TL;DW – LEC Edition: FNC Punishes G2 in Game 1
Week 8, Day 1 of the LEC Split 2 Playoffs. FNC vs G2. FNC is on Blue, G2 is on Red. FNC’s roster is Oscarinin (top), Razork (jungle), Humanoid (mid), Upset (bot), and Mikyx (support). G2’s roster is BrokenBlade (top), SkewMond (jungle), Caps (mid), Hans Sama (bot), and Labrov (support). For more information on what early, mid, and late game mean, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: To Fight or Pick, That is the Question
Yone, Kai’Sa, Kalista, Poppy, Taliyah, and Gwen were banned out during the 1st ban phase.
FNC grabs Azir as their first pick. G2 decides to choose Varus and Akali. Vi and Rumble picked next by FNC. Ornn is locked in by G2 to close out the 1st pick phase.
During the 2nd ban phase, Lucian, Pantheon, Neeko, and Renata are taken off the board.
G2 starts the 2nd pick phase by taking Xin Zhao. FNC closes out their team with Corki and Rell. G2 responds by closing things out with Alistar. FNC have opted for a more standard, team fight comp with excellent lockdown. G2 has more protection with 2 tanks, but has great outplay potential with the Akali.
Team comps are: FNC – Rumble (top), Vi (jungle), Azir (mid), Corki (bot), Rell (support) vs G2 – Ornn (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Akali (mid), Varus (bot), Alistar (support).
Early Game Highlights: FNC Strikes First
Game starts without anything major happening. Just farming, warding, and poking.
Hans Sama and Labrov get aggressive in the Bot Lane, forcing both the Cleanse and Flash out of Upset.
Razork takes the 1st Drake (Hextech) uncontested.
In Top Lane, Razork arrives to gank Hans Sama and Labrov. He uses Vault Breaker to get into lane, then uses Cease and Desist to CC Hans.
Oscarinin drops an Equalizer on top of Hans, but he Flashes out of it and tries to run away, but Oscarinin Overheats with Flamespitter and then Flashes on top of him. Hans tries to use Chains of Corruption to get away, but he still dies to Razork for 1st Blood. Labrov manages to get away.
Off the back of this kill, Razork starts up the Voidgrubs uncontested. He manages to take 1 before SkewMond and Labrov arrive to push him away. SkewMond takes the other 2 Grubs.
In Bot Lane, after Teleporting back to the lane, Humanoid slides forward onto Caps and sends him flying sideways with the Emperor’s Divide as Razork attempts to come in from above for the gank. Caps uses his Ultimate to Dash back to Turret and then uses Flash to avoid Razork.
Early Game ends with FNC ahead in gold by 300, but G2 ahead in farm.
Mid Game Highlights: Grouping Up is Important
Mikyx gets caught out warding in the Red Side Bot Jungle by SkewMond and Labrov. He has to Flash over the Krugs’ wall to get away. SkewMond then rotates over and starts up the 2nd Drake (Infernal). He takes it uncontested.
BrokenBlade tries to go all in on Oscarinin in the Top Lane, burning Ultimate and Flash, but Oscarinin’s Scrap Shield saves him.
Mikyx clears out a ward in the Lower Mid Bush, then gets chased into Red Side Bot Jungle by Hans Sama, who Snares him with Chains of Corruption. Caps, who was Bot Lane, comes in and deals a massive amount of damage, allowing Hans to kill Mikyx.
After a quick roam to Mid Lane, Caps heads back down towards the Bot Lane through the River and throws a Shuriken at Razork, who was hiding on a ward in a bush. Caps jumps onto Razork but immediately gets CCed by him, Mikyx, and Humanoid, who were both in the Bot Lane. Caps dies to Razork.
SkewMond, who followed Caps into the fight, runs for it. G2 chases, but with the help of his teammates, SkewMond gets away. While the chase is happening, Humanoid takes the Outer Bot Turret of G2 for the 1st Turret of the game.
As G2 set up from Rift Herald, G2 arrives to contest. Razork Flash in and dives onto Hans, who has to Cleanse/Flash himself away to safety. SkewMond, caught in the AoE of Razork’s abilities, as well as being hit by Upset a few times, also has to flee. Labrove provides cover for his teammates at the cost of his life. He dies to Upset.
After this kill, Razork Steals away G2’s Red Buff and then takes Rift Herald uncontested. In response to this, SkewMond tries to Steal away FNC’s Red Buff, but the other members of FNC push him away.
