eSports
Wyatt Lyles 7y

Fnatic makes statement vs. G2

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Fnatic closed out Week 10, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series with a commanding 2-0 sweep of G2 Esports on Saturday in Berlin.

The entire Summer Split has belonged to Fnatic (11-2, 23-6 match record), with its win over G2 (8-5, 20-13 match record) serving to hammer home that we could be witnessing a changing of the guard in Europe. Since finally breaking into the EU LCS in the Spring Split of 2016, G2 has won every Split since, tallying four straight titles. For the first time since then, however, it finally looks as though G2 will be dethroned. Fnatic has been in the EU LCS pretty much since its inception, but hasn't won a split since 2015. If today's series was any indication of the future, that could very well change in a few weeks.

Fnatic's win was a microcosm of what makes it so dangerous. While it frequently selected off-meta picks pre-Rift Rivals, it has stuck to the meta and has excelled at it ever since then. In both games, it drafted very similar team compositions that focused on securing picks to build leads throughout the mid and late game. While Game 1 took a bit longer than Fnatic would have liked, Fnatic nonetheless managed to snowball its way into a big late game teamfight win that shut down G2 even after it had just secured a Baron. Game 2 was more of the same, as Fnatic punished the double AD carry composition of G2 with picks and an indomitable frontline to close out the split.

This series was also another chance for some of the Fnatic players, namely not AD carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson, to show that they can carry games. Mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's Orianna in Game 1 tallied a 4/1/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 100 percent kill participation, while also accounting for all of his team's kills for most of the game. While Caps was strong again in Game, again on Orianna, that game belonged to top laner Paul "sOAZ" Boyer's Gnar, who picked up an 8/3/3 KDA to own the top lane and lead his team to victory.

It's now time for both team to look towards the playoffs. Fnatic has secured a first-round bye from finishing in first place of Group A, while G2 Esports will take on Splyce in the first round of the playoffs set to start next weekend.

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