TL;DW – LEC Edition: FNC Makes A Costly Call in Game 3 Against G2
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). FNC won Game 1, and G2 won Game 2. For more information on what early, mid, and late game means, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: An Outrageously Fabulous Support Arrives
Bans sees Draven, Yone, Blitzcrank, Maokai, Lucian, and Neeko exiled from the match.
FNC grabs Kalista as the first pick of the game. After a small delay because of a misclick, G2 locks in Xayah and Poppy. FNC decides on Gwen and Taric next. 1st pick phase ends with G2 picking up Jax.
The Mid Lane is targeted heavily during the 2nd ban phase, with Oriana, Aurelion Sol, Viktor, and Sejuani removed.
Returning to champion selection, G2 opt for Rakan. FNC take Skarner and Hwei. G2 ends things by choosing Annie. FNC has a very heavy engage comp, while G2 have opted for disengage and lock down. Also, haven’t seen a Taric is quite a while. Fearless is a wonderful thing.
Team comps are: FNC – Gwen (top), Skarner (jungle), Hwei (mid), Kalista (bot), Taric (support) vs Y – Jax (top), Poppy (jungle), Annie (mid), Xayah (bot), Rakan (support).
Early Game Highlights: Early Leads for FNC
G2 do a little invade into FNC’s Red Side Jungle. Labrov dashes forward on to Upset, forcing him to burn his Flash. Good start to the game for G2.
As Labrov and Hans Sama head over to Bot Lane through the River, Upset and Mikyx meet them. Hans Sama has to burn his Ghost to get better maneuverability, but Upset ends up taking slightly more damage.
Mikyx Flashes forward and Stuns both Hans Sama and Labrov. Hans uses Heal so that he can stay in lane, but Razork comes in from behind them. FNC dives G2 under Turret and Upset kills Hans Sama for 1st Blood of the game.
BrokenBlade and Oscarinin both swap to the Bot Lane. As they skirmish heavily with each other, Razork tries to gank but BrokenBlade manages to avoid him and walks away.
After clearing his Krugs, Razork returns to the Bot Lane. However, SkewMond also arrives to provide BrokenBlade with back up. As Razork goes in through a wall, BrokenBlade activates Counterstrike.
SkewMond slams Razork into the wall he came in through and BrokenBlade jumps straight on to Oscarinin, who is low. With BrokenBlade directly on top of him, Hallowed Mist is completely useless and Oscarinin dies to BrokenBlade.
Razork attemps to gank Hans Sama and Labrov in Top Lane with Mikyx and Upset. He gets an Impale off on Labrov, how gets very low, but manages to get away. Despite not getting a kill, FNC do force G2 to have to stay in lane, so they are able to take the Voidgrubs uncontested.
After taking the Grubs, Upset and Mikyx head back to Top Lane and dive Hans Sama (who is there by himself) under Turret. He gets taken low and Flashes away. FNC give chase. Despite Labrov return to try and help, Upset is able to kill Hans Sama. He then kills Labrov as well. Fight goes 2-0 for FNC.
On the other side of the map, SkewMond and BrokenBlade take the 1st Drake (Infernal).
Early Game ends with FNC ahead in gold by 1.4k but G2 ahead in farm.
Mid Game Highlights: Not a Moments Rest in the LEC
Caps TPs into Top Lane by himself and tries to fight Upset. Unfortunately for him, Mikyx is closer to them than Caps team. Though Caps tries to get away, he gets killed by Upset before his team can arrive.
Labrov tries to knock up Upset but he sidesteps it. SkewMond, however, is able to slam him into a wall and kill him. Humanoid and Razork arrive now. Humanoid kills SkewMond. In retaliation, Hans Sama kills Mikyx but dies to Humanoid immediately afterwards. The fight goes 3-2 for FNC. Off the back of this fight, FNC take G2’s Outer Top Turret for 1st Turret of the game.
