EU LCS Spring Split Grand Final, Fnatic vs Unicorns of Love
Introduction
Hai! My name is Jesper ”Benvarmeren” Kuntz. I’m an ADC main and an aspiring, amateur shoutcaster and analyst for ReportAt20, that is starting up tournaments soon. In this post I’ll be doing a pre-game analysis of the EU LCS Spring Split Grand Final matchup between Fnatic and Unicorns of Love. I’ll be talking about each team, history between teams etc., lane advantages, bans and contested picks and finally my own expectation of the series. In the bans and contested picks sections I’ll be giving my insight into which champions could be ban worthy and why. There’s going to be a TL;DR in the bottom of the page.
Fnatic
Fnatic is one of the biggest organizations in eSports, and they’ve build a whole new team in the 2015 EU LCS Spring Split. After four members leaving Fnatic in the 2015 pre-season, the only member left was YellOwStaR. Fnatic then recruited two Koreans, Reignover & Huni, former mid laner for H2K, Febiven, and YellOwStaR’s fellow countryman for the ADC role, Steelback. This is the fifth time that Fnatic has been in the finals. They’ve won four out of the five times they’ve been in the finals and they’re looking to claim another victory. Fnatic secured their spot in the finals after a 3-2 victory against H2K in a very close series.
As a team, Fnatic has a really aggressive, yet calculated, playstyle. Fnatic snowballs their lead after getting some kills and ensures a victory. They like to have a carry top laner and a duelist in the jungle. In the mid lane, they like to have an assassin or a safe poke mid laner. In the bot lane, they love to have a support with a lot of engage and CC, whilst having a marksman that can safely deal damage in the teamfight. The team and their most played champions (in playoffs) are:
- Top lane: Huni – Lee Sin and Vladimir
- Jungle: Reignover – Rek’Sai, Nunu and Olaf
- Mid lane: Febiven – LeBlanc, Cho’Gath and Zed
- Marksman: Steelback – Lucian, Kalista, Ezreal and Jinx
- Support: YellOwStaR – Thresh and Janna
Unicorns of Love
For Unicorns of Love, this is their first split in the European League of Legends Championship Series. They’ve showed really strong performances throughout all the split. They’re known for playing some peculiar champions like Poppy in the top lane and Twisted Fate in the jungle.
Unicorns of Love plays a bit like Fnatic. Both teams aren’t the best at playing from behind, while they’re beast playing ahead. Unicorns of Love plays a guerilla-aggressiveness, where they aren’t afraid of sacrificing some players to get what they want.
This is Unicorns of Love’s first time in the final and they’ve probably came longer than they hoped for. The team is hungry to secure a victory, the title and an edge in securing a spot at worlds. Unicorns of Love ensured that they would get a grand final spot after decimating SK Gaming, in one final teamfight, securing their grand final spot after a 3-2 bo5 series.
Unicorns of Love and their most played champions (in playoffs) are:
- Top lane: Vizicsacsi – Sion, Maokai, Hecarim and Shyvana
- Jungle: Kikis – Udyr, Gragas, Shaco and Gnar
- Mid lane: PowerOfEvil – Kog’Maw, Orianna, LeBlanc and Syndra
- Marksman: Vardags – Jinx, Sivir and Caitlyn
- Support: Hylissang – Morgana, Thresh and Annie
History between Fnatic and Unicorns of Love
Fnatic and Unicorns of Love have met each other two times in the regular split – week 2 and week 8. Unicorns of Love have won both encounters.
Week 2
It took Fnatic 44 minutes and 49 seconds to lose against Unicorns in week 2. The gold lead was close to even (77.0k – 74.6k in the favor of UOL) but the tower score was far from equal. Fnatic had five towers, while Unicorns had eleven. The dragon score was close to being even as well as Unicorns had three dragons and Fnatic had two. Fnatic were three kills ahead (21 – 18). Fnatic banned Azir, Kassadin and Jarvan IV, while Unicorns banned Rengar, Zed and Lissandra.
Week 8
This time, Fnatic were simply not able to end the game. They aced Unicorns and were close to destroying their nexus, when the Unicorns respawns came rolling out and overran Fnatic. Fnatic tried to do it once again, but ended up falling hard. After a very close teamfight, where Unicorns came out ahead, UOL ended up winning the game at 38 minutes and 11 seconds. Unicorns had three dragons more than Fnatic (4 – 1). The tower score was equal and the kill score was close to even (30 – 34 in favor of Fnatic). Fnatic ended up losing with the gold lead (70.2k – 67.2k). Unicorns of Love banned Zed, Rumble and Hecarim, denying those picks from respectively Febiven and Huni. Fnatic banned Sivir, Ahri and Maokai from Vardags, PowerOfEvil and Vizicsacsi.
