head with clutch team fighting to secure their spot in the Knockout Stage.

That loss meant that North America is out of the tournament altogether. As an added insult, NA teams won exactly 0 games in Week 2 while losing a total of 10! Not only is that amazingly disappointing, but no doubt NA fans will feel the backlash of the European community since the roles were reversed for the regions back in 2014 with Europe’s Alliance notoriously bombing a game to KaBuM! e-Sports. NA didn’t let Europe forget that for a year, and now it’s Europe’s turn to gloat and sling mud.

Illuminati confirmed?

Are you ready for the Knockout Stage matches later this week? Have you missed any results from the Group Stage? Check out our results page to make sure.

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