Fnatic has only ever missed the League of Legends World Championship twice in 10 years of competitive League and it doesn’t look like that number will grow anytime soon. After plenty of built-up hype and a downright unpredictable best-of-five series, Fnatic took down G2 Esports 3-2 and will join MAD Lions and Rogue in representing the League of Legends European Championship at Worlds this year.
TO WORLDS! #FNCWIN pic.twitter.com/Odrd73cmRp
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) August 22, 2021
If MAD Lions earning an LEC title in the only ever European final to not contain either G2 or Fnatic wasn’t enough of a sign that times have changed, the two most decorated organizations in European history just duked it out for the last Worlds spot – in the losers’ bracket. The aftermath of it all leaves G2 failing to qualify for Worlds for the first time in the organization’s history.
The entire series was back and forth throughout despite Fnatic typically dictating the pace of most early games. Just as it looked like G2 could close the books on the series 3-1, Fnatic bit back hard in a bloody Game 4 that ended with an 18-5 kill score. In the qualification-deciding final game, Fnatic’s rookie top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane locked in his signature Darius into Martin “Wunder” Hansen’s Camille and not only earned two solo kills in lane, but also put on a carry performance for his team.
'Hey' – @Ricadam_lol pic.twitter.com/uwOKoGg9HS
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) August 22, 2021
It’s been over three years since Fnatic have last knocked G2 out of the postseason and now they’ve denied the samurais their fifth consecutive World Championship appearance. Both Adam and Fnatic’s promising ADC Elias “Upset” Lipp will head to Worlds for the first time in their careers. In the post-match interview, Upset shared his feelings on achieving this goal for the first time.
“It’s honestly like a movie,” Upset said. “I want to thank my team and also my wife of course. She has been so supportive and I don’t think I could have done it without her giving me the mental strength.”
Between a rough start to the split filled with early losses, a rookie top laner and a freshly-role-swapped jungler in Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, Fnatic’s path to Worlds was filled with challenges. Fnatic is now locked in for Worlds and have to play Rogue on Aug. 28 to decide on tournament seeding. If they lose, they’ll have to navigate the Play-In Stage as the LEC’s lowest seed. If they beat Rogue, Fnatic will get to play for the chance to win the org’s first championship title since spring 2018.
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