Tag: Fnatic

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League of Legends

With Worlds on the Line, Sunday 22nd is Make or Break for 4 LoL Teams

TSM's chances to attend the LoL Worlds 2021 event are on the line in Sunday's landmark matchup. (image via Riot Games)
TSM's chances to attend the LoL Worlds 2021 event are on the line in Sunday's landmark matchup. (image via Riot Games)

League of Legends Worlds 2021 is set to kick off just a few months from now, but some of the best LoL Teams in the West find themselves on the edge of elimination from the event. Out of Team SoloMid, Cloud9, G2 Esports, and Fnatic, only two of these teams will make it to Worlds 2021.

In a landmark series of games over the weekend (Sunday 22), the very makeup of the LoL competitive scene is being reformed.

We break down these two huge matchups and how their outcomes will affect Worlds 2021.

Fnatic vs. G2 to Become an EU Representative at LoL Worlds 

Fnatic and G2 Esports are the two most decorated LoL teams in Europe. With dozens of championships between them, it would seem trivial that these teams would head to Worlds 2021. But, instead, we find them battling it out to even attend.

Despite their normal top-tier play, Fnatic has struggled in both Spring and Summer splits. Sitting strictly at the middle of the table, the team has barely made it to the playoffs in both seasons. Now they have to win this game to even find their way to Worlds 2021.

G2 Esports, with its new roster including Martin “Rekkles” Larsson (a former Fnatic player), has managed to top the tables but struggled in both post-seasons. After two playoffs, they now find themselves taking on historical rivals Fnatic for an international competition spot.

As the teams clash at 16:00pm BST, in a best-of-five competition, they’ll be battling for more than a semi-final spot. They’ll be fighting for survival and the chance to join the ascendant MAD Lions as Europe’s representative at Worlds 2021.

Cloud9 and TSM to Clash With LoL Worlds Spot on the Line

After an incredibly impressive 3-1 victory over Immortals on Friday, the regular season champs, TSM, now have Worlds squarely in their crosshairs. Their match against Cloud9 on Sunday is their most important all year.

On Thursday, Cloud9 3-0’d Evil Geniuses to secure their spot in this matchup. Having spent much of their summer split trying to replicate the success of Spring, the team now struggles in the post-season. By rights, they’d automatically be headed to Worlds alongside Team Liquid. But, instead, they face LCS rivals TSM for this semi-final spot.

What’s so crazy about this matchup is that it’s only round 3 of the Championship. There’s still a trio of incredible matchups on the way, although few will have as high stakes. In the morning, we saw the LPL and LCK have similarly high-profile matchups, and LoL Worlds 2021 feels closer than ever.

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CS:GO

IEM Katowice 2021: MiBR vs. Fnatic Result Eliminates The Swedes

After a shocking start to the IEM Katowice 2021 event, Fnatic has departed the tournament after failing to win a map. The Swedish squad played their final series against MiBR, which ended in a 2-0 sweep. As a result one of the most decorated teams in Katowice history is out. Although far from the predicted result, it’s emblematic of the beauty of Katowice. So what happened?

Fnatic’s Drop to Lower Bracket

Fnatic started off the event in a bad spot. In their first series versus OG, the roster failed to amount to anything. Starting Overpass on CT side, the squad started at a deficit to their opponents 10-5 . Moving onto the next half, things weren’t much better. OG started off strong on the weaker side transitioned into the new half where they snowballed a 16-9 win.

As for the players themselves, only Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson of the old guard performed well, with a 0.93 rating. The IGL, Maikil “Golden” Kunda Selim, had to step up with his 0.9 rating. This was against the likes of OG’s Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt’s Deagle 3k, Issa “ISSAA” Murad’s near pistol ace, and other clutch moments.

MiBR vs. Fnatic

The MiBR vs Fnatic series, compared to the OG match, was quite surprising. The new MiBR lineup consisted of the former BOOM roster, after MiBR’s temporary fix late last year backfired. This roster is decent, but heading to one of the biggest ESL Pro Tour events with a lineup that wasn’t part of the team’s 2020 journey was sketchy. However, taking down Fnatic is a good sign.