Lane Matchups:
Top lane:
Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss vs Seong “Huni” Hoon Heo
In the semifinals, Huni has had a KDA (Kill + assists / deaths) of 2.85, while Vizicsacsi had a KDA of 3.31. Vizicsacsi had a gold income of 327.08 gold per minute (GPM), where Huni had a GPM income of 349.71.
Huni loves to play carry top laners, where he can really make an impact on the game. He likes to play champions like Hecarim, Rumble and Vladimir. His teleport plays has been really good all season long.
Vizicsacsi has showed that he can play both tanky toplaners like Sion (remember his double kill with Sion’s ultimate against Gambit Gaming?) or Maokai and also carry top laners like Irelia, Poppy or Hecarim.
Huni has had a worse KDA than Vizicsacsi, but Huni has also had a higher gold per minute income than Vizicsacsi. I feel like that Vizicsacsi and Huni has played absolutely great in this split, but I feel like Huni’s been able to carry games better than Vizicsacsi. Huni has been showing that he has a really deep champion pool and Huni’s teleport usage has also been really amazing.
Advantage: Huni
Jungle:
Kim “Reignover” Ui-jin vs Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek
Reignover, in the playoffs, has had a KDA of 5.25, while his opponent, Kikis, has had a KDA of 3.25. Kikis’s has a GPM income of 309.13, while Reignover gets 329.18 GPM.
Kikis, in the playoffs, has brought out some more stranger picks like Udyr, Shaco and Gnar, but Kikis can also play some of the more standard junglers like Jarvan IV, Lee Sin or Rek’Sai.
Reignover likes to play junglers that can duel and deal a lot of damage in teamfights as well. He has played a lot of Nunu, Olaf and Rek’Sai in the playoffs and he drew a lot of Rengar bans earlier in the season.
Reignover has a better KDA and a better GPM. I feel that Reignover and Kikis are both really good junglers with both early, mid and late game pressure. Both junglers have been performing extraordinary the whole split and I feel it’s hard to say who’s going to come out ahead.
Advantage: Too close to call
Mid:
Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage vs Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten
PowerOfEvil’s KDA in the playoffs has been 4.9 while Febiven’s KDA has been 4.57. They both have a very similar GPM income, where Febiven’s GPM is 364.77 and PowerOfEvil’s is 363.7.
Febiven is fond of assassin’s like Zed and LeBlanc. While he can also play more standard mages like Cho’Gath, Xerath or Orianna, Febiven shines on assassins.
Febiven’s opponent, PowerOfEvil, is one of the only mid laners in the EU LCS that still plays Syndra. PowerOfEvil has a very diverse champion pool consisting of picks like Syndra, Cassiopeia, Ahri, AP Kog’Maw and LeBlanc.
PowerOfEvil has a better KDA and nearly the same GPM income as Febiven. Both players have had a great season, but I think out of the two mid laners, Febiven is the weakest. I’m expecting PowerOfEvil to win lane against Febiven and then snowball from there.
Advantage: PowerOfEvil
Marksman:
Pierre “Steelback” Medjaldi vs Pontus “Vardags” Dahlblom
Steelback’s KDA in the playoffs are 5.14, while Vardags’s KDA are 3.81. Vardags’s GPM income is 389.59 and Steelback’s is 393.89.
Steelback is a good ADC with great positioning. He likes to clean-up fights and survive with his positioning. He isn’t the flashiest of ADC’s, but he brings what his team needs.
Vardags isn’t the flashiest of ADC’s as well. He has showed that he can play many different ADC’s while Jinx’s has been his best.
Steelback wins in both KDA and GPM income. Vardags is a bit more aggressive than Steelback, which also shows in KDA, but I do think that Steelback are better than Vardags.
Advantage: Steelback
Support:
Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov vs Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim.
This is the matchup of The Rookie versus The Veteran.
YellOwStaR has a better KDA than Hylissang (3.36 – 3.25), but Hylissang has a better GPM income than YellOwStaR (239.01 – 232.52)
Hylissang affection lies at supports with some kind of lockdown – He has only played supports with lockdown in the 2015 EU LCS Spring Split (Annie, Morgana, Thresh and Leona).
