Fnatic are advancing to the Lower Bracket final after their win against MKOI (3-1) this Friday. The Black and Orange will face Karmine Corp this Saturday, for a spot in Grand Final where the winner will meet G2 Esports again.

Right after his victory over the Spanish team, I sat down with Marek “Humanoid” Brázda to discuss a lot of topics, including the chat all drama during the games, his new botlane, fan criticism, the state of the LEC and the upcoming series against KC.

Ethan: You finally got to play your first BO5 in Fearless Draft. You gave yourself a little fright in game 4. But your read on their play kind of saved the day in the end.

Overall, what are your thoughts on Fnatic performance today?

Humanoid: I think for sure in the fourth game we played pretty bad with the lead. I think maybe we’re a bit tired and did not focus too well. But I think in the first games we played together and we played aggressive. So I think for sure in the first games we played pretty good. In the third game we were completely destroyed in the early game then it was unplayable, but I think we still played fine after that. So, Yeah, I would say it was like a 7 out of 10.

Ethan: I also have to ask you because of that game four where Jojo was the main focus and you had a very big lead over him. Especially after he’s been very vocal about you all split long.

How does it feel to humble him? And on an even larger scale, how does it feel to finally break the curse you maybe had against NA Midlaners?

Humanoid: I don’t know if I had a curse. I mean, I lost twice to Liquid, I guess, or maybe three times, I don’t know. But that’s the only thing. It’s just team Liquid. It’s not any other.

Ethan: Yeah, but also you only lost this split in regular season was against MKOI…

Humanoid: True, true. Guys, the first game that we lost Draft was completely unplayable. I’m not gonna lie. So that doesn’t even count. I mean, it feels good, to be honest, it feels pretty good to beat them.

Ethan: And maybe Jojo in particular, because of all that banter. Does it add any extra pleasure to it?

Humanoid: I guess a bit. But he wasn’t really talking too much in the games. Like he was only chatting in the first game, which is kind of surprising. After that he wasn’t really using chat.

I guess maybe he saw that they got completely f*cked and he stopped chatting.

Ethan: You said they didn’t talk too much. But I saw the Upset tweet saying the all chat was too disrespectful today.

Can you tell me what happened in the all chat?

Humanoid: I think he wasn’t talking much (Jojopyun). I think the others were talking a bit, but it was just when we were losing, they said like some toxic things. I don’t know. I don’t really care, like for me. They were just trash talking.

But it’s kind of weird to trash talk someone that you don’t know. For me, because I’ve never spoke to them in my life. And it’s weird that they just try to talk sh*t about you even like two weeks before the game.

It’s like, okay, bro…

Ethan: To go back a bit on this split in general for Fnatic, I got the impression that you had taken on G2 status in the league after the regular season. You seemed to be the clear favourite to win it all, but in the end they beat you 2-0 in playoffs.

If you had to recall on that momentum, did you feel the same way? Like did you feel you were the clear favourites?

Humanoid:

I knew coming to the playoffs that there are three teams that can win, which are the three teams that are left.

I think everyone else is very far behind. So I definitely did not think that like we are gonna stomp everyone. I also think that being first in regular season like the first nine games are completely useless. So it does not really mean anything. It probably just means that you won one best of one against the other teams. And we also had like insane drafts in most of our games in the regular season. So we just got free wins before the games even started. So yeah, I just felt like there’s three teams that are pretty close together and anyone of them can win.

Ethan: Also, Fnatic this year only changed their bot lane. Now that you’ve experienced kind of a full split with Upset and Mikyx,

What do you think are the main differences between them and Noah/Jun?

Humanoid: I think we are more playing aggressive and everyone is communicating more. I think we had some issues last year with not many people communicating that much. So right now it feels easier to play. And we have many people that have a plan to do something and then force other people to do their thing. So whenever someone has a lead, we can actually play around that guy and then force our lead.

Ethan: I personally feel like the mid lane in LEC has improved in recent years with the arrival of promising rookies and players like Jojo and everything.

Do you feel the same way? And would you say this is the most competitive LEC you played in as of today?

Humanoid: I think 100%.

Ever since I joined, there was not three teams that were good, I think ever.

So for sure right now it’s the most competitive and I think there’s probably four midlaners that are good, which is more than most of the time. So yeah, I think it’s for sure more competitive than usually.

Ethan: Some people had doubts about your motivations level before the start of the season and I feel like in general people are very quick to criticise when it comes to you and some of your performances.

What’s your take on that and do you kind of understand why the public is so demanding towards you?

Humanoid: I’m not sure. I think I have made it to Worlds  every single year since I joined LEC and I guess if I finish second then I’m just a loser. Which is true. Which is true. But yeah, it’s basically if I don’t win then I need to get benched, which is the narrative, I guess. Yeah, I don’t have much to say about that. I mean, I guess it will happen again if we lose. So yeah, I don’t mind.

Ethan: Now do you feel like you have more ability to tank those critics or is it still hard sometimes?

Humanoid: I think I’m fine with it. I mean it only started when I joined Fnatic because when I was in a different team. Like no one cares when I was at MAD Lions if they do bad.

Ethan: Also because you did very well with Mad Lions…

Humanoid: Yeah, true. But I think going into like a famous org like this, it just comes with it, you know, it’s just expectations.

Fnatic flags
Photo Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games

Ethan: Also, many people aren’t surprised that Fnatic are in pole position at the start of the year. But I know some think that you won’t be the team with the best scaling over the course of the year. I heard GrabbZ talking in EUphoria about it and putting a lot of emphasis on scaling with this team.

Any thoughts on that? And are you confident in the ceiling of this Fnatic team despite the fact that you’re mostly veterans?

Humanoid: I always like to think that whenever someone says, “oh yeah, I know we are doing really bad, but it’s a long term project” that it’s just an excuse.  There is nothing you can do to scale better. It’s not, it’s not like you practice differently to be better in four months than to be better now. So I think every team is doing the same, so I would expect us to just have the same growth as any other team, to be honest. Nothing special.

Ethan: Okay, so tomorrow you’ll be up against KC.

How confident are you coming into this series? Do you think they are a much better opponent than MKOI?

Humanoid: I think they are better, yes. For sure. I’m not sure if we would win if we play like today because I don’t think we played that well, so we’ll have to see. I think playing two best of fives in a row in two days, it’s like easier to get used to the stage. So I think we will just play better tomorrow.

Fnatic after their win vs MKOI
Photo Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games

Ethan: Maybe they have also like more information about your drafts etc.

Humanoid: True, they have more information, so that’s the only bad thing. But I think like, being comfortable on stage is more important. So I actually think it’s a plus that you can go from the lower bracket, especially since Fearless is new, so you can actually try out the things in game four or five that you practiced.

Rapid Fire Questions

LPL or LCK? LCK.

Orianna or Leblanc? Orianna.

Laning against Showmaker or Laning against Chovy? I’d say SM is a bit worse, so laning against Showmaker.

Fearless Draft or Normal Draft? Fearless Draft.

Atakhan or Three Drakes? Three Drakes.

Splyce, MAD Lions or Movistar KOI? MAD Lions.

Carzzy or Noah? I like them both. Carzzy is from my country so I have to chose him, sorry Noah.