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Fnatic have finally registered their first points in League of Legends LEC Spring 2021, coming out of two consecutive losses, with a victory against Schalke 04.
After a tumultuous offseason, the European League of Legends heavyweights had a lot to prove going into the LEC 2021. The loss of big names like Martin "Rekkles" Larsson and Tim " Nemesis " Lipovšek had a huge impact on Fnatic's roster shortly before the new season began.
As expected, Fnatic dropped the ball in their opening weekend by registering two successive defeats in the LEC 2021. The clashes weren't even hard-fought, and Fnatic gave away their games without much contest. A combination of poor decision-making and early game blunders sent the team plummeting to the standings' bottom.
Finally, Fnatic fans saw a ray of hope as their team finally secured a victory in the last League of Legends game of the weekend.
Fnatic outclasses Schalke 04 on the last matchday of League of Legends LEC 2021 week 1
After two unfortunate defeats, Fnatic had one more opportunity to prevent a winless weekend. But Sunday's game was against the weaker Schalke 04, whose only win of the weekend came from a coin-flip race against Vitality. Fnatic and Schalke 04 came into this game with a lot to prove.
Fnatic took the victory in a 27-minute sweep that showcased unseen potential from the team. Although they’ve got a long way before getting back to their form in League of Legends Worlds 2020 quarterfinals, this game gave fans a glimpse at the potential of Fnatic’s 2021 roster.
The team came out swinging in the drafting phase, opting to ban the Pantheon that caused so much heartache in the previous day's loss to Rogue. A large part of Fnatic’s success over the years depended on Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov. This draft saw him pick up an early Sett-support and take away Leona and Alistar from Limit in the second round of bans.
The aim of denying these power picks was simple - security for their bot laner Elias "Upset" Lipp. Without the threat of instantaneous engage, Lipp had the ability to lane solo while Hylissang shadowed Oskar "Selfmade" Boderek in the jungle. So much of Fnatic’s success in 2020 came from unlocking Selfmade on high-damage picks, and the team finally returned to that approach today.
Selfmade was deservingly selected as the MVP of the game after his brilliant Graves-showcase at the Jungle. Selfmade described their gameplay as “playing like apes,” in a video posted to the League of Legends' social media handles. While that is an odd comparison, his description of their drive to win is roughly accurate.
It remains unknown if Fnatic’s poor performance is anything more than an unlucky blip over the weekend. They will face Vitality on 29th of January in the second week of the League of Legends LEC Spring Split 2021.
