TL;DW – LEC Edition: G2 Outmaneuvers FNC in Game 4

The pool of champions is starting to shrink, leading to a few out-of-the-box bans. Draven, Yone, Blitzcrank, Naafiri, Lucian, and Maokai are taken off the board.

FNC immediately grabs Neeko for their 1^st pick. G2 opt to take Kai’Sa and Leona. Tristana and Sejuani were picked next by FNC. G2 locks in Ambessa before the 2^nd ban phase.

The Jungle pool is slightly pinched as Renekton, Ivern, Warwick, and Aurelion Sol are banned out.

Trundle, chosen by G2 as champion selection, starts up again. FNC closes out their comp with Oriana and Camille. G2 ends things by last picking Galio. FNC has a strong wombo-combo team with 3 different characters that can be used to deliver the Oriana Ball. G2 are more tanky with only 1 major source of damage, but good CC and tank busting.

Team comps are: FNC – Camille (top), Sejuani (jungle), Oriana (mid), Tristana (bot), Neeko (support) vs G2 – Ambessa (top), Trundle (jungle), Galio (mid), Kai’Sa (bot), Leona (support).

Early Game Highlights: BrokenBlade Needs a Better GPS

Game starts without incident. Just farming. Lots of farming.

SkewMond goes Mid to gank Humanoid, who burns his Flash (which was the point).

BrokenBlade and Oscarinin fight aggressively in the Top Lane. Oscarinin gets low and is pushed in under Turret as SkewMond arrives. Though he Flashes the Public Execution, Oscarinin dies to BorkenBlade under Turret for 1^st blood of the game.

Seeing that SkewMond was up Top, Razork starts up the 1^st Drake (Hextech). Caps and Labrov hover around but are pushed away by the other members of FNC. Razork takes the Drake uncontested. After he takes the Drake, Razork ganks Bot Lane where Hans Sama is fighting Upset solo. Hans Sama burns his Flash to avoid the engagement.

BrokenBlade and Oscarinin continue to duke it out in the Top Lane. Oscarinin gets low, again. This time, it’s Labrov who comes up to gank. They manage to lock Oscarinin down so that BrokenBlade can kill him again.

SkewMond takes the Voidgrubs quickly and completely uncontested.

3 members of FNC go Mid and catch Labrov, who doesn’t have Flash. They lock him down, and Razork gets the kill.

Humanoid and Mikyx try to take out Caps in Bot Lane, but he uses Justice Punch to escape. About a minute later, they come back with Razork and dive Caps under Turret. Humanoid gets the kill.

Since FNC had to recall after killing Caps (Turrets hurt), G2 are able to take the 2^nd Drake (Cloud) uncontested.

As BrokenBlade yet again beats up Oscarinin in Top Lane, G2 invade FNC’s Blue Side Jungle and fight Razork. He has to Flash over a wall to survive. Mikyx, who was hanging around near the Tri-Brush, gets pinned in by a Trundle Pillar. He manages to hit 3-man Pop Blossom but still ends up dying to SkewMond.

BrokenBlade, who used Public Execution on Mikyx to join the fight, tries to take out Razork but gets Flash over the wall into the Jungle when Upset arrives. Instead of going up to meet his team, he goes down and runs into Humanoid, who kills him with a Shockwave. The Shockwave also deals damage to Labrov, who dies to Upset a second later. Fight goes 2-1 for FNC.

Humanoid and Mikyx try to take out Caps in Bot Lane, but he uses Justice Punch to escape.

Early Game ends with G2 ahead in gold by 900, and also ahead in farm.

Mid Game Highlights: G2 Seems Disjointed

Labrov tries to stop Mikyx from recalling, but only ends up finding his clone. As he tries to retreat by going the long way through FNC’s Red Side Jungle. When he does this, Humanoid arrives, through the lane, at the Bot Turret, and Caps dashes on to Mikyx under Turret before backing off.

Mikyx and Humanoid engage, chasing Caps into the Jungle, where he meets up with Labrov. The 2 of them run into the rest of FNC (sans Oscarinin). Caps gets away, but Labrov dies to Humanoid as a sacrifice. After this, Mikyx, Humanoid, Razork, and dive Caps under Turret. Humanoid gets the kill.

Since FNC had to recall after killing Caps (Turrets hurt), G2 are able to take the 2^nd Drake (Cloud) uncontested.