This series was again a straight 2-0, with MiBR winning Dust 16-12 and Overpass 16-9. The trend continues of Fnatic losing Overpass on the same score. But as for the player ratings, the result was flipped on its head. Younger stars Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and Jack Ström “Jackinho” Mattsson took the reins while the old guard and IGL fell off.

With the defeat, Fnatic says goodbye to an event they have won several times. It seems likely that Fnatic can bounce back as, they have done before. Hopefully, the roster can come out of this slump and learn along with their new younger talent.

Goodbye Fnatic

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.  Image via ESL Gaming

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League of Legends

Rekkles leaves Fnatic, likely to head to G2 Esports

The free agency period is always time for the unexpected, but few would have guessed that one of Fnatic’s most iconic players would be set to leave the team. However, yesterday evening(October 18), news broke across social media that Martin “Rekkles” Larsson was set to depart the organisation. 

What’s more, Rekkles most likely destination is none other than G2 Esports, Fnatic’s long-time LEC rival. The organization was in the market for a top-tier bot laner following the departure of Luka “Perkz” Perković. It had been previously rumoured that a Rekkles move to G2 was likely, but with his departure from Fnatic, the move is all but set in stone.

Rekkles has been a staple of Fnatic teams for years, playing for the squad in three stints between 2012 and 2020. His first run with the team was all the way back in Season 2, with the youthful carry playing as part of Fnatic and Fnatic.Beta. In 2013 the player would rejoin Fnatic for a short stint, only to leave again in November of the next year. 

His most prominent run, however, would start in 2015. Since then Rekkles has helped the team make four Worlds appearances, including a deep run in 2018 that saw the team reach the finals. Despite a loss against Invictus Gaming during Worlds 2018, Rekkles is still seen as a world-class bot laner and a worthy replacement for fellow semi-finalist Perkz.

The move also rejoins Rekkles with former Fnatic teammate Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther. The pair were part of the aforementioned semi-finalist lineup of 2018, and between them are two of the most decorated players in the LEC. It was a tall order to find a suitable replacement for Perkz, who Caps had developed a significant rapport with, but G2 has done just that in reuniting Rekkles and Caps. 

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League of Legends

Worlds 2020 Day One: Europe surges while NA looks shaky

The main event of Worlds 2020 has just started, and after day one there’s already some shake ups and upsets. However the biggest upset of all was the seeming one-sidedness of the majority of day one’s games. Apart from the two closing matchups, Worlds 2020 opened up with four decisive stomps, leaving a quartet of teams desperate for international redemption.

Four Stomps to Start Worlds 2020

The start of the stomps saw FlyQuest fall to the LPL’s Topsports. Fly were definitely not the favorite headed into the matchup, but many expected them to at least put on a serviceable performance. Instead, the team were utterly smashed by their Chinese opponents, setting the scene for the rest of the day. 

DRX of the LCK were up next, taking on the upstart Unicorns of Love from CIS. The CIS team had earned a lot of fans after their fantastic play-in performance, but fan-favourite status wasn’t enough to take home a win. They lost out to the Korean top seed in dramatic fashion. 

Europe’s Rogue were next up to the block in what was expected to be a competitive game against PSG Talon. However, a Malphite pick in the top lane for Finn “Finn” Wiestål proved to be too much for Talon. The rock golem smashed their opponent’s to pieces, facilitating numerous team fights, and wrapping up the game.

Damwon Gaming took on JDG in a matchup that pitted the two best teams in their group against each other. Yet despite JGD being able to match DWG with early aggression, the long range poke from the Nidalee jungle

Competitive Finish to Day One

Finally after four stomps in a row, it was time for some competitive action. The contest between between LGD and Gen.G immediately became the best match of the day, with LGD’s Ling “Mark” Xu carrying with his hyper aggressive play-style.

