Summer Split 2014 Championship Recap: Fnatic versus Alliance

By Helmight

            The “super team” has finally delivered. Alliance defeated Fnatic today in 4 games to secure themselves their first-ever split championship title in convincing fashion. Thanks to superior early game control, especially in terms of dragons, Alliance dethroned the 3-time split champions to set themselves up as the team-to-beat from Europe.

            Fnatic got off to a slow start in the series and were seemingly unprepared to play against Alliance’s aggressive early moves. Numerous times, Fnatic made crucial mistakes and just flat-out bad decisions that gave Alliance an early gold lead and every single dragon of the game. Alliance is a team that knows how to use an early advantage and they exploited it to the utmost in their 38-minute victory.

            Game 2 was a much closer affair, in large part due to xPeke being allowed to play Kassadin. Alliance managed to get an early gold advantage as before, but a crucial midgame teamfight went awry for them after a stunning turnaround from xPeke. A triple kill onto Rekkles, in addition to an inner tower going down, cut Alliance’s gold lead down to a measly 1k following the play. However, Alliance still held an objective lead and wasn’t out of the fight. They eventually outmaneuvered Fnatic and took a successful 3-kill teamfight in Fnatic’s own red jungle, then translated the victory into a Baron. Fnatic managed to sneak down Alliance’s middle inhibitor tower in exchange for the Baron, but it was a lopsided trade. The Baroned-up Alliance proceeded demolish Fnatic under their own inhibitor tower, then took the middle inhibitor. Suddenly down 7k gold, Fnatic had no answer for Alliance’s team.

            Down 0-2, things were grim for Fnatic. However, Europe’s three-time champions weren’t defeated yet and they managed to pull out a clutch victory to stay in the series. Unlike the previous games, Fnatic prevented Alliance from snowballing the early game thanks to a series of good rotations and excellent plays by Rekkles. By 19 minutes, Fnatic had taken a 3k gold lead and had 5 kills on their marksman. The rest of the game continued in the same fashion, with Fnatic outrotating and outfighting Alliance, and Rekkles getting bigger and bigger. Alliance couldn’t manage to burn through Fnatic’s shields and eventually they were dismantled in dominating fashion.

            It could have been the start of an epic turnaround by Fnatic, but was instead a momentary flash of glory. A sneaky play by Alliance gave them first blood at two minutes into the game, snapping Fnatic fans out of their dreams of a comeback almost immediately. Every time Fnatic appeared to be clawing their way back into the game, Alliance pulled off a clever play or a well-orchestrated teamfight to keep their advantage. At the end of the day, Alliance didn’t even need Baron to put Fnatic away, as their comp was just too strong for Fnatic to overcome. As the Nexus fell, Alliance took the series and their first Split Championship.  

For more stats, including the VoDs for each game, check out LoL Esports 

Game of the Day: Fnatic versus Millenium

By Helmight

            Despite their disappointing defeat yesterday at the hands of Alliance, Fnatic has returned today with renewed confidence and the same winning spirit that they had all throughout their 8-game winning streak. Though Millenium has been playing well, Fnatic was able to put them away in a 42-minute game that went mostly in their favor.

            Though Millenium could fight Fnatic on mostly equal terms throughout the game, their objective control is what did them in. Fnatic snuck the first dragon of the game at 3 minute, then proceeded to secure the next 4 in a row. Millenium meanwhile was only in position to contest one of these dragons, and sacrificed their jungler and kev1n’s Teleport in order to do so. However, it was a final Baron fight that allowed Fnatic to put Millenium down. Cyanide managed to Smite the Baron right as Millenium arrived, allowing Fnatic to apply their full force onto Millenium’s unprepared team. Millenium dropped like flies, with Creaton being the only member that managed to limp back to base. With only a lone marksman opposing them, Fnatic was able to steamroll into Millenium’s base and take the Nexus.

            The midlane matchup today was reminiscent of Season 3 Worlds – Corki, Zyra, Gragas, and Ahri all made an appearance. However, it was xPeke’s Ahri that had the most impact of the S3 champions. "I didn't feel like I had to pick her, but I feel really confident on her,” said xPeke in a postgame interview. “I didn't have many options - it was either pick a farmer or pick Ahri.” Though his score left much to be desired , xPeke certainly looked comfortable on the Nine-Tailed Fox. His Charms gave Fnatic some much-needed siege pressure whenever Millenium tried to go for a tower, while his mobility gave Fnatic a chance to chase down fleeing targets. YellOwStaR was also no slouch in today’s game. Dying to Kottonex twice in the early game must have gotten his blood up - YellOwStaR ended up buying a Zhonya’s Hourglass and proceeded to kill Kottonex three times throughout the course of the game to exact his revenge.