As BrokenBlade yet again beats up Oscarinin in Top Lane, G2 invade FNC’s Blue Side Jungle and fight Razork. He has to Flash over a wall to survive. Mikyx, who was hanging around near the Tri-Brush, gets pinned in by a Trundle Pillar. He manages to hit 3-man Pop Blossom but still ends up dying to SkewMond.

BrokenBlade, who used Public Execution on Mikyx to join the fight, tries to take out Razork but gets Flash over the wall into the Jungle when Upset arrives. Instead of going up to meet his team, he goes down and runs into Humanoid, who kills him with a Shockwave. The Shockwave also deals damage to Labrov, who dies to Upset a second later. Fight goes 2-1 for FNC.

G2 return to the Top Lane, force Oscarinin and Mikyx away, and wreck FNC’s Outer Top Turret for 1^st Turret of the game.

Hans Sama gets caught out in his Red Side Jungle, trapped by Oscarinin’s Hextech Ultimatum, and dies to Upset.

Caps gets caught out in his own Blue Side Jungle by Razork. He has to burn Flash and get help from SkewMond to get away.

Labrov tries to Flash engage on to Mikyx, who Flashes to get away in response. With that, engage tool down for G2, Razork starts up the Rift Herald. They take it uncontested because G2 decided to trade it for the 3^rd Drake (Chemtech). However, Razork is able to finish the Herald quickly enough to roam down and push SkewMond off the objective.

While Labrov and SkewMond clear out a ward in their Blue Side Jungle Tri-Brush, Humanoid hits them both with a Shockwave. BrokenBlade immediately starts TPing in while Labrov dives onto Humanoid. SkewMond, who got low from the Shockwave, has to back off.

Labrov pulls Humanoid away from his team, though he dies for it. When BrokenBlade arrives, he immediately has to retreat because all the other members of FNC are on top of him. He gets locked up by Oscarinin’s Hextech Ultimatum and dies to Upset.

The rest of G2, having circled around, engage on to FNC. Hans Sama takes out Oscarinin G2, then retreats. Razork and Upset chase but can’t find any more kills. Fight goes 2-1 for FNC, who take the Drake off the back of this win.

Mid Game ends with FNC now the ones ahead in gold (by 1k), but G2 still ahead in farm.

Late Game Highlights: It All Comes Down to the Team Fights in the LEC

BrokenBlade and SkewMond go in on to Humanoid in Top Lane. The Trundle Pillar keeps Razork from coming in immediately, but he throws out the Glacial Prison, Stunning up BrokenBlade so that Humanoid can back off. He also drops Herald in the lane at the same time.

As the 2 of them retreat, Mikyx gets caught out and has to Flash over a wall to escape. FNC, as a team, have to back off and G2 kill Shelly.

As G2 gathers up in Mid to get ready for the 4^th Drake, Razork lands a Glacial Prison onto SkewMond and goes in on him. The rest of G2 converge, and Hans Sama kills him extremely quickly (thanks to SkewMond Subjugatio,n probably). They then G2 away with the rest of FNC.

Mikyx tries to come in form behind but only manages to Knock-Up 2 Labrov and SkewMond with his Pop Blossom. BrokenBlade uses Public Execution to jump onto Humanoid, while using Killer Instinct to dive onto Mikyx and kill him.

Humanoid goes Golden. When G2 tries to kill him once he comes out of Stasis, they almost die to Upset. Though they go low, they are all able to back off and get away. Fight goes 2-0 for G2, who take the Drake afterwards.

Mikyx gets caught out in his own Blue Side Jungle, gets locked down, and dies to SkewMond. After this, G2 rotates over and starts up the Baron. Razork arrives to put up a fight, but Labrov acts as a distraction. G2 doesn’t turn off Baron fast enough, and Labrov dies. The rest of FNC now arrive, and G2 are pushed off the objective.

FNC now starts up Baron (which was reset during the earlier fight). G2 hovers around but decides not to try and make it a 50/50. FNC gets the Baron.

G2 takes the Atakhan, but FNC arrives afterwards and chases them away. As Mikyx and Razork chase into G2’s Red Side Jungle, Razork gets jumped on, CCed, and killed by Hans Sama. Humanoid, who was above the fight in Top Lane, gets jumped on next, and he gets taken low, only managing to survive because Mikyx hit a 3-man Pop Blossom. However, he dies right afterwards to BrokenBlade.

