After some questionable drafts from both teams during the group stages, we find ourselves on one of the hardest games to call out of the quarters alongside KT vs KOO. While on paper EDward gaming just seems like a stronger team and a contender for the world championships, Fnatic has demonstrated that they know how to play around the strength of their top laner, which is more than what we can say about EDG so far this tournament.

Confusing Groups

For Fnatic, their first week was a mixed bag. Their initial game against iG looked impressive. It was reminiscent of the dominant Fnatic of early summer, continously outplaying their opponents on an individual level as well as controlling every objective meticulously thanks to the vision Yellowstar provides. However, once that game had settled, FNC took onto the rift against ahq and deeply underestimated their ability to teamfight. It had looked like we had returned to the finals of the spring split of the EU LCS where Fnatic were playing very recklessly, taking every fight even if the odds were not in their favor. To end week one on a bad note,Fnatic hadn't adjusted their draft phase accordingly to their final opponent, Cloud 9. The North American squad was basically gifted their comfort composition and fast pushed FNC to which the European squad had no answer, ending the week at one win and 2 losses.

The following week had Huni attempt to redeem himself from a weak start to Worlds. His performances on Riven and Darius helped stamp Fnatic's place in the quarterfinals with a 3-0 finish to the week. While the games vs. Cloud 9 and Invictus Gaming were relatively clean from Fnatic's side, their second game against ahq proved even more chaotic than the first, until a clutch kill from Febiven onto Ahq's ad carry -AN, allowed Fnatic to just run up the mid lane and win the game, with 3 inhibitors down on their side. While the game was definitely exciting, there were just as many mistakes as there were intense outplays. Fnatic needs to focus and not allow their advantages to make them overconfident.

Huni's teleport play onto the bottom lane during the 2nd encounter between Invictus gaming and Fnatic, that sealed the fate of the game early on.

For EDG, the group stage was a mix of uninformative and far-too-telling about their current strength, regardless of whether it's an intentional approach from the Chinese team. The very first game they were placed against SKT (favorites to win the entire tournament).Their draft gave SKT too much freedom to play as they desired, which eventually just saw the Korean team be victorious pretty convincingly. Even if we ignore this specific game's result, EDG's game against H2k was by no means a good showing from the Chinese team's side, especially during the early stages. Playing the lane swap poorly and not punishing mistakes seemed to be the trend during this game until EDG's superior teamfighting coordination allowed them to solidify themselves a lead and eventually winning. Even though it seemed a bit grim, everybody still had their hopes up for EDG after the first week; its a new patch, so adjusting can take time.

The second week started with the must watch rematch between SKT vs EDG -- hopefully we'd get a better answer to the question: Does EDG stand a chance? If we have to go off the performances of that game, the answer would be a very resounding no. In fact, the second game they played against one another was even more one-sided afair in favor of SKT. While the following games against BKT and H2K were rather convincing victories from EDG's side, it was against much weaker opponents than what awaits them during the knockout stages of Worlds. One of the most evident issues has to be AmazingJ. He’s found himself on average with a gold deficit at 10 minutes. Even when given a champion that is considered a top tier pick in Darius, AmazingJ has struggled to perform when his team needed him to do. Regardless of AmazingJ's performance however, Deft seems to have returned to his peak performance, attempting to regain his throne as the undisputed best AD carry in the world.

Deft's positioning is immaculate, never overreaching in the fight and maximizing his damage in the process  

Carry Top vs... Carry Top?

For the European squad, their playstyle is very clear: get either Huni or Rekkles ahead. While the first week of competition really showed some of Fnatic's toplaner's weaknesses, the second week seemed like a complete 180 for the Korean player. Having the advantage of being able to counterpick his opponents Huni thrived when put in positions to carry the games on his own. His Riven performance against IG demonstrated how well versed and mechanically capable Huni is as a player. So far, it's been a decent tournament for Fnatic's top laner, despite the troubles he's had the first week.

Fnatic has a luxury that very few teams have that enables Huni to play the way he does. Both Febiven and Rekkles are reliable laners who do not require much attention from their jungler. With well timed teleports to the bottom lane, Fnatic always finds a way to put Huni ahead, even if the lane swap or matchups wouldn't normally net Huni any lead whatsoever. Most of this stems from how ReignOver makes top his priority. While the former Incredible Miracle 2 jungler does roam with Yellowstar very effectively to drop down wards around the enemy jungle, the synergy between Huni and ReignOver is undeniable, netting Fnatic early leads from a side lane.