            Millenium also played an excellent game. While mid is no longer considered to be Gragas’s primary lane, Kerp made a convincing argument for it. His Q-R combos annihilated xPeke on multiple occasions and brought to mind the pre-rework Gragas’s damage. The Explosive Cask also let Kerp steal the second Baron of the game out from under Fnatic’s collective noses and keep Millenium in the game. However, the rest of Millenium left something to be desired. Kottonex early game was fantastic, but as time went on his assassin build for Rengar became more and more irrelevant – especially since he never finished his Feral Flare. With 7 deaths to his name, Kottonex will need to step up his game next week if he wants Millenium to reach the playoffs.

            Fnatic opted against the hyper-aggressive early game that they’d used against Alliance yesterday, instead preferring to focus on objectives. With Millenium’s swapping their duo up to the top lane, Fnatic could easily take a 3-minute dragon and simply focus on farming up. Meanwhile, sOAZ did much better in the swap than Kev1n did – his Lulu could be used just for utility despite lacking in farm, while Kev1n’s Irelia could never become the splitpushing monster he needed to be. Kottonex and Creaton created a lot of early-game pressure for Millenium, but at the end of the day Fnatic outrotated and outfought Millenium at every turn. Two Baron fights were all they needed to end the game – the first gave Fnatic access to Millenium’s inhibitor turrets, and the second gave them 4 late game kills. Forty seconds is a long time to wait in the late game, and Millenium would be still be waiting while Fnatic cleaned out their base for a win.

           

Fnatic (W)				Millenium (L)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
23	9	83.1k		14	5			67.8k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	sOAZ	Lulu	3/1/17	Top	kev1n				Irelia	2/6/1
Jungle	Cyanide	Evelynn	1/3/14	Jungle	Kottonex				Rengar	1/7/7
Mid	xPeke	Ahri	2/3/11	Mid	Kerp				Gragas	6/4/3
ADC	Rekkles	Kog’Maw	11/2/9	ADC	Creaton				Corki	4/2/4
Support	YellOwStaR	Zyra	6/5/11	Support	Jree				Thresh	1/4/9
Bans
Zilean	Aatrox	Lee Sin		Kassadin			Syndra	Fizz

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

Game of the Day: Fnatic versus Alliance

By Helmight

            It was a disappointing day for Fnatic fans. Their match against Alliance had been hotly anticipated, as a win here would tie them for first place and force a tiebreaker match between the two when playoffs arrived. Fnatic’s early aggression gave them a quick advantage, but their passive play and indecisiveness eventually let Alliance outrotate, outfight, and outplay Fnatic.

            Fnatic and Alliance played a 50 minute game, but in truth the match was over before then. Fnatic had been slowly stumbling over the course of the game and made a series of poor decisions that allowed Alliance to pull back into the game. Suddenly at a disadvantage, Fnatic then reverted back to their infamously passive play from their 8-game losing streak last split. With their opponents too scared to fight, Alliance applied pressure everywhere they could, taking towers and dragons with ease. After Alliance took one inhibitor and made to pressure another, Fnatic finally tried to fight them off. By this point though, Fnatic had forfeited a huge amount of gold and the fight went immediately south for them. With most of their opponents dead, it was a simple matter for Alliance to shove onto the Nexus and end the game.

            Fnatic’s play early on was brilliant. An early five-man invasion cost Shook his Flash and forced him to start jungling at his blue buff – then, a couple minutes later, Fnatic returned and stole his red buff right as he tried to secure it. Another pair of Flashes were burned by Alliance following the skirmish, giving Fnatic a huge early-game lead. Shifting Rekkles and YellOwStaR into the top lane against Wickd also proved to be a good move. With Nyph and Shook being forced to stay with Wickd, sOAZ was able to soak experience and farm in relative comfort down in the bottom lane. With early rotations coming out from YellOwStaR and Cyanide, Fnatic pressured Alliance’s lanes all across the board.

            However, Fnatic seemed to lose steam after the first few minutes of the game and their calculated aggression slowly turned risky. Instead of securing uncontested objectives, Fnatic more often than not traded towers with Alliance – then found themselves in a bad position and gave up even more afterwards. Alliance also had much better dragon control, securing five out of six for the game. With their early advantages dwindling away to nothing, Fnatic decided to stop pressuring Alliance and play more defensively. It was a move that Alliance punished to the utmost, and one that eventually proved fatal for Fnatic. 

Fnatic (L)				Alliance (W)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
3	7	77.5k		6	10			86.7k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	sOAZ	Gragas	1/1/1	Top	Wickd				Irelia	1/2/2
Jungle	Cyanide	Jarvan IV	0/2/2	Jungle	Shook				Riven	2/0/4
Mid	xPeke	Ziggs	0/2/2	Mid	Froggen				Orianna	0/1/6
ADC	Rekkles	Jinx	1/1/2	ADC	Tabzz				Kog’Maw	3/0/3
Support	YellOwStaR	Thresh	1/0/1	Support	Nyph				Morgana	0/0/6
Bans
Lee Sin	Xerath	Twisted Fate		Kassadin			Evelynn	Syndra

 

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!