Greetings to all League of Legends esports fans! At EGamersWorld, together we continue to analyze the events of LEC Summer 2022 and make our predictions. Let me remind you that this is the largest League of Legends tournament in Europe, and €200,000 EUR and three places at Worlds 2022 are at stake.
Fnatic vs Excel
One of the most interesting matches of today. After all, on the one hand, we have Fnatic - an experienced and successful top-tier team of the entire LEC. But, on the other hand, it is the dark horse of this tournament, Excel, which proved that it can fight on equal terms against the best teams of this split. Personally, it will be extremely interesting for me to watch the course of this match.
Fnatic form
Semi-final of LEC Spring 2022, runner-up team on par with G2 Esports and Rogue. A very stable and strong LEC and European League of Legends team in general, as far as we know it since 2010.
They put together a good roster, which was shown for the first time at this year's spring split, where they replaced everyone except the old man and team leader Hylissang, who has been at the base for almost 5 years. They tested their real strength at LEC Spring 2022 and now they are ready to work for the result again, having prepared.
We opened the first week with a victory over one of our main rivals Rogue, which has already become a very good result, but yesterday in a rematch against the same Rogue with a fight, but lost. Otherwise, the Fnatic team demonstrates a good competitive game, but with varying degrees of success, they can lose to an average team, as was the case in two matches of the previous gaming week.
Extremely experienced team that clearly knows what they have to do and how. However, there are some shortcomings in drafting or team macro play. There is something to improve.
Compound:
- Wunder - top laner
- Razork - forester
- Humanoid - mid laner
- Upset - ADC
- Hylissang - support
Excel Form
To say that Team XL didn't surprise anyone at the start of this split would be a complete lie. If only they managed to finish the game with G2, then everyone would now call them local “killers of kings”. But even with such success in the beginning, the fuse was not enough for a long time.
As many of the commentators and analysts have noticed, their game in the spring and now are two huge differences. Starting from the LEC Spring 2022, where they showed themselves to be average, the players trained hard and managed to play together for a year.
The trainers of YoungBuck and Nelson also did a lot of work, obviously having earned their fee. Judging by the team's game XL, they did a phenomenal preparation of macro play and control over the entire map.
They are 6-4 in head-to-head matches and sit third on the leaderboard, ahead of both Fnatic and G2 Esports. The past, 4th game week of LEC Summer 2022 was the most unfortunate for the team so far, where they managed to catch 2 losses at once, and from relatively weak teams. But already yesterday we fought back against the stronger Misfits Gaming. A dark horse is a dark horse.
So far, Excel's ideas and strategies look very workable and interesting. They are the team that sets the pace and refreshes the entire European pro scene this summer.
Compound:
- Finn is a top laner
- Markoon - forester
- nukeduck - mid laner
- Patrik - ADK
- Mikyx - support
Meeting history
And we return to the events of the first week of this summer's main European League of Legends event, when the rosters of these teams met for the first time recently.
Then, thanks to Fnatic Excel, they continued their winning streak! During the break, the team, which barely made it to the playoffs in the spring, rallied and showed excellent team coordination. A good draft from both sides, equal game on objects, review. But team shifts and map pressure were much stronger for XL than they crushed the more experienced and successful FNC. A good 30-minute map with a final score of 20:6.
Match outcome
For me, this match looks like 60% to 40%, obviously in favor of Fnatic. I guess the original XL players could take on an experienced team with their strategy and suddenly good play, which they simply didn't expect. But now Fnatic will obviously not relax for a second and wait for new surprises from Excel. I believe that the success of this match, to a greater extent, will be affected by FNC's wide experience in the League of Legends, so I would bet on them.
Bottom line: victory will be for Fnatic.
