Fnatic vs Team Vitality

For our second semifinal match of the EU LCS 2018 Spring Split we have an incredibly exciting clash between the former "Kings of Europe" - Fnatic and a squad of aggressive, confident newcomers in Team Vitality.

Fnatic entered the 2018 season hailed as the best team in the region - and with good reason. They retained four members of their core from last year (which was a fairly successful roster in their own right) and swapped Jesiz in favor of the staple UOL support Hylissang. That move was praised by many, as adding more mechanical prowess and shotcalling to an already dominant team couldn't do any wrong. When the split began they needed some time to adjust and that hold true especially for the bottom lane due to the different playstyles from both Rekkles and Hyli but as the weeks went on Fnatic quickly cemented themselves as the best, most dominant team with the highest potential and skill ceiling.

They had ups and downs but it was evident from the very get go that if Fnatic were ever to come back and reclaim their long lost throne - now would be it. With Caps and Broxah no longer being rookies but experienced players who felt the pressure of performing even on the Worlds stage and three grizzled veterans beside them to lead and set an example there was really nothing in the way that could stop this roster from being the best in the region.

Their week nine games were... mediocre, to be fair. While their playoff bye was secured it's still a good thing to end on a high note and maybe their lackluster start against Giants was the result of some experimentation (Sion in the mid lane) but it still wasn't as pretty as most people expected. (the Schalke game was rather dominant however) The thing with Fnatic is that they're not perfect, they make bad calls and fall flat at times in the early game. Multiple teams were able to exploit this during the regular season, most notably Misfits who hold the 2-0 over the former "Kings of Europe". However it is the impeccable teamfighting and decision making in the mid and late stages of the game that make this Fnatic roster to deadly and frightening to play against. It doesn't matter if they fumble in the beginning - they have the tools and the mental fortitude to come back when it matters the most as was demonstrated on more than one occasion during the regular season.

Things were going incredibly well until a couple of days ago Fnatic came out with news that sOAZ wouldn't be competing in the playoffs due to a hand injury meaning their substitute Bwipo will have to play.

Bwipo played two games for Fnatic a couple of weeks ago and while that is far from a desirable sample size it is still something to go by. His two games were clean, and while we won't judge from his statistics but he played a lot better than most people expected. Obviously the stats don't tell the complete picture if you're on a dominant team but his 9 KDA, 22% death share and great laning numbers tell us that he really is a top tier player in the making.

While Bwipo can compete with sOAZ on a mechanical level, the level of leadership and experience that sOAZ brings to the table is invaluable and is often a huge factor in Fnatic's wins. They essentially lost a key player and that could make all the difference.

On the other side we have a team many considered the most fun and exciting to watch during the Spring Split. Vitality (four former Giants Gaming players and Cabochard of Gambit fame) came into the split throwing heavy punches from the very get go. Led by the experienced Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi they achieved an incredible 7-1 score during the first four weeks of play. The level of dominance and skill expression that this team displayed at the beginning of the split was downright astounding and they quickly became the most beloved underdogs that quickly became the favorite to reach the finals.

Led by the mechanically gifted "Italian Stallion" Jiizuke - who was crowned as the "Rookie of the Split" just hours ago - this squad quickly became notorious for their incredibly aggressive (and successful) playstyle.

Thing is, when the mid-split period came and the meta shifted we saw the holes in their game. We saw just how dependent they were on their early game and how it impacted their chance of winning. If they started off strong with a couple of succcessful ganks for Jiizuke then they would easily snowball off of mid lane, take Baron and through some solid macro and objective control end out the game in rather convincing fashion. If however they were set behind by a sloppy gank or a bad call and they reach the twenty minute mark with a deficit their win rate plummets hard.

They managed to pick things up and improve near the end of the split but they never really got back to their original, dominant form. (the factor being multiple meta shifts and other teams improving and developing synergy, something this Vitality roster had from the very get go)

That, paired with the fact that they're all fairly inconsistent (with Jiizuke perhaps being the only exception) and you get a team filled with five unknown variables. They're still too reliant on Jiizuke and when he doesn't pop off - Vitality doesn't win. Gilius is doing his best to enable his midlaner but he has his own faults - botched ganks, mindless engages and bad smites (leads the region with six Barons he failed to smite). Paired with an inconsistent bottom lane - Minitroupax is talented but doesn't harcarry enough and Jactroll has good games and abysmal ones (his seven-eight death Tahm Kench game comes to mind) and Cabochard is often left to his own devices in the top lane. They have lapses in communication more often than not and that leads to downright awful calls and Barons which often seal their fate. 

They played well against H2K, but it's important to note that they barely managed to best a team that occupied the very bottom of the standings for the entirety of the split. They know the way to their downfall, but it seems too optimistic for them to fix all of their issues in such a short period of time. Fnatic are like the polar opposite - cool, calm, collected and calculated.

The thing is - Fnatic are still favored and with good reason. It's incredible luck (or careful preparation) that they subbed in Bwipo twice nearing the end of the split as he's not only experienced playing on the LCS stage but against somewhat strong teams as well. (Unicorns of Love were by all means a Top 6-7 team when all was said and done) He showcased an ability to play somewhat carry oriented champions like Swain but also take a back seat and enable his teammates as Shen - and he played fantastic on both picks.

On the other hand Vitality is an incredibly dangerous team and they have a lot of tools to win however they're never as consistent. They were incredibly sloppy against H2K and overall it's just hard seeing them taking this win away from Fnatic. That said they never go down without a fight so do expect a somewhat close series.