A day after beating G2, Fnatic were almost upset by Excel

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Fnatic celebrated a big win over MSI champion G2 Esports yesterday that catapulted them into first place in the LEC. It was a signature win for a club trying to win back their European title.

But today in the LEC, Fnatic looked like they were in the throes of a massive post-win hangover as they fed kill after kill to Excel Esports, the worst team in the league. Just when it looked like Fnatic had dug themselves too big a hole, the bot lane duo of Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov brought them back from the brink to keep them undefeated.

The biggest reason Fnatic fell behind so much was young mid laner Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek. After Fnatic swamped mid and top lanes to give themselves better matchups, Nemesis got one-vs-one killed by Excel top laner Ki “Expect” Dae-han’s Poppy. Poppy is no joke in the early game, but Nemesis was clearly unfamiliar with the power of the champion.

And then when Fnatic swapped back, Expect found him again, this time on a three-man mid lane gank. If Nemesis never sees a hammer-carrying Yordle again in his life, he’ll probably be alright.

When yesterday’s hero, top laner Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, started feeding too, it seemed over for Fnatic. Bwipo could only scratch his head after running one-vs-four into Excel and getting smashed because of it. For a long time, it just seemed like one of those trap games where good teams get tripped up after a big win because they’re not focused on their next opponent.

But after surging to a 6,000 gold lead that included a couple of Infernal Drakes, Excel threw at the Baron pit when their tanks abandoned the carries. And when Excel sieged into the Fnatic base and won a fight, Rekkles and Hylissang refused to give up mid lane, running down Excel in a two-vs-four situation and turning the game on its head.

With this win, Fnatic solidified their hold on first place in the standings. But they certainly cast a lot of doubt back into our minds after their impressive performance against G2.

G2 looked clinical today in a textbook win over Rogue, and third-place Splyce looked good too in a suffocating victory over Origen. Judging by today’s results, Fnatic have a lot of room to grow before we can really consider them the best team in the region.