What a better way to enter playoffs than with a good old G2 – Fnatic in BO5? The Samurai will take on the Black and Orange this Saturday to kick off the final sprint to the MSI 2025. If the identity of this year’s LEC Spring champion is yet to be defined, it would come as an immense surprise if it would not be a team from the upper bracket (KC, MKOI, G2 or FNC). These same four teams already made it to the final 4 in Winter, with KC eventually coming out on top. They’re all at it again, after 7 weeks of Regular Season entirely in BO3 this Spring. On Monday, one of them will officially qualify for the MSI and will have two weeks to wait and prepare for their final opponent of the split – that will come out of the lower bracket. G2 or Fnatic, who will be one step away from the second international tournament of the year?
Historically, G2 always had the edge over their old rival in BO5. Since the LEC era (2019), the head to head results speak for themselves in this exercice: 9 victories to the Samurai, 4 to Fnatic. And it has to be said that over the past few years in particular, the rivalry has not really lived up to the designation. Even though Fnatic participated in 7 LEC Grand Finals against G2, they never won a single title. Which means that in non Final BO5, Fnatic have the edge with a 4-2 record over the Samurai. Not only the Black and Orange won’t have to fear the elimination this Saturday, but probably for the first time in years, they also look like the heavy favourites.
First because Fnatic had a smoother split overall. They’ll arrive on the playoffs stage with much more confidence than G2 after a clean season, only marred by an accident to SK in the first week, and an auto attack on the Nexus of MKOI in Madrid. On the other hand, the Samurai came close to miss the playoffs, as they were not 100% locked in before winning against SK in Paris. The scariest for G2 is that the bad performances are not really due to the newcomers – who adapted pretty well after a back and forth Winter. But it is more on the sololaners, Caps and BB, who were so consistant in the past few years with G2. The faces of the org on League of Legends both showed very unusual weaknesses this Spring.
Photo Credit: Hara Amorós/Riot Games
Two early oriented teams
Contrary to KC and KOI who have shown a lot of resilience in the later stages of the game, both G2 and Fnatic do not seem like mid/late game oriented teams. Quite the opposite, they shine the most when they take a lead in the early game and snowball through it. But when the game tend to last longer, both teams are not in their comfort zone anymore. They even threw many advantages during the Regular Season because of bad decision making or unsynchronized teamfights: although these are two areas in which they have had the advantage over the league in recent years. Humanoid and Razork especially, have shown a lot of struggle past the early game. The first is getting caught a lot on sidelanes, while the other is often looking off tempo with his team, either by going too deep or not making any play to extend his team’s lead.
To me, the big question mark coming into this week-end is Caps. While he is individually still finding a lot of advantages in lane, his synergy with Skewmond is not looking like the best. On Sunday they will take on a duo that is obviously much more confident as they’ve been playing together for the last 3 years. G2’s midlaner has had terrible moments and plays as he is struggling – just like his team in general – to find his way through the current meta. The other one currently in that position is BB. The Topfather didn’t really found great ideas in draft so far – in total opposition with his last year when he managed to put the spotlight on Zac, Rek’Sai, Twisted Fate etc. He can always take comfort in his Jax, which has been his redeeming champion this split. But it will not even be easy to prioritize the Grandmaster at Arms against FNC: Oscarinin is probably the best Gragas and Poppy top player of the league…
Photo Credit: Hara Amorós/Riot Games
Razork is not afraid to make a lot of individual sacrifices for his team, with a clear idea in mind for the early game: make it or break it. While Skewmond prefers to play a controlled game plan, where he just plays for objectives and outfarm his direct opponent, little by little. A clear opposition of styles, because one is very creative and can surprise with unexpected pathings and forced skirmishes, while the other lack of creativity but will definitely shine much more in slow games. Skewmond is never letting an advantage go when he gets one, while his counterpart is playing way less selfish overall.
Botlane, the sinews of war
If there is one part of the map that will most likely decide who will advance to the Upper Bracket final, it is definitely the botlane. First because FNC and G2 are unquestionably the two most aggressive duos of the league, especially in the early stages. They love to draft to put the botlane in the best conditions, they’re often very creative in draft and in game to maximize the chances to get an early lead bot and snowball through it. I am personally very impress regarding Labrov in this area. With BDS, I felt like Ice and him were not shining much in lane but more in teamfights, however since he joined the most aggressive ADC of the LEC, he adapted pretty well in my opinion. So much, that I feel like he lost a lot of his teamfight strength – he is not flanking as much as he used to, or simply looking for the best angles. When the lane is done I feel like he is often becoming a ghost, especially if his team is playing from behind.
I even feel like G2 have let go that priority on their botlane lately to try and focus on the topside which, obviously, wasn’t very successful. So I expect them to go back on playing for bot, especially against the likes of Upset and Mikyx: not only Hotspawn’s but now also the official All-Pro 1st Team’s botlane of the Spring Split. An example of consistency and clutchness, dominating most stats with Upset averaging only one death per game, and a KDA of 13. They are undoubtedly the best botlane in the league. And against G2, I am afraid Mikyx might be hungrier than ever. It is hard to forget the last BO3 in Madrid, where the support even got the MVP for his outstanding performance against his former team – the insane flash predict on Hans probably still haunts the Frenchman to this day…
It feels weird to have this opinion after the past years of domination of G2 over Fnatic, but I think that this time, the Black and Orange should take the win. G2 had too many issues to fix in two weeks, while Fnatic will come in with much more confidence. But the thing is G2 could still tip the balance in their favour if they finally come up with the right preperation and the right ideas in draft: an area in which the Samurai’s staff usually excel, but where they also struggled a lot this split. Let’s see if the G2 buff in playoffs is still a thing…
Ethan is an esports fanatic — not a Fnatic fan, don’t get him wrong. He previously worked for a French media outlet called Eclypsia, as well as Sheep Esports, for whom he covered a variety of scenes: from FC 24, R6, and RL to CS:GO, VAL, and more. But the main reason Ethan started writing in esports was to have the opportunity to work fully on his one true love: League of Legends. And that’s precisely what he is doing at Hotspawn. Be warned, his articles can sometimes ooze a little too much of his lack of objectivity towards the French scene and players…