Huni's counterpart for this quarterfinals hasn't had a notably good World Championship either, but it's really hard to judge AmazingJ from what we've seen so far. Going into worlds, it was rumored by experts that it was going to be AmazingJ starting instead of the MSI and Demacia Cup winner Koro1. The final weeks leading up to worlds had seen EDG net better results, and with a much more carry oriented style from the top lane. AmazingJ simply seemed like the better option in the new meta for worlds.

AmazingJ hasn't truly been showing up. For most of the early game in both occasions, AmazingJ was getting outdueled by Odoamne from H2K (who, to be fair, is a great top laner in his own right). Seeing as the games against SKT saw very strange drafts, especially game 1 in which both solo laners we picked blind into SKT, we can't really fault AmazingJ specifically for that game. It merely looked like EDG were seeking to draw out information from SKT.

While we're talking about AmazingJ, it's very possible that he may not even be the starting player, and is likely not to be given recent information. That alone changes the entire dynamic in which EDG plays. You see, AmazingJ is a player who requires resources to succeed. Whenever possible, ClearLove seeks to get his top laner ahead by either warding for him, ganking and in the extreme cases, diving alongside AmazingJ. However, whenever Koro is present, the team plays differently, especially ClearLove in the jungle. The resources of the team get focused onto the bottom lane to set up Deft to be the primary carry of the team. Koro plays a very patient and defensive game, choosing his spots well and very seldom finding himself in trouble after a lane swap situation. While it is true that over the final weeks of the LPL playoffs Koro1 was not performing up to his regular standards, it doesn’t take away from the fact that Koro has always required a lot less to be successful in his games.

Two styles collide at mid

Both mid laners of Fnatic and EDG share a parallel role in their teams, but for different reasons entirely. One of the mid laners is the reliable person, the one member in the team that, regardless of situation, has a way of bailing the team out of some of the most dire situations we’ve seen this year. He does not crumble under pressure and performs with a steady enough pulse to take on the toughest opponent without his hands ever trembling with nerves. This mid laner is in essence, the backbone that holds his team together.

The other is a reckless mastodon. Seeking no less than to trample his enemies upon sight, taking some of the biggest risks you’ve seen League of Legends players take and many times for seemingly no reason other than his sheer desire to beat down his opponents. Even if it is a the cost of minion farm, exp or even sometimes a death count, he stops at nothing to try snowball himself from very early on. This risk/reward style is only enabled by the fact that his team is perfectly fine of carrying without him being ahead.

So, where is the parallel? Neither of these players would ever be considered the primary carry of their team. They don’t take up the majority of their team’s early resources, focusing on keeping their farm up as well as appearing in teamfights. Both their champion pools run deep, banning champions (unless targeting specific teamcompositions) doesn’t usually help the outcome of games. How they differ is how they play out the laning phase entirely. Febiven is the calm and collected one, doesn’t take unnecessary risks but has no problem trading damage when he sees he won’t get punished for it. PawN will take the early game winning risk that could give him just enough of a lead for him to take over the game entirely. Choosing damage over survivability in every instance possible. Each mid laner’s contribution to their team can be invaluable.

Conclusion: Without being certain whether AmazingJ or Koro1 will play, we can almost say for certain that this match up between EDG and Fnatic seems closer on paper than it was before the tournament started. With the glaring issues EDG has in the top lane, Fnatic has a legitimate chance to advance to the semifinals of this tournament. Fnatic has a chance to bring back to europe the cup they’ve held during the very first season of League of Legend. Fnatic might just be, the best western team of all time. However, with Fnatic’s drafting issues, EDG could easily draft themselves into a decent composition to teamfight their way to victory and proceed to what was expected as the minimal result of this year’s worlds. You may believe that the expectations on EDG are set unfairly high, but this is a team that has won the spring split of the LPL, the Mid-Season Invitational aswell as the demacia cup during the summer. EDG has been the premiere team in china’s LPL all year long, and with the implosion of LGD, EDG is the only chinese team left that can still bring the summoner’s cup to the chinese region for the first time (provided their performances do not mimic their games against SKT).

Videos courtesy of youtube.com user SHIZZLE and League Highlights.

Images courtesy of riot games flickr of the 2015 world championships.

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