Normally referred to as the El Clásico of League of Legends, Fnatic vs G2 Esports, will see rivals conflict as soon as once more within the final week of Spring Cut up.
There’s just one week left of the common season of the 2023 LEC Spring Cut up, which signifies that by Monday evening, we’ll know which groups we are able to root for within the Group Stage. Within the Winter Cut up, it was Excel Esports and Fnatic that missed two-thirds of the competitors, as they didn’t get sufficient wins to proceed to the second spherical. Nonetheless, each groups are nonetheless within the run for prime 8 – and Fnatic has a match worthy of being referred to as headliner on Sunday.
Fnatic vs G2 Esports Preview
Fnatic
The black and orange squad has been in a little bit of a tough spot currently. They barely made LEC Summer season Playoffs and Worlds final yr, however due to Elias “Upset” Lipp, they managed to bull by means of. They dominantly began the World Championship, however fell off after the primary spherical of Group Stage, and bought knocked out earlier than reaching Knockouts.
Fnatic solely modified one member earlier than the 2023 Spring: they introduced Martin “Rekkles” Larsson again once more, placing Upset on the bench. This has proved to be a incorrect transfer on their half, because the organisation which often fights for the highest spots solely managed to safe 2 wins, thus getting eradicated from the championship. They needed to make a change for spring, in order that they promoted academy gamers Óscar “Oscarinin” Munoz Jíménez and Mark “Advienne” Reijenga to the primary squad, whereas benching Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen and demoting Rúben “Rhuckz” Barbosa to Fnatic TQ.
The group had a fair worse begin than within the winter: Fnatic completed the primary week of Spring Cut up with and 0-3 file, getting steamrolled by Excel Esports, SK Gaming and Crew Vitality as effectively. Oscarinin had a record-breakingly dangerous efficiency, and Marek “Humanoid” Brázda and Iván “Razork” Martin Díaz nonetheless wished to do utterly various things throughout laning section. Nonetheless, the group discovered their first win towards Crew Heretics on the second day of Week 2, in a match the place everybody had an excellent efficiency. Whereas beating Heretics shouldn’t be the largest feat in itself, FNC went on to dominate KOI the subsequent day, which must be a warning to all groups Rekkles an co. face within the final week.
G2 Esports
Although they began to realize momentum, Fnatic is nowhere close to their rivals, G2 Esports. The Kings of Europe introduced in rookie Martin “Yike” Sundelin alongside returning misplaced son Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle and ex-Rogue hotshot Steven “Hans sama” Liv earlier than the beginning of the season, and went on to win the Winter Cut up Protect. Whereas they didn’t end first in both the Winter Common Season or Group Stage, G2 went undefeated within the playoffs, the place it mattered essentially the most: they beat KOI with a decent 3-1 scoreline, whereas blowing MAD Lions off the Rift within the Grand Finals.
Naturally, G2 Esports didn’t change any members going from Winter to Spring, as the brand new members slot in nice with Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther and Sergen “BrokenBlade” Celik, whereas additionally turning into higher each match. G2 gained 4 out of 6 matches to date within the Spring Cut up: titan slayers Astralis have managed to beat them, and KOI choked them out, leaving no house to get rolling, that means that G2 didn’t obtain an ideal weekend to date.
However apart from these two losses, Winter Cut up Champions have seemed nice. Yike continues to be among the finest candidates for Rookie of the Yr, Hans Sama is unstoppable on Draven (and might play Twitch at an extremely excessive degree, apparently), Caps is embracing his sensible outdated man function, whereas BrokenBlade and Mikyx are simply there to wreak havoc – and to hold the group to victory often.
Whereas Fnatic continues to be discovering its type, G2 Esports have been prepared for weeks. Caps and his group can win by means of just about any lane, and any member can step up if want be. Fnatic, however struggles to maintain themselves collectively in some circumstances, that means G2 can power errors from the orange and black squad and capitalize on them. The best rivals of the LEC met 21 occasions because the rebranding of the EU LCS, however which one in every of them will win bout 22? Tune in for the LEC on Sunday at 10PM CET to seek out out!