The LoL team Fnatic surprisingly defeated their Korean opponent T1 with superstar Faker at Worlds 2022 over the weekend. The Europeans relied on a bot lane that was heavily nerfed just a few weeks ago. Their victory creates an extremely exciting situation in Group A, where every team from Cloud9 can advance.
How did the match go? Surprisingly one-sided for Fnatic.
- Already at minute 3, there was an interesting team fight in the bot lane, where Fnatic’s jungler Razork exploited a mistake from his opponent Oner, granting his team “First Blood.”
- Thereafter, Fnatic mainly dominated the bot lane with the German Upset, who played exceptionally well in the Play-Ins. At minute 13, he had a minion advantage and secured his second kill by taking down the opposing ADC Gumayusi.
- Following that, Fnatic maintained a consistent gold lead.
- At minute 23, the European team won a fight for the Baron and was able to defeat all 5 players from T1. With the help of the Baron buff, Fnatic then dismantled the base and secured the victory after 28 minutes – with a triple kill for Upset, who continues to have a strong KDA.
You can watch the entire match recording on YouTube:
Group A in the Worlds is completely balanced
What was that bot lane like? Fnatic chose the combination of Nami and Lucian for the bot lane. This was very popular throughout the year because it could deal strong burst damage early in the game.
However, with Patch 12.17 at the beginning of September, Nami was nerfed in burst. Lucian himself received a nerf back in July. The formerly very dominant bot lane is currently not receiving much attention. In the Play-Ins of the Worlds and the first matches of Worlds 2022, the combination of Nami and Lucian has only been played by Fnatic and once by Rogue (via Oracles).
However, with success: Upset on Lucian achieved a stat of 7/1/8 and Hylissang on Nami of 1/2/17. Rogue was also able to win with the combo.
What does Fnatic’s victory mean? Temporarily, the European team was the big winner of Group A. They were able to defeat Cloud9 from America and T1 from Korea. With 2:0, they stood in 1st place.
The victory over T1 was surprising, as the team is considered one of the title favorites. They had a great season in 2022 and even set a record in Korea: In spring, they dominated the league with 18 wins and 0 losses.
In summer, they only managed to finish 2nd, yet the team led by three-time world champion Faker has repeatedly proven that they are not to be underestimated at the World Championship. This was also demonstrated by their victory in the first game against the Chinese team EDward Gaming. With that, they reinforced their claim.
What is the situation now? Fnatic lost to EDward Gaming on Sunday. This creates an interesting starting situation for the second half of the group stage:
- Fnatic has two wins and lost to EDward Gaming
- T1 has two wins but lost to Fnatic
- EDward Gaming has two wins but lost to T1
Except for Cloud9, which has lost all three games, every team has the exact same starting situation.
European teams perform well, but it is getting tight for G2
How are the other groups doing? In Group C, the European team Rogue is currently leading. They managed to defeat DRX and GAM Esports and are thus at 2:0.
The big favorite of the group is actually Top Esports, who have the second-highest chance of winning the world title. However, they surprisingly lost to DRX and are currently in 2nd place with 1:1. Should Rogue succeed against Top Esports, the first favorite in this group could fall.
For G2 Esports, things have been mixed. While they managed to defeat the American team Evil Geniuses, they lost to DWG Kia. With a 1:1 record, they currently sit in 2nd place, but must still play against the favorite JD Gaming, who has won their first two games.
For America, the situation looks bleak at the moment:
- Cloud9 sits at the bottom of Group A with a 0:3 record
- Evil Geniuses at the bottom of Group B with a 0:2 record
- 100 Thieves at the bottom of Group D with a 0:2 record
In the Play-Ins, however, the American teams had briefly taken the lead:
