LEC Playoffs: Fnatic's Big Brains Conquer Splyce in the End

The second round of the LEC Playoffs are upon us, and the first matchup of the weekend between Fnatic and Splyce brought some of the trojan horses out of the surprise bags of both squads. Splyce -- who had a tough task of beating the young-stars in SK Gaming in the first round -- had another large hill to climb if they were to advance. Fnatic rode their gigantic win-streak into the studio, looking to make quick work in securing a ticket to the next round. 

Ultimately, it was a dominant ability to overcome some early-game struggles and evident depth in champion pools that saw Fnatic beat out Splyce to a score of 3 Games to 1, and advance to the semi-finals in Rotterdam. 

Hope is Sivir’d

The first game in the head-to-head looked to be the beginning of a tireless war against evenly proud teams, but one of these groups has a lot of experience on the big stage, and it showed rather quickly today. 

With a wild Zoe pick for the bot-lane ADC Kobbe on Splyce, the end-game absolutely could have swung in favor of the unfavored squad. But, with the reliability and comfort in important games from Fnatic’s Rekkles and jungler Broxah on his notorious Karthus, the momentum never really left the hands of Fnatic. 

An 8/1/4 Rekkles Sivir at the 36-minute mark would spell the end of Splyce in the first game. Rekkles was putting out too much damage and Splyce couldn't manage to put anywhere near enough pressure on the ADC to slow the bleeding. 

Kobbe from Downtown

After losing a pretty close Game 1, the young squad of Splyce came out of the draft for Game 2 with a bit of a twist on the current meta. They drafted a brilliantly tough to conquer team composition that exploded with the pure greatness of a lane-swap executed to perfection and a heavily fed Kobbe on a brutal-carry Tristana. 

At the end of the 33-minute match, Kobbe’s Tristana was a staggering 14/1/0. Fnatic’s inability to kill the Splyce ADC would see their hope eroded. 

Splyce handed Fnatic the first loss on their record in their last 12 games, and some held their breath after the shaky Game 2 showing from their lanes. Would the loss start a spiral that could end the streak of recent success by Fnatic as they continue to seek redemption in what once was their league? 

Wait … Where’s Rakan?

In Game 3, Fnatic looked to return to their difficult to slow ways. For most of the match, the solo lanes looked lost for Fnatic, and the game was almost completely even throughout the first 20-minutes. Again, we’d see a game where consistency or one wild fight win would bring upon the end. 

It was Hylissang on Rakan, split-pushing in the top-lane that would eventually abuse the focus bottom from Splyce. Fnatic smartly picked the Splyce team apart through spreading them out and plucking objectives they needed one-by-one. 

The Rakan split-push would build to a win by Fnatic around the 40-minute mark. It just goes to prove that being reliable, and pushing through adversity no matter how slowly can earn you a victory. This type of win sets teams like Fnatic apart from the normal pack. It’s about problem-solving and figuring out when and where they need to strike. 

Moving into Game 4, the team from Fnatic had match-point and the next round of the playoffs in their sights. 

Big Brain Draft

It’s not often in this day and age of League of Legends Esports where we see all analysts, casters, and writers (including myself in this group) absolutely dumb-founded at the smarts and strategy shown in the drafting phase. Fnatic could easily win draft-of-the-year based on their Game 4 picks, and it (mostly) paid off. 

The way that Fnatic baited out a blind Vayne pick, only to hard-counter Splyce Veigar ADC pick (which they thought would throw Fnatic off) with a Sivir for Rekkles was absolutely amazing. The Vayne would then shift mid-lane, which would also be a hard-counter to Splyce’s Sylas -- looking back at it now, this could have been Fnatic’s plan all along in leaving the Sylas off their ban list. 

By the 23-minute mark, Fnatic was playing everything perfectly, including a wonderfully crafted Baron bait-out team fight. Not a single member of Splyce would end the match with a positive kill-to-death ratio, and Fnatic would take Game 4. Winning the series 3-1. 

Rotterdam Bound

With the win, Fnatic earned their ticket to the big tournament in Rotterdam that starts next weekend. Splyce put up a good fight, but in the end, it was the reliable Rekkles, and the experience of Fnatic that would see them fall at fourth-place in the LEC Spring Split Playoffs. 

Next up, Fnatic will take their big brains to the Netherlands, where they will face off against the loser of the G2 Esports and Origen match-up (being played tomorrow, April 6th). If they manage to secure a victory there, they will face off against the winner of that G2 vs OG match in the Spring Split Grand Finals. 

It’s truly wonderful to watch experienced and versatile teams like Fnatic play on the mainstage in big games, but today wasn’t pretty. A Splyce team that could have won many of those games, that shouldn’t have given them so much trouble, shook the once Kings of the EU. 

Awarded the KIA Player of the Match, Bwipo laughed about his lackluster performance. “I feel like we lost control when we shouldn’t have lost control,” said Bwipo in his post-game interview. “While I’m happy we’re going to Rotterdam, I’m frustrated that we showed up so poorly today” Fnatic’s jungler Boxah added, before saying that he felt like his team was playing at “roughly 50%.” 

Hopefully, we will see 100% of Fnatic as they gear up to play in Rotterdam, on an even bigger stage. We think that the 2018 League of Legends Worlds finalists will be just fine come game-day next week. 

"As arrogant as it may sound...I will lift the trophy."@G2esports & @Origengg face off in Round 2 of the 2019 #LEC Spring Playoffs this Saturday! #G2WIN #OGWIN pic.twitter.com/taJYyDhPAb

— lolesports (@lolesports) April 4, 2019

As for the rest of the LEC 2019 Spring Split Playoffs, the league-leading G2 Esports will play second-place Origen tomorrow at 8:00 AM Pacific Time. Keep it locked on our LEC feed for all upcoming news and coverage.