Showing posts with label Andrey Kuchynskyi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrey Kuchynskyi. Show all posts

Friday, May 8, 2015

Fnatic vs SKT : Sometimes Winning ISN'T Everything

Photo courtesy of Riot Esports

by Andrey "Hammett" Kuchynskyi 

Fnatic declined a remake of their potentially bugged game vs SKT because they knew, even if they pulled it off, it wouldn't come out any better. They won the game basically. They were the closest out of the entire world to beat SKT. It's better to say "a bug ruined it" instead of "a bug ruined it, we remade it and got stomped." Because really, you don't want to make another 10 floor card house after someone drops a hammer in another room causing your most recent one to collapse; or when you play Flappy Bird and you pull off 5 times your high score, you won't immediately restart it to try and beat it

Throughout this game, I was ready for SKT to win in the end. It is noticeable that Koreans and Chinese, especially on MSI, wait for a mistake from their opponents. Whenever a really small misplay happens, they make sure it is punished to the end, and then abuse their lead out of it. So the goal for other teams is basically to play 100% perfectly in regards to committing mistakes. Fnatic did that until the Nautilus ult over the wall in mid. At that point, Nunu and Rumble pressed R and all the frontline follow-up from Fnatic got melted while this combo zoned Steelback and Febiven. That was Fnatic's first misplay. They still didn't fall from it and kept doing their thing perfectly, but that bug happened (which is really well-known in soloq.)

So in a bigger picture, I am sure everyone felt like Fnatic could have won. Maybe even SKT. This is one of the games we all play and watch League for. This is what "gg" is, and it doesn't mean that other games are not good enough. It's just we all love League and play it for these games.

This will become another Fnatic classic moments. There were moments when FNC took the lead on EU LCS and then suddenly collapsed because of a misplay. And right after those moments, Huni and Reignover would take over and make a comeback. This game was the same, when Sejuani stole the Baron and forced SKT back.

Despite losing hard during MSI, Fnatic concentrated so much, one could say they are playing the last game of their lives. Like really, can everyone be that focused after being dominated two games in a row and then face an even stronger team? I don't think so. I really admire Fnatic right now for pulling it together, concentrating and facing SKT seriously. Congratulations guys, you really won more from this game than SKT. This is the time a fallen nexus doesn't mean that much. Remember it's not Worlds yet, so it is important to grab the experience, see your pros and cons, and prepare for future.