Despite ending the regular season a somewhat disappointing third and fourth place respectively, G2 Esports and Fnatic, have stepped up in the playoffs, with Fnatic defeating first place Rogue, and G2 defeating second place MAD Lions.

Fnatic even managed a clean 3-0 sweep against over Rogue.

So how did both teams manage to turn things around and take down the top two squads of the season?


Experienced kings

These two teams have been playoffs regulars for the past years. G2 and Fnatic, in comparison with Rogue and MAD Lions, have experienced more best-of-five series than the latter pair.

Rookie team MAD Lions have admitted that they’re not yet used to best-of-five series in the regional playoffs, but they certainly showed their potential last Spring season.

Predictable drafts

Fnatic made a clean sweep against Rogue, and the latter’s problem lies in their linear draft.

Screenshot by: Kristine Tuting/ ONE Esports

The team tunnel-visioned their picks and bans to work around mid laner Emil “Larssen” Larsson’s Azir, playing the same style as they did for all three of their matches.

This made the first round of the Playoffs a whole lot easier to anticipate for Fnatic, and G2’s coach Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann totally agrees with our claim.



A little boost from Patch 10.16

G2 Esports and Fnatic looked like a different team during the beginning of the Playoffs, like they had already mastered the ins and outs of the current meta.

Jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek used Evelynn during their series. She holds a 55.6% win rate in solo queue after being buffed in Patch 10.16. The same goes for top laner Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen, who made it look so easy using Neeko with his perfect 100% win rate record in professional play. This was the first time a player used Neeko this LEC Summer season.

Despite their previous struggles in Patch 10.15, these champion buffs in Patch 10.16 greatly helped both teams, and shifted the meta in their players’ favor.

Ace players

Consistent players like Rasmus “Caps” Winther and Martin “Rekkles” Larsson greatly carried their respective teams to victory. Caps in particular, dominated their second match against MAD Lions in terms of damage distribution with 28.4% on Irelia.

He also holds the highest damage per minute than any other mid laner in the LEC with 605 DPM.

With their triumphant weekend, both G2 Esports and Fnatic have qualified for the 2020 World Championship (Worlds) which will be held late September.

These legendary kings will face off each other at the Round 2 Winners Bracket of the Summer Playoffs this coming August 29 at 11 p.m. GMT+8 (5 p.m. CEST).

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