For a preview on the Fnatic vs EDG matchup, you can check out Heckmeister’s preview here.

Game 1

Game 1 was definitely a mystery bag for people both experienced and inexperienced with EDG games since Koro1 was able to play again, subbing out the lackluster AmazingJ. Koro1 was one of EDG’s big reasons for beating SKT back at MSI but the mystery was how well he’d perform being out of commission from the team. Missing two whole months of practice with the team it would be unreasonable that EDG would return to form and destroy Fnatic but things looked great for them using their TP advantage to pick as many fights at top as possible destroying Reignover’s jungle pathing and predictability, taking Huni down with him.

Oh, and yes there are three teleports on the side of EDG as they pick a Jayce for their AD Carry to lane against Rekkles on Kennen. A very strange game all around but it was nonetheless exciting with action happening every minute or so.

Regardless, EDG lost their lead due to Fnatic grouping and taking multiple picks and objectives each time and despite EDG’s best attempts to backdoor the bottom inhib from Fnatic, they just lost too much to get back into the game. That is, until Fnatic sieged the top inhibitor of EDG’s base, got caught out and lost 4. This is where EDG could have won the game had both PawN and Deft teleported to the super  minion wave at Fnatic’s base and pushed to win but instead they kept chasing the lone survivor, Febiven, and lost their change to win the game at all. There was no reason to think that they would be able to get another fight like that, so instead they died at baron and lost the first game.

As anticlimactic as that sounded, it was EDG’s game to throw for those precious 30-40 seconds of death timers all spent on chasing the last man standing.

Game 2

Before going into this explanation, it is important to note that there was a remake where Gragas couldn’t cast his Q again until he died, but Fnatic was winning that game. And they damn sure came into this game swinging just as hard as they did during the first “game 2”. Febiven on Leblanc came out huge in a skirmish in the bot lane where both top laners were 1v1’ing and game out of it 3-0. Febiven uses his massive lead to lead his team to a ten thousand gold lead by 25 minutes and it just doesn’t look like EDG had an answer to coming back to this with Koro1 being so behind on Fiora. 100 cs down on Huni’s Riven. It was a very easy game for the European powerhouse.

Game 3

This game started out slower than the previous games, a lot more passive from both sides but more convincing play from Koro 1 as he sets aside the Fiora to pick Darius against Huni’s Riven. Within the context of this set, there is no doubt that EDG played worse each game. Taking less risks and less moves in the early game, opting instead to take it the safer route but Fnatic had other ideas moving around the map to take objectives out of EDG’s hands. This could be just caution, but it’s an interesting progression from aggression to caution in the early game across the series.

Despite Fnatic’s lead, EDG get a good teamfight off of Fnatic but fail to use that opportunity to get a foothold into the game. Instead, Fnatic use their overwhelming lead to end EDG’s life early.

With this 3-0 victory, Fnatic head into the semifinals with their fellow European bretheren in Origen and knock China completely out of worlds. While China definitely has a lot to reflect on, at least they can hold onto one undeniable consolating fact. At least they're not North America.