Preface: This series serves to dig deeper beyond the obvious conclusions of a team from any given region in any given week of competitive League of Legends. The team I choose won’t always be the team that played the best game or the worst game nor the most entertaining games. This isn’t an award, it’s an observation. It’s an evaluation of a team’s games that serves to bring the most interesting questions to light-- important questions that aren’t always asked by the spectators.

After all, so few dare to ask the question.

July 9th - July 10th European LCS, Week 7

Team: Fnatic: 14-0

I know, I know. I said I wouldn’t be using the criteria of the best in choosing a team to discuss. As week 7 of the EU LCS came to a close, Fnatic come out on the other side with a perfect win streak; the longest one in LCS history so far. They came with a 2-0 against all odds with two back to back comeback victories against H2K and Origen; the third and second place EU teams respectively. It almost seems like such an obvious and easy choice for anyone to pick Fnatic this week.

But Fnatic didn’t play the best games of European LCS this week. In fact they played the most worrying game of their entire summer split. Fans of this team should be worried moving forward, although they need not hit the panic button or to jump ship just yet.

The first game of the week was against H2K where they fell  a long way behind very fast due to a jungle invade gone wrong. Walking as five through the blue side bottom tri-bush, H2K used that information to ambush Fnatic within the confines of their own jungle giving them a two kill lead over the undefeated Fnatic. With that, H2K pushed Fnatic into a small hole in the sandbox. Fnatic took a shovel and dug themselves a bigger hole as they aggressively sought out Odoamne’s blood in the top lane. Reignover and Huni failed to take into consideration Shen’s Ultimate, Stand United, and paid the price. Two more kills for H2K.

As H2K continuously punished Fnatic’s over-aggression, they gained a two dragon and 5K Gold lead and looked to press their advantage when Loulex and kaSing went into Fnatic’s upper jungle to secure vision. Since Fnatic were pushed in and behind, they were most likely to be close to each other if not grouped, so it’s wise for Loulex and kaSing to make a swift retreat towards their team. Instead, Loulex last second decides to walk downwards towards mid through dangerous territory only to get caught out and cost the split-up H2K 4 free kills. A maneuver worthy of Chinese LGD jungler TBQ, known for being caught out in the wrong place, too often.

H2K fell from grace and lost 5v5 teamfights to Fnatic’s scaling composition-- a very common team comp run by them when their early game junglers are taken away -- and eventually lost the game. This is one of two major mistakes this week that allowed Fnatic to come back in games. Had loulex simply followed kaSing out of the jungle instead of taking an unnecessarily risky path, H2K would not have switched places with Fnatic in the growing hole in the sandpit but also possibly toppled Fnatic’s win streak.

Another Challenger

In their second game of the week, Fnatic went against Origen who looked most poised to take them down.

And they came so close.

Like H2K, Origen took away Rek’sai and Olaf from Reignover’s stubbornly inflexible jungle pool. This funneled Fnatic into another outscaling comp which they hoped to take advantage of as H2K had previously. Despite an embarrassing towerdive from Origen, they dominated the top part of the map. This allowed them to control dragon and let xPeke’s Twisted Fate splitpush which gave Huni and the rest of Fnatic a hard time getting a foothold in the game.

Origen’s pivotal mistake? Overstaying their welcome at Fnatic’s middle inhibitor and giving up three kills for no return. They might have been able to still close out the game after that had they stuck to their strategy but since that fight Origen felt pressured to stay grouped and continued to find 5v5 teamfights against Fnatic’s scaling team composition. The abandonment of their strategy was the end of any lead they hoped to hold onto, and they eventually fell by their own hand.

Now what do these two games have in common? Both teams have found and exploited Fnatic’s weaknesses within their strategy and how they operate on the rift, but both teams played in an exceedingly greedy and careless fashince they had leads which gave Fnatic a free ride to their 14 win streak.

The Question

Now for the important part. Why are these games interesting? Fnatic with a 14 game win streak is an impressive feat and no one can take that away from them but this raises a huge concern. The games they played this week were not their games to win-- in fact they were H2K and Origen’s games to lose. And they did exactly that. Fnatic is exposed this late in the season and no one is truly punishing them for these holes in their strategy, which may likely see them secure them a first place finish when the European Playoffs roll around. However, when it comes to preparing Fnatic for international teams the concern is real and higher-level Chinese and Korean teams should take advantage of their weaknesses. For example, their weak standard laning, Rekkles's low damage percentage on the team, Reignover’s champion pool (for example, he does not seem to play Jungle Ekko) and his rather predictable jungle pathing are all flaws that strong sides will expose.

The question now seems rather obvious. How well will Fnatic do at worlds if their weaknesses remain unpunished by their own region? One can’t help but worry when reminded of how dominant TSM is regularly in North America, but their weaknesses are so bluntly exposed every year at international tournaments with tough competition. The most recent example is how weak they looked at MSI after their strong spring split showing this year. Surely with two weeks left in the European LCS and best of fives in regionals, it’s possible that they’ll be given proper opportunities to be punished so they can learn from these mistakes.

Personally, as a fan of Fnatic I’d be worried given the cracks are only now starting to appear so late in the split, leaving little time for repair work. When there's a hole in your boat, you can try to patch it up however sloppily you want but sooner or later rough seas or a bigger boat with bigger guns are going to come by and your hull will be weak and you'll sink just as hard as TSM did at MSI.