But after two incredibly dragon fights, it was Gen.G who came out on top. The Korean second seed showed how dangerous they were when allowed to rotate the way they want to. Their macro game is some of the best in the tournament.

The late game of Day One pitted the rival western regions of NA and EU against each other as Fnatic and Team SoloMid clashed. With Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek on Evelynn, it was a battle of the comfort picks. After Fnatic grabbed an early lead, TSM’s map plays, led by jungler Mingyi “Spica” Lu kept the NA hopefuls in the game. But a disastrous series of plays by TSM allowed Fnatic to take the lead, and after momentarily promising an upset, the NA squad became the final losing team of the day. 

Worlds 2020 Day One Results:

FlyQuest 0 – 1 Topsports

Unicorns of Love 0 – 1 DRX

Rogue 1 – 0 PSG Talon

Damwon Gaming 1 – 0 JD Gaming

Gen.G 1 – 0 LGD Gaming

TSM 0 – 1 Fnatic

Worlds 2020 continues tomorrow. For all the latest Worlds 2020 news and analysis.check out Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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CS:GO

ESL Pro League Season 12 Week 2 Europe – Complexity undefeated

The second week of ESL Pro League 12 is over and Complexity is on top of the world. The masters of Group B gained another two series victories in ESL Pro League Europe Week 2. Furthermore, Group A sees ENCE and Na’Vi at the top, but three key victories from Heroic has seen them get into a strong position heading into Week 3 of the Groups.

Group A

In Group A, ENCE and Na’Vi remain in as the top two teams in the group, each with a 4-1 scoreline. ENCE lost their first match this week against last-place GODSENT, bringing them back in line with Natus Vincere. On the other hand, Na’Vi earned two victories in Week 2, one against AGO and the other against OG. Although, Na’Vi had to earn their victory against OG, as the series went to the third map and they only won the decider on Nuke 16-14.

The more interesting narrative in Group A comes from the middle of the pack. Heroic, BIG, G2 Esports, and OG are 3-2 or 2-3, showing how competitive the third week is likely to be. Heroic’s 3-0 score in Week two comes after they had a great three-game series against G2 Esports, a close three-game series against BIG, and another close series against GODSENT. Two of these three victories are clutch results for Heroic as they took down two teams they are in direct contest with. The best thing is this makes them third in the group standings as they hold the head-to-head against BIG. Out of the mid-table, the ESL One Cologne Champions, Heroic, seem the likeliest candidate for advancing into the quarter-finals.

Looking ahead to Week 3, G2 and OG have some difficult games as they both have to take on ENCE and Natus Vincere – the top two of the group. G2 and OG need to put on a stellar show because their chances at advancing into the top four of the groups are slimming based on current results in this group.

Plays like this are what got Heroic a juicy 3-0 score.

Group B

On the other side of the European event, Complexity is dominating their opponents in Group B. Complexity had yet another fantastic week, taking down the likes of Team Spirit and Fnatic. However, Complexity went from two 2-0 victories in Week 1 to two 2-1 victories in Week two. Complexity’s grasp may be slipping after their star performance against Astralis and NiP in the ESL Pro League Europe Week 2. In Week 3, Complexity has three series to play against teams like mousesports, Vitality, and FaZe. The likes of mousesports and Vitality may give Complexity a proper good go since both teams are performing in ESL Pro League Season 12.

Complexity had to put in the work to take the series victory against Fnatic.

Another important aspect of Group B is the ability for any team to miss the quarters. As it stands, mousesports and Fnatic are the two mid-table teams in position to escape Group B. Although, almost every team outside the top two are 2-2, with the exceptions of NiP’s 1-3 score and FaZe’s 0-4 score. Also, every team has to play three games in Week 3, so whoever escapes Group B is the better team.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. Image via BLAST.

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CS:GO

ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe – Who made it out?

ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe is now halfway through with the Group Stages concluding 26th August 2020. The event has had a long group sage, with two groups going through a losers bracket round for 16 teams. With the dust settled, only eight teams remain heading into the playoffs. Let’s take a look at the story so far.

Group A Upper Bracket

Despite ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe being online, the magic of the event still exists. In a twist of fate, Sprout was surprisingly the first team to make it out of Group A. They beat teams like BIG, and OG to make it out of the group in the Upper Bracket. In both situations, Sprout was definitely the underdog in those scenarios. They somehow manage to compete against the world number 1 in BIG really close, winning 16-12 on Mirage then 19-16 on Nuke. The OG series was much closer, beating OG 16-9 on Train, then losing 16-13 on Mirage before winning 16-3 on Nuke. This is exactly the magic events like these can bring out in teams.

Read More: BIG exit ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe in joint last place.

On the other hand, Complexity had a great showing. This is a team that has been growing ever more slowly throughout the year, and this Group is a sign of their success. They began the event with a swift 2-0 over MAD Lions winning Overpass 16-3 then going 22-20 on Nuke. Then the surprise came against Natus Vincere, were they won 16-9 on Dust II and 16-8 on Nuke.

blameF showing how good Complexity are in 2020

Group A Lower Bracket

Moving into the Lower Bracket, Ninjas in Pyjamas had a storyline to follow. They too managed to beat BIG in the first round of the Lower Bracket and Na’Vi in the second round of the Lower Bracket. The big series finished 2-1, and NiP had to play catch up for most of the series. BIG won the first map on Vertigo 16-5, so NiP gave it their all on Nuke to win 28-26. Finally, NiP won Mirage 16-7. But the real surprise came from Na’Vi. NiP beat Na’Vi on Overpass 16-9 followed by a thrashing on Train 16-3. Both of these results are quite surprising, considering the talent in Na’Vi. Either way, congrats to NiP for making it through a difficult Lower Bracket.

NiP had a stunning performance against Natus Vincere.

OG had a relatively short run in the Lower Bracket after only fighting through one round against MAD Lions. As expected, OG mad quick work of MAD Lions with 16-10 victory on Nuke and 16-9 on Dust II.

Group B Upper Bracket

Astralis has come into ESL Once Cologne 2020 Europe with an almost brand-new team. The roster has two stand-ins with Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen temporarily standing in for sickness and leave. Considering the previous stand-in results for Astralis, these two players have put in work so far. Astralis dismantled Fnatic 16-5 on Nuke and 19-17 on Train. Moving on, they trashed Vitality 16-8 on Nuke and 16-7 on Dust II. Astralis has new life with their upcoming stars on their roster.

In the closest Upper Bracket Round yet, G2 Esports pulled through. G2 Esports warmup was against MiBR who they put to bed instantly. G2 won Vertigo 16-2 and Inferno 16-4. Their real challenge was against Heroic, which brought them to the edge. Heroic won Nuke 16-7, with G2 Esports winning Vertigo 16-7 and Mirage 19-17. Heroic was in the lead for the most part of Mirage but G2 pulled through (we think KennyS really wanted to watch the PSG Champions League Final match).

AmaNEK with the insane clutch to get G2 the round.

Group B Lower Bracket

The Group B Lower Bracket has the same level of excitement and disappointment as Group A. Heroic popped a NiP here by taking down Fnatic 2-0. Both Vertigo and Overpass went to Heroic 16-11. This is rather disappointing, especially with Fnatic being as good as they were at the start of the year.

Meanwhile, Vitality and FaZe had yet another amazing series against each other. Vitality managed to pull through 2-0 in the series, but the results were super close. Vitality won Dust II 19-16, and won Nuke 16-14. This is exactly the high stakes action we want from ESL Once Cologne 2020 Europe

Team Vitality had some great T side Nuke rounds.

With the Group Stages done, ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe continues with the playoffs. The remaining teams are competing in the playoffs from Thursday 27th August to championship Sunday on 30th August.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. Image via ESL.