YellOwStaR is one of the only players in the world that has attended all four World Championships, and he is also the only player in Europe that has played in all of the EU LCS finals. YellOwStaR has played a bit of every support in the 2015 Spring Split and is also the first support in Europe to bring out Nautilus support.
While YellOwStaR’s KDA is better than Hylissang’s, then his GPM income is smaller. I don’t think that this will affect the game very much. YellOwStaR, in my opinion, has a deeper champion pool than Hylissang, and YellOwStaR is also more flexible. I’m sure we’re yet to see him fall from his supreme
Advantage: YellOwStaR
Team:
Fnatic, as a team, has a higher KDA than Unicorns of Love (4 – 3.61). Fnatic has the second highest KDA, in the playoffs, and Unicorns has the third highest, in the playoffs. Fnatic is only defeated by H2K, who has a KDA of 4.01. Fnatic’s GPM income is also higher than Unicorns of Love’s (1670 – 1629). Fnatic has the highest GPM, in the playoffs, while Unicorns has the third highest GPM, in the playoffs (1670 – 1629). Unicorns of Love are only bested by SK Gaming, who has a GPM income of 1643.
Bans and contested picks:
I’m pretty that Unicorns of Love will focus on banning out Huni. Most teams have been banning out Huni and forced him onto champions like Lee Sin with Smite-TP or Vladimir.
I expect a Shyvana ban coming from Unicorns of Love. Huni has showed that he can play the Smite-TP strategy in the top lane with Lee Sin and Shyvana is stronger with Smite-TP than Lee Sin.
Likewise I assume that a Rumble and a Hecarim ban is starting to become essential, when facing Fnatic, because Huni can be a, excuse the language, pain in the ass when playing Rumble or Hecarim.
Kikis has showed some great games on Udyr and Kikis’s potential to carry on Udyr. It might be a ban coming in from Fnatic. I would assume that Fnatic has been practicing a counter against Udyr though. Reignover plays a really great Rek’Sai, where he has showed, and he can snowball the early game with Rek’Sai. I’m not sure that Rek’Sai is ban worthy, but I suppose that Kikis has been practicing his Rek’Sai, so that he can take it away from Reignover. Nunu is a champion that both Reignover and Kikis have played, which could end up being contested. Reignover is the only one, of the two junglers, that has played Sejuani, but Kikis might have been practicing that aswell.
PowerOfEvil’s Kog’Maw has been really devastating for most teams once it goes rolling, but I’m not sure that PowerOfEvil is confident enough to bring it out against Febiven’s Zed, Cho’Gath or LeBlanc.
I anticipate that Jinx would also be a highly contested pick. It’s, probably, Vardags’s best champion and Fnatic wouldn’t allow Vardags to get her unless they had a plan. Steelback has also showed that he is able to play her.
YellOwStaR haven’t played Morgana in the 2015 season, but he played her in the 2014 season. It’s Hylissang’s most played champion and YellOwStaR has proved to be a good Morgana player before.
Summary:
If we only looked at the past matchups, then Fnatic would lose the final 0-3, but both teams have had a long time practicing new things and in a game like League of Legends, where there are shifting strategies, everything can happened.
Fnatic’s advantages, in my opinion, lies with YellOwStaR, Huni and Steelback. Unicorns of Love are stronger at the mid lane, where I would expect PowerOfEvil to win.
Fnatic has looked really strong both in the playoffs and the regular split. Fnatic ended up, in my opinion, looking as one of the strongest teams in Europe alongside H2K and Unicorns of Love. I’m sure that they’ll prove to be a test for the Unicorns of Love, and I would also assume that they’ve been working on not choking in a bo5.
Unicorns of Love have also been glancing at the top of the European teams, and I truly believe that they’re a top three team in Europe. This is not going to a 0 – 3 for Fnatic and Unicorns of Love will be hungry for that final victory in the EU LCS.
Both Fnatic and Unicorns of Love are two really aggressive, yet calculated, teams. I’m sure that there’s going to be a lot of outplays, blood, toil, tears and sweat coming from both teams. My prediction is as followed:
Prediction: Fnatic, 3-2
TL;DR Both teams aggressive, yet calculated. The bo5 is going to involve a lot of blood, outplays, toil, tears and sweat coming from both teams. Contested picks / important bans: Hecarim, Shyvana, Rumble, Udyr, Rek’Sai, Jinx, Zed, LeBlanc, Cho’Gath and Nunu.
Thanks for reading my analysis. If you’ve got a take on my analysis, then feel free to leave a comment, so we can get a discussion going.
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