This is the match-up that everyone in the EU LCS has been expecting for the past few years. For the first three years of the EU LCS, Fnatic was the dominant team. They won five of the six championships and were the only team from outside of Asia to ever win a World Championship. However, the organization has not been to any of the four previous European finals, struggling to have success in the postseason.
G2 supplanted Fnatic with a reign of their own. G2 has won the last four EU LCS titles and has become the team to beat in Europe. They lost four of their five players in the off-season, but rebuilt around Perkz and are vying to win their fifth straight title.
EU LCS Spring Split Playoff Finals Betting Odds (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Fnatic -139
G2 +105
History
Fnatic won both of the matches between these teams in the regular season. However, you could easily make the argument that it was more like G2 lost both matches more than Fnatic won them.
In the first meeting, G2 had a 4k gold lead at the 20-minute mark. Fnatic was able to stall and take towers thanks to better positioning, and then capitalized once the gold lead was narrowed. Caps and Rekkles took over and led the team to a come from behind victory.
As bad as the first loss was for G2, the second was pretty inexcusable. Good teams don’t blow 10k gold leads, but G2 did just that. A misplay around Elder Dragon led to Perkz split apart from his teammates and Fnatic took advantage to turn the game around and win just a couple minutes later.
Match-up to Watch
The mid lane battle between Fnatic’s Caps and G2’s Perkz will get a lot of attention. However, the more important match-up will be in the bottom lane where Rekkles and Hylissang will look to outduel Wadid and Hjarnan. Rekkles and Hylissang are the best bottom lane in Europe. Rekkles had the best KDA in the region by a wide margin in the regular season and he has been unstoppable in the playoffs. Pairing him with a playmaker like Hylissang has led to him having one of the best seasons of his career.
At first glance, this looks like an absolute mismatch. Wadid and Hjarnan have come on strong over the last few weeks though. In particular, Wadid is no longer making the same mistakes that affected the team earlier and they played great against Splyce last week. If they can keep the bottom lane from being snowballed, G2 has a great chance to win.
Key Player
There is a lot of pressure on Bwipo. Before the playoffs started, Fnatic announced that veteran top laner sOAZ will be unavailable for the postseason due to a hand injury.
🚨 INJURY ALERT 🚨
Due to a hand injury, Top Laner @sOAZIZGOOD will unfortunately be unable to compete in the #EULCS playoffs 😭
Substitute @Bwipolol will instead feature for the rest of the split.
Get better soon, Paul! pic.twitter.com/WD6jCb04B9
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) March 28, 2018
Bwipo only played two matches in the regular season and did not fare well last week against Team Vitality. Cabochard constantly bullied him, and he only had one good game the entire series. G2’s Wunder is a crafty veteran that can take advantage. He has been great on Gangplank this split and will likely take a carry champion into the lane to ratchet up the pressure on Bwipo.
Prediction
I loved G2 when the line opened at G2 +120, but the subsequent line move has dulled my enthusiasm a little bit. G2 is the play to make, yet the best move will be to wait in hopes that the line will rise or to bet them on individual maps.
Outcome: G2 remain Kings of Europe in a 3-1 win over Fnatic
