The first day of Quarterfinals for the League of Legends World Championship 2019 began today. The second match was Fnatic, Europe’s second seed, and previous World Finalists against Fun Plus Phoenix, China’s first seed with no international experience.
Most of the community expected Fnatic to go through, considering Fun Plus Phoenix had no international experience and looked quite shaky during the group stage, almost getting kicked out by J-Team.
Game 1. Fun Plus Phoenix picked up Xayah/Rakan & Ryze in the early drafting phase. Fnatic picked up their comfort Garen/Yuumi and Twisted Fate. In the second drafting phase, Fun Plus Phoenix picked up Camille top after their top laner was target banned, while Fnatic responded with Rengar, a notorious solo que pick of Bwipo, the top laner for Fnatic. Even though Fnatic got their comfort picks, they were utterly outclassed, especially Broxah, the jungler. He barely had any impact during the early phases of the game and got outscaled. FPX picked all the dragons and barons and slowly choked Fnatic out of their first game.
Game 2. The draft was quite good by both teams, with Fnatic picking an AD carry for Rekkles and Twisted Fate for Nemesis, while Fun Plus Phoenix picked up Gragas and Kayle. The bot lane Varus pick was a surprise after barely seeing him at worlds from Fun Plus Phoenix, they paired him up with Tahm Kench and gave him all the resources needed to carry the show. While FPX got all the objectives, FNC was left dry the second game in a row.
Game 3. A breath of life, Fnatic picked comfort picks again with a surprise Veigar mid lane instead of Twisted Fate. Fun Plus Phoenix picked comfort picks as well, and the draft did not give any tips on who might carry the game. Broxah, in the early game, secured Fnatic’s advantages over the map, which allowed them to achieve objectives and push their lead safely. Even though Fnatic won the game, Fun Plus Phoenix did not look demoralized at all.
Game 4. Ryze went through the ban phase and was picked up for the third time by Doinb, the midlaner of Fun Plus Phoenix; this would be the demise of Fnatic for this World Championship. Even though Broxah got his Lee and Rekkles got his ADC, they were unable to carry through the bad plays from their solo laners, who had zero kills, thirteen deaths, and six assists combined.
Overall, the series was entertaining for the fans. Fnatic got their comfort picks but were outclassed by China’s 1st seed. Fun Plus Phoenix had convincing wins by securing the early game vision and pushing for objectives. The Tian – Doinb jungle/mid lane synergy looked very clean, much better compared to group stages, showing why they dominated the LPL season.
