Fnatic in all probability by no means anticipated to get a ninth-place end earlier than the beginning of the 2023 season—nor did anybody else.
The 2023 League of Legends aggressive season kicked off within the worst approach for the London-based group. Regardless of having nice particular person gamers on the roster, the staff didn’t qualify for the second part of the LEC Winter Cut up, showcasing a worrying degree of staff play. They struggled to repair points in a lot of areas, resulting in a vicious cycle that introduced the staff to the worst placement within the org’s historical past.
Right here’s why Fnatic completed on the backside of the standings within the 2023 LEC Winter Cut up.
Is it an absence of a transparent staff identification?
Profitable groups benefit from the gamers’ particular person traits or playstyle. Discovering the best system to permit gamers to shine is essential but additionally extremely tough to drag off constantly.
To make a transparent instance, the present iteration of Crew Vitality has 5 sturdy gamers who can mesh properly collectively. The staff’s identification up to now is kind of obvious: jungler Bo performs round mid and high, whereas ADC Neon stays on weakside responsibility and scales slowly into the later levels of the sport. Help Kaiser will be the jack-of-all-trades who both stabilizes the bot lane by absorbing strain or acts because the roaming assist that helps Bo make performs across the map.
The present meta doesn’t permit Kaiser to do the latter because of the rise of ranged assist champions that need to play the lane moderately than roam. That stated, Vitality have discovered their very own technique to work round this and nonetheless have mid laner Perkz and Bo act as the primary core of the staff. On this case, it was high laner Photon who stepped up and took the position of a secondary carry.
Fnatic, however, appeared to wrestle to adapt to the meta of ranged helps and discover a appropriate staff identification to succeed. Final 12 months, Fnatic made it to the World Championship by counting on ADC Upset and having him be the core of the staff. He served as a participant the staff might mess around and provides assets to, whereas being the injury supplier throughout skirmishes and fights. Rekkles, on different hand, prefers to scale safely into the later levels of the sport, with out having to rely an excessive amount of on the staff to assist him get to that stage.
This doesn’t imply Rekkles is the issue right here, simply that his playstyle doesn’t match with the outdated identification of the staff—and Fnatic have been unable to discover a new one.
Or have been they unable to regulate to the present meta?
Fnatic’s ends in the Winter Cut up are usually not simply due to one ingredient or participant performing badly. It’s a byproduct of a number of elements that every one negatively impacted the staff.
A portion of the outcomes will be attributed to how the present skilled meta didn’t go well with Fnatic’s playstyle. All of their video games have been performed on the identical patch, and all through the 9 video games, we noticed the identical champions being picked by all groups time and again. When it’s inconceivable to seek out progressive methods or champions that may shake up the meta, groups often attempt to stick as a lot as potential to the present energy picks. Fnatic’s drafts and the champions performed, nonetheless, weren’t essentially the most optimum.
For instance, Rekkles by no means performed Lucian or Caitlyn through the break up. These two have been by no means thought of pocket picks like Sivir or Tristana, however the truth he by no means picked them in a meta the place each are S-tier champions raises questions. When you have this handicap, there are solely two issues you are able to do: both let your opponents have this energy choose or ban each champions.
Fnatic banned Lucian and Caitlyn six and 4 occasions, respectively, throughout 9 video games, in accordance with Games of Legends, proving this was a constraint the staff had. The banning of those two champions opened the door for his or her opponents to draft different potential energy picks.
Moreover, the bot lane itself was mismatching. On one hand, you’ve got Rekkles who desires to farm safely, scale into the late levels of the sport, and battle with the best merchandise spikes. However, you’ve got Rhuckz, who’s carried out higher on engage-melee helps. In a model of the sport the place you’re largely trying to play with aggressive ADCs and ranged helps, this bot lane duo will inevitably hit a wall.
Double weakside is rarely a good suggestion
Even when Fnatic are unable to play Lucian and Caitlyn, two champions you need to mess around, the staff can nonetheless achieve success if there are different methods to use map strain. It received’t be optimum however might nonetheless work if all different gamers, specifically mid and high, successfully use the assets they’re given. That is the place all the things falls aside: Fnatic doesn’t have these gamers.
Whereas jungler Razork and mid laner Humanoid have proven prior to now they’ll use assets to hold video games, Wunder has been a weakside participant in recent times. Out of the 9 video games performed this break up, the Danish high laner performed at the least six video games on tank responsibility (three on Gragas, two as Okay’Sante, and one on Gnar, in accordance with Games of Legends). Even when assets are invested in him, the worth Fnatic get in return can be a lot decrease.
Razork, however, is handicapped by the jungle meta. The sturdy jungle picks presently are usually not champions you need to funnel assets into. As a consequence, the one participant you may technically mess around is Humanoid. However meaning he must be the only real carry each recreation till Rekkles scales into the late recreation.
Different groups will need to have caught on to that technique. They appear to be conscious that so long as Humanoid is neutralized, Fnatic would lack somebody to mess around. That is what occurred within the sequence between Fnatic and MAD: Elyoya and Nisqy received the two-vs-two within the early recreation, after which all Razork and Humanoid might do was power determined performs with the hopes of recovering among the deficit. For sure, it backfired closely, bringing Fnatic much more behind than they already have been.
These gamers are usually not inherently dangerous, however it’s simply that the staff didn’t have sufficient lanes to mess around and provides assets to. Whereas gamers can learn to play in a carry-oriented fashion, it takes time to adapt. Fnatic, nonetheless, didn’t have the luxurious of time for the reason that Winter Cut up solely lasted three weeks.
Is there a approach out for Fnatic and its gamers?
It’s apparent one thing large goes unsuitable inside Fnatic and it may be one thing unrelated to the sport itself. Regardless, the staff and the group’s important focus shall be on looking for an answer to the issues which are plaguing the roster.
Fnatic will now have time to replicate on that earlier than the 2023 LEC Spring Cut up begins. Even with hopes that there could be a meta shift that shall be extra suited to the lineup, there’s a chanc we’d see some roster strikes.
Upset continues to be sitting on the bench in its place participant, so Fnatic might elect to carry him again because the beginning ADC. If this finally ends up being the transfer, both Rhuckz or Rekkles should go. There’s a likelihood Rekkles strikes to the assist position since he already considered it during the offseason, so there are a few choices the group can contemplate going into the LEC Spring Cut up.
The opposite factor the staff must work on is having one further laner (other than Humanoid) that may be a carry if given the assets. By doing so, Fnatic can funnel the gold to extra gamers, making their drafts and playstyle extra various and fewer predictable. It’s a tough factor to do in such a brief period of time, however fixing this can considerably improve Fnatic’s potential.
Whoever that participant could also be, although, somebody should adapt and evolve.