Labrov and SkewMond find Razork in G2’s Blue Side Jungle. They fight him a little and then Razork Impales Labrov and tries to drag him down towards his team. SkewMond uses Keeper’s Verdict to send Razork away, disengage the fight.
Upset joins SkewMond and Labrov in Bot Lane and jumps on to Mikyx. When Razork tries to come in to help, SkewMond slams him into a wall. Labrov dives in with the Quickness active, Charming and Knocking up Upset, who dies to BrokenBlade. Mikyx tries to kill BrokenBlade, who is low but ends up dying to him instead. Razork runs away. Fight goes 2-0 for G2.
Despite winning the fight in Bot Lane, G2 are too low to take the 2nd Drake (Chemtech), leaving it open for FNC to come in and takes it uncontested.
FNC start up the Rift Herald and take it uncontested. At the same time, a fight between BrokenBlade and Oscarinin in the Top Lane turns into a full out team fight as SkewMond, Humanoid join in. Humanoid manages to push SkewMond away, but BrokenBlade is able to kill Oscarinin. He dies immediately afterwards to Humanoid.
As SkewMond, who has met up with Labrov, flees, he’s intercepted by the rest of FNC who have finished up with Rift Herald. Razork misses the Impacle so both SkewMond and Labrov are able to get away.
FNC drops Rift Herald in Top Lane and uses it to take the Inner Turret. Upset jumps forward a little too far and gets taken low so FNC retreat. As they back off, Caps TPs into Top River to cut them off.
Caps drops Tribbers on to Razork and Humanoid. He then gets Impaled by Razork and moved out of the way. BrokenBlade TPs in as well now but Mikyx uses Cosmic Radiance, timing it so that it drops just as BrokenBlade arrives.
Upset starts to attack Caps who has to Stun him in order to get away. Mikyx gets jumped on by BrokenBlade and dies to Hans Sama. BrokenBlade activates Counterstrike, jumps on to a retreating Upset, Stuns him, and then dies to Oscarinin right before he can land the killing blow.
Back in the main fight, Razork dies to Hans Sama’s Bladecaller while Humanoid runs away. Oscarinin briefly reengages with G2, looking for a kill, but then decides to run too. Unfortunately, that brief flirtation is enough for G2 to get in close enough that they can chase him down. It costs Labrov his Flash, but they are able to kill him (SkewMond gets the credit). Fight goes 2-1 to G2.
Mid Game ends with FNC still ahead in gold (now by 2.8k) and now also ahead in farm.
Late Game Highlights: A Choice Was Made
As both teams set up around Atakhan, Labrov jumps on Humanoid as he cross through Bot River towards Tri-Brush. A fight ensues as both teams converge. G2 get CCed and heavily damaged and have to back away. As they do, Humanoid kills BrokenBlade.
FNC chase the rest of G2 away, with Humanoid getting a second kill on to Caps. Fight goes 2-0 for FNC, who use the win to take Atakhan and the 3rd Drake (Ocean) uncontested. Bad engage by Labrov.
While Humanoid and Hans Sama farm in middle, SkewMond comes in behind Humanoid and locks him up, allowing Hans to kill him. This not only gives Hans 1080 in shutdown gold but also takes a few stacks off of Humanoid’s Dark Seal.
FNC, as a team, roam Bot Lane to try and take G2’s Inner Bot Turret so that they will be distracted by something on the other side of the map when Baron spawns. They tries to engage on to BrokenBlade but the Stun from Mikyx misses. FNC starts to fall back but Caps TPs in behind them. BrokenBlade jumps in to begin the fight.
Mikyx activates Cosmic Radiance. It drops just in time to save Humanoid from dying. With this reprieve, Upset is able to kill Labrov, while Humanoid is able to take out BrokenBlade, before dying to Caps. Oscarinin comes in from behind G2, jumping on to Hans Sama and kill him.
