League of Legends MSI Semi-Final Match One - RNG vs Fnatic

With the final weekend of the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational now upon us, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty. We’ve already seen several good teams fall in this tournament, and we’re left with just the final four remaining. For this first semi-final match, the EU LCS Champions Fnatic faced off against the Chinese LPL Champions Royal Never Give Up, in a match set to showcase the team fighting prowess of both teams. Here’s a brief breakdown of the series.

Game One

The first match certainly got out hopes up for this series, with both teams clashing early in a bloody and prolonged team fight that saw RNG pick up first blood and another kill, but lose three members in return. Both teams seemed to play it safe for a while after that, only scoring individual kills here and there. RNG did pick up the first Dragon of the match, and managed to take down three members of FNC when they attacked and destroyed the first Tower as well. Both teams would continue to trade kills and objectives while remaining relatively even in gold, before a succession of skirmishes allowed RNG to slowly pull ahead. The tipping point came with a team fight over the Baron buff that saw RNG claim the buff and three kills for just one death in return. With the added power they were able to break open the base of FNS, before a final defence saw FNC fall one by one as their base was destroyed.

Game Two

Once more the teams came out swinging, though this time the fight was not quite as intense. RNG again picked up first blood, though FNC were able to pick up kills in return to keep the match even. RNG once again heavily prioritised the map objectives, claiming the first Tower and the first Dragon before both teams started to clash once more. FNC managed to build a reasonable lead through the mid game as they picked up numerous objectives for themselves, before a fight at Baron allowed RNG to claim four kills and the Baron buff to retake the lead. Though FNC fought back with everything they had, RNG were able to crack open their base and apply enough pressure to start building a lead for themselves. Claiming multiple individual kills with little reply, the teams finally clashed in the base of FNC after RNG claimed their second Baron and the Elder Dragon. The final team fight would prove disastrous for FNC as they fell one by one, allowing RNG to claim their second victory in this series.

Game Three

The teams once more came out of the gate looking for a fight, clashing early in a team fight that once more saw RNG picking up first blood. The teams continued to trade individual kills across the map before RNG once again claimed the first Dragon of the game. FNC stepped up their tempo as they picked off members of RNG in successive skirmishes, before claiming multiple objectives to gain a lead in this match. It took a few minutes for RNG to recover from the assault, but when they did they fired back hard, claiming multiple kills and multiple objectives, including the Baron, as they sought to pull away from FNC. Besieging the base of FNC, RNG managed to crack it open and claim four quick kills, but were unable to close out the game just yet. Pulling back to take down the second Baron, the fresh attack from RNG seemed to be going well until FNC star AD Carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson managed to pick up an incredible Pentakill to keep his teams hopes alive. The fresh confidence allowed FNC to attack the base of RNG themselves, and they too were able to break through the defences and threaten to end the game. RNG were quick to push them back however, and continued to apply pressure across the map as they sought to retake the lead. As objectives continued to fall, RNG were able to claim the important ones, Baron and Elder Dragon, giving them the power they needed to finally push into the base of FNC and end the game and series.

The first semi-final series may have only been three games, but they proved to be thrilling ones nonetheless. Royal Never Give Up have earned a spot in the Grand Final, where they will face off against the winner of the second semi-final series, between Kingzone DragonX and the Flash Wolves. For more on when that match will take place, check out the Official Schedule page, here. While we await the results of the match involving the current LCK Champions, some of the other teams from Korea have been preparing for the eventual next season, such as Gen.G signing new players, here.

(Banner Image via LoL Esports Photos, Flickr)