Fnatic vs 100 Thieves

For our first match of the day we have a pretty hype clash between the perennial EU LCS champions Fnatic, and the NA LCS second seed. To be quite honest, this isn't a hype match-up because it'll be close - far from it. It's mainly hype because it is yet another EU vs. NA clash. Everyone is siding with Fnatic, and with good reason.

100 Thieves simply aren't playing at a high enough level in order to be competitive with the very best teams in the world. While they might be able to surprise a bit, perhaps go toe-to-toe in certain stages of the game, they shouldn't be able to win - and that's the only thing that matters at this point in the tournament. In the end, this seems like a pretty cliche Worlds for North America - two teams fail to get out of groups, and Cloud9 surprise everyone in attendance and play out of their minds when it matters the most and reach Top 8. 100 Thieves have the right players - they just don't have the cohesion nor the right preparation in order to compete at this level.

On the other hand, Fnatic are in a very good position rankings-wise, and they should be a lock-in for the second spot in group - at the very least. They could - through a series of unexpected events - emerge as the number one seed, but it's pretty unlikely after seeing just how strong Invictus Gaming looked. There's also the fact that Fnatic lost to IG once already, so they'll have to take them down in the rematch and force a tiebreaker, which is a pretty tall task - but not an impossible one.

Taking 100 Thieves down is pretty much a must if they want to secure their Knockout Stage spot. If they end up losing they could potentially risk their position in Group D, so they're surely going to go all-out and dominate. They're the more versatile team, they're more equipped to tackle any problem head-on in every stage of the game, and in short, they shouldn't have too big of a problem in taking an underperforming 100 Thieves down with relative ease, especially if they're looking to make a statement and go up against Invictus Gaming with some much-needed momentum in the very last match of the day.