Hans Sama is slightly out of position in Mid Lane and gets jumped on by first Mikyx, then Razork, and then finally killed by Upset. Labrov and Caps arrive to try and seek vengeance. Caps gets Upset low, but Humanoid is able to use Emperor’s Divide to reposition Labrov and kill him.
Caps, now alone, tries to take down Upset, but he can’t manage it and dies to Razork. BrokenBlade and SkewMond, who were on their way to fight, immediately backed off. Fight goes 3-0 for FNC. After the fight, they drop Herald in Mid, but G2 are able to stop it from doing much damage to their Outer Mid Turret.
While G2 deals with Shelly, FNC takes the 3rd Drake (Mountain) uncontested.
Mid Game ends with FNC still ahead in gold, now by 4k. Farm is effectively even.
Late Game Highlights: G2 in Shambles
Oscarinin starts a fight with BrokenBlade in the Bot Lane, but he’s too tanky. As Oscarinin tries to back off, Caps TP’s in and kills him.
Caps get caught out as he tries to recall in the Blue Side Top Jungle. He gets jumped on first by Mikyx, then by Humanoid, then by Razork. Despite Labrov’s attempt to help him, Caps dies to Humanoid.
G2 tries to go after Labrov next, but SkewMond comes in to try and help him out. By this time, everyone else has arrived. Hans Sama manages to kill Humanoid, but he and SkewMond (who Flashed to get away from the fight) are pushed away by Oscarinin dropping and Equalizer on them.
Labrov finally goes down to Upset. BrokenBlade is the last member of G2 in the fight, and he dies to Razork. The fight goes 3-1 for FNC.
As both teams group Mid, Mikyx tries to engage on Caps, who Shurikens away to avoid the initial CC and then jumps back in to deal some damage. He then breaks off to attack Humanoid, while his team focuses on Mikyx, who ends up dying to Hans.
Humanoid pushes Caps off him with Emperor’s Divide, but Caps goes back in on him. Humanoid Shurima Shuffles away as both teams disengage.
G2 start up and take the 4th Drake fast enough that FNC can’t interfere. However, FNC does chase after them. They start by killing Labrov (Upset gets the credit). Then Oscarinin drops on Equalizer in the path of the retreating G2.
SkewMond, who is at the back of the escape train, sacrifices himself to Oscarinin for his teammates. The fight goes 2-0 for FNC, but G2 secure the objective.
As Oscarinin pushes the wave in Bot Lane, BrokenBlade, who was hiding in a bush, engages him. Again, Caps TPs in and kills Oscarinin.
As Caps tries to take the Outer Bot Turret, Razork and Upset roam down to deal with him. Caps makes it back to where his Outer Turret used to be before dying to Upset.
Both teams are gathered in the Red Side Top Jungle. Mikyx tries to start a fight. G2 are able to weather the damage, though BrokenBlade does get very low, and even gets a kill. Before getting himself out of the fight, BrokenBlade knocks up Humanoid with his Ultimate, allowing Hans Sama to kill him.
Both teams set up around the 5th Drake. Despite getting initial control over the area, G2 gives it up to FNC and heads up towards Baron Pit. G2 takes the Drake uncontested. They are now on Soul Point.
Mikyx dives onto Hans Sama and, though there is no initial follow-up, the rest of his team arrives soon enough. Despite Labrov’s best efforts to keep him alive, Hans dies to Upset.
Meanwhile, Oscarinin manages to burn down Caps, Humanoid takes out Labrov, and Mikyx kills SkewMond. BrokenBlade uses TP to escape. Fight goes 4-0 for FNC.
FNC marches up Mid Lane, taking structures as they go. BrokenBlade puts up an attempt at a defense while under his Nexus Turrets, but he dies to Humanoid fairly quickly. With no one up from G2, FNC closes out the game.
Post Game Analysis: Seems People Get Caught Out A Lot in the LEC Too
FNC ends the game at 29:30 with a gold lead of 9.7k. The final score was 17-6.
FNC was a coordinated, well-executed killing machine. G2, by comparison, was rather a mess. They didn’t start grouping until much later, and they kept getting caught out. There’s really not much more to say here other than G2 didn’t play as a cohesive team.
That said, FNC didn’t play a perfect game. They also got caught out a few times, and Oscarinin took a fight in Bot Lane; he was clearly not going to win. But still, they had enough advantages and communication to recover from those missteps. G2, not so much.
Terms
Early Game: Any time before 10 minutes, first outer tower down, or first level 10 (whichever comes first).
Mid Game: Between Early Game and either 20 minutes, 2 inner towns down, half the players are level 16, or 3rd dragon killed.
Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.
