The European team Fnatic participated in the World Championship in League of Legends : A video shows their journey to the LoL Worlds 2021. What starts like a mix of a commercial for BMW and a school trip to Iceland ends in a drama as the team’s hopes are shattered.
This was the situation for Fnatic before the Worlds:
- Fnatic is actually one of the two dominant forces in European League of Legends. But before the 2021 season, things started to crumble: The key player, Rekkles, had switched to rival G2. The contracts of the other players were expiring, and new young teams had overtaken Fnatic.
- With some risky maneuvers, Fnatic adjusted: The team picked up a mega-talented but inexperienced top-laner, moved the old top-laner and team leader Bwipo to the jungle, and let go of the team’s best player, the main jungler.
- This new team then played much better than expected, qualified for the Worlds, and the mood was excellent.
“Iceland has beautiful landscapes – but I can see that on Google too”
This is how the video begins: In the first minutes of the video for Week 1 of the Worlds, you can see the team slowly arriving in Iceland. The atmosphere is relaxed, the players are excited: A year of LoL has now led to this extraordinary experience.
The video feels like a mix of a commercial for BMW, the sponsor of the video, and a lively school trip:
- Supporter Hylissang is happy – his contract has been extended by 2 years. The teammates congratulate him.
- The Belgian Nisqy underestimated how cold Iceland is and worries that he hasn’t brought enough warm clothes.
- The young top-laner Adam says that the landscape of Iceland is quite beautiful, but he could just look at pictures on Google.
- Bwipo makes grand announcements, expressing excitement about beating Royal Never Give Up.
Key player departs due to family tragedy
This is the break in the video: In the middle of the video, the realization hits the team that one of their key players, the German ADC Upset, will leave the team: He will depart from the World Championship due to a family tragedy.
The rest of the video has a completely different tone.
The coach of the team, YamatoCannon, emphasizes what a leader Upset is for their team and how obsessed he has been to participate in the Worlds. Even after his wedding, he immediately went back to playing LoL without being able to take a break:
“He set a very high standard for us: In every way, he was a leader for the team. Nothing was more important to him than qualifying for the World Championship. When a person like him goes through so much pain and starts to wonder, ‘Should I go?’, then he has weighed the decision carefully.”
Yamato, Coach Fnatic
Yamato says that if Upset had been allowed to continue at the Worlds, it could have had long-term negative consequences on his psyche. A guilt he would not want to live with.
Everyone on the team accepted that Upset is leaving now. There was no discussion. Everyone knew how difficult this decision was for Upset and respected it.
This is how the video ends: In the video, it’s clear that Fnatic is doing everything they can to motivate themselves and maintain good team spirit. They wish the substitute player on the bot lane all the best and express how much they believe in him.
But ultimately, the team fails at their tasks and loses all 3 matches in the first round of the group stage – putting them almost certainly on the brink of elimination.
In the last moments of the video, you see the mid-laner Nisqy starting to sob and cry after a team meeting. He apologizes to his teammates. Yamato leads him out of the room.
This is how the reactions are: The usually hard-hearted LoL fans show much sympathy in the comments. Yamato is praised for his calm and dignified way of handling the situation. The team has worked so hard to get to the Worlds and then it goes so badly for them.
This is how it went for Fnatic after the video: Fnatic managed to at least score an honorable hit in the second round. Curiously, they achieved their first and only victory in the tournament against the clearly superior Royal Never Give Up – just as Bwipo had previously announced.
However, the next 2 games were lost, and Fnatic was eliminated with a 1-5 record after the group stage.
Fnatic, who were considered candidates for the quarter-finals before the tournament started, could not meet expectations without their starting ADC but earned the respect of many LoL fans during the Worlds.
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