Upset arrives, and G2 starts to retreat. Oscarinin considers trying to block them but decides that he’d probably die before Upset can catch up, so he backs off. Fight goes 2-0 for G2.

Both teams go Mid to set up for the 5^th Drake. FNC initially have priority over the Bot River, but as G2 pushed forward, their positioning switched. Both teams poke at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. FNC pulls the trigger first.

Mikxy goes in and hits a 4-man Pop Blossom. His team, however, is just a tad too slow to react. Upon landing, Caps immediately dives onto Razork while BrokenBlade, the only one not hit by the Pop Blossom, jumps onto Upset.

Upset gets low and has to back off, but Hans Sama chases after him. Caps uses Hero’s Entrance to provide protection and to Knock-Up 3. BrokenBlade takes out Razork, Hans Sama assassinates Upset, and SkewMond tries to chase down Humanoid but dies to him instead. The rest of the FNC retreat, leaving G2 free to take the Drake uncontested. Fight goes 2-1 for G2.

After taking the Drake, G2 roams up into their Blue Side Jungle to intercept Mikyx, who was being tracked by Labrov. He ends up dying to BrokenBlade. Why he decided to try and escape that way, I don’t know.

Caps almost dies in FNC’s Blue Side Jungle but manages to get away with the help of his team and by burning his Flash.

FNC starts up the Baron. G2 comes in to potentially contest. Mikyx tries to come around behind them for a pincher move. He hits SkewMond and Hans Sama with Pop Blossom, but there is absolutely no follow-up damage from his team.

Caps arrives with Hero’s Entrance, providing SkewMond with protection to help him weather the damage of Oscarinin, who ties him down with the Hextech Ultimatum. The rest of FNC flee, leaving Oscarinin alone to die to Hans Sama.

G2 gives chase, but FNC are able to get away. G2 turns their attention to Baron and takes it uncontested.

Both teams gather up in Bot River for the 6^th Drake. After some posturing, Razork Stuns up SkewMond with a Glacial Prison. Both teams converge.

BrokenBlade uses Public Execution to jump onto Humanoid. He then gets taken low by Upset and is locked in Oscarinin’s Hextech Ultimatum. Thanks to his team’s intervention, he’s able to get out with just a sliver of Health left.

As G2 starts to retreat, Hans Sama fires off a Void Seeker and snipes down Mikyx. FNC chases, but G2 splits up and creates a pincher. FNC falls back, and Razork starts up the Drake but peels off as his team repositions to try and go back in on G2.

Razork leads the charge, diving headfirst onto SkewMond, who Flashes away to survive, taking Upset’s Explosive Charge with him. G2 focuses on Razork, with BrokenBlade getting the kill. Hans Sama then eliminates Upset and Oscarinin almost simultaneously (Kai’Sa things). G2 then jumps onto Humanoid, who also dies to Hans Sama for the ACE. Fight goes 5-0 for G2.

With everyone on FNC down, G2 makes a beeline through Bot Lane for the FNC Nexus. As they take down the Base Bot Turret, Mikyx, who has just respawned, shapeshifts into a minion and hits them all with a Pop Blossom. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t do much, and he dies to Hans Sama a second later. G2 then moves on to take the Nexus.

Post Game Analysis: FNC’s Indecision Costs Them

G2 ends the game at 36:57 with a 6.2k gold lead. The final score was 19-10 for G2.

Unlike Games 2 and 3, there were a few more glaring errors in FNC gameplay this time around. First of all, Humanoid built mostly defensive items. As a result, his Oriana didn’t have the burst power that was needed to take G2 low.

Secondly, the 2^nd Baron’s fight. Earlier, when G2 started the Baron, they kept attacking the objective while Labrov acted as a decoy and were pushed off it in the end. The second, FNC did the same thing. Both teams made bad calls at Baron, but with G2 were able to capitalize on FNC better than FNC was able to on theirs.

With this win, G2 will remain in the Upper Bracket while FNC will be relegated to the Lower Bracket. They will still have a chance to win the Competition, but they will have to beat everyone else in the Lower Bracket first.

Terms

Early Game: Any time before 10 minutes, first outer tower down, or first level 10 (whichever comes first).

Mid Game: Between Early Game and either 20 minutes, 2 inner towns down, half the players are level 16, or 3^rd dragon killed.

Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.