by FNATIC vs. TEAM VITALITY
The most dominant EU LCS team meets the most unpredictable one in the other semifinal match, and both of them have a lot to fight for.
EU LCS semifinals are on this weekend, with the top four teams in the regular split standings all still in competition.
Saturday saw G2 take out Splyce 3-1, while the recently dominant Fnatic will be facing a shaky Vitality team in addition to some new roster issues.
Fnatic’s form has been looking similar to their glory days, and the chance to win a title after years of drought is what pushes them to play their hearts out. Vitality’s young squad, on the other hand, is fighting to reach their first ever LCS finals.
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Fnatic key players
Fnatic have been the most coherent and individually the best team this split. An MVP performance from their AD Carry Rekkles has him topping the charts in every relevant statistic, and the synergy between him and Hylissang makes them a nearly unbeatable bot lane. Fnatic love to play around Rekkles, and with Broxah often ganking early, their captain often gets to mid-game with a huge lead over the opposing ADC.
The other big carry on the team is mid laner Caps, who is having his best split to date. The talented Dane can play any meta champion on a high level, ranging from low-economy picks like Sion or Galio, to hard carries like Azir. He will have to watch out for Vitality’s mid-focused play, which already saw him fall to Gilius’s ganks and never catch up in one of their games earlier this split.
Vitality key players
Vitality, as it’s known, love to provide Jiizuke with all that is necessary to get him rolling. In spite of that, Minitroupax has also shown that he can be a valuable carry for his team, having been the main reason for the win over H2K in the quarters. His Caitlyn, Varus and Ashe are top tier, but I don’t think he will be able to shine as bright as earlier after going 2v2 with Jactroll against Rekkles and Hylissang. The main reason (except the quality of Fnatic’s bot lane) for this would be Jactrolls fairly shallow champion pool, which doesn’t hold much more than Tahm Kench and Janna.
Fnatic injury gives Team Vitality a lifeline
The main duel, however, will be in the top lane. Fnatic’s veteran sOAZ will have to sit the playoffs out due to an injury, and the young Bwipo will have to step in and do his best. Fnatic’s substitute top laner has shown good play in the few games he has played so far, but he will have to do his absolute best in the first BO5 of his career. Both Fnatic and Vitality prefer to leave top lane an island without much jungle help, and that could be good for Bwipo: Cabochard was never a proficient laner on his own, and picking a fairly safe champion like Sion will probably make Fnatic’s top lane stay relevant through the entire game.
Game Predictions
If sOAZ were able to play, a convincing win for Fnatic would be the most likely outcome here. With the substitution, it’s going to be significantly more difficult: Vitality‘s sometimes surprising strats could seriously disrupt the inexperienced top laner. Still, I think Fnatic are an amazing team, and they already did well with Bwipo in a couple of games. Vitality, on the other hand, have been looking disorganised and out of form for quite some time now, and a 3-1 or even 3-2 win for Fnatic is what I’d consider the most likely result.
Best bet: Fnatic to win -303.03 with BetOnline