Mikyx kills Caps. SkewMond flees, though not before taking out Upset. Razork chases after him but he’s able to get away. Fight goes 4-1 for FNC, takes mostly to Mikyx’s well timed Cosmic Radiance. After the fight, Oscarinin takes the Inner Bot Turret.
FNC take the 4th Drake uncontested. They are now on Soul Point. G2, meanwhile, ward up the Top half of the map.
G2 starts up the Baron. Labrov acts as a distraction to keep Razork at bay, while Caps sets up in FNC’s Blue Side Jungle for a potential flank if necessary. Labrov knocks up Razork and SkewMond uses Keeper’s Verdict to send him away. G2 secure the Baron and most of them leave.
BrokenBlade, however, decides to try and engage on to Mikyx, only to get Impaled by the returning Razork and killed by Upset. Likewise, Caps doesn’t leave with the rest of his team and instead goes Top. He meets Humanoid there and tries to go in on him but Oscarinin comes in and kills him while Humanoid escapes with a sliver of Health left. The greed is strong with these ones.
A small fight breaks out in G2’s Blue Side Jungle but G2 breaks off once the Cosmic Radiance comes out.
As both teams start to set up for the upcoming Drake, Labrov jumps on to Oscarinin in the Bot River, starting a team fight. G2 as a team dodges the Impale from Razork but BrokenBlade gets locked up and then killed by Oscarinin.
FNC lead G2 into the dark Bot River. G2 cautiously enters, dodging some initial Skill Shots. Once they have better vision of the area, BrokenBlade jumps in. Mikyx uses Cosmic Radiance, but BrokenBlade goes golden and the rest of G2 manages to stay far enough back that FNC aren’t able to take full advantage of their Invulerabiliy.
Once Cosmic Radiance wears off, SkewMond uses Keeper’sVerdict to remove Mikyx from the fight. G2 then go all in. SkewMond manages to kill Oscarinin and Hans Sama takes down Razork. G2 then turn and take the Drake as FNC retreat. Fight goes 2-0 for G2 thanks to SkewMond’s Ultimate.
Caps goes Bot and takes FNC’s Inner Bot Turret. Oscarinin arrives and chase after him. Caps drops Tribbers on him as BrokenBlade TPs in. Oscarinin dies to BrokenBlade while Caps, who got low during his duel with Oscar, survives.
Meanwhile, in G2’s Red Side Jungle, Labrov gets caught out and almost dies. He manages to survive thanks to Rakan natural agility. While FNC is distracted, BrokenBlade and Caps take the Base Bot Turret and the Bot Inhibitor.
Despite the danger to their Base, Mikyx, Upset, and Razork don’t recall (but Humanoid does). They try to start a fight with G2. Mikyx gets low but uses Cosmic Radiance to buy himself some more time.
Upset and Razork tries to take down Hans Sama but he uses Featherstorm to avoid some damage, kills Razork with Bladecaller, and then kills Upset with Auto Attacks before he can use Rend to kill him. At the same time, SkewMond kills Mikyx. Fight goes 3-0 for G2.
At the FNC Base, BrokenBlade and Caps continue to reek havoc. Despite Humanoid’s presence, they’ve manage to take out the Lower Nexus Turret and are working on the Upper one. Humanoid tries to defeat best he can, but BrokenBlade is able to destroy the FNC Nexus.
Post Game Analysis: Victory Out of the Jaws of Defeat
G2 ends the game at 36:17 with a gold lead of 1.5k. The final score was 18-17 for G2.
Let’s not pretend here, for the bulk of this game FNC had the advantage. G2 won because of 2 things. First, they were able to stall long out Mikyx Cosmic Radiance twice, for which they deserve credit. Second, FNC made a bad call right at the end, for which they deserve criticism.
Your base is, quite literally, falling apart and you decide to fight. Why? You don’t win the game by having the most kills. You win the game by destroying your enemies Nexus well keeping yours alive. Your greed just handed G2 the game.
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.
