This will be Fnatic’s first appearance at the Mid-Season Invitational in three years. In 2015, they qualified for the first ever MSI and took SK Telecom T1 to five games before bowing out in the semifinals. However, Fnatic went through a rebuilding process after that season as both Huni and Reignover moved over to North America in the offseason.
This year is the first time since then that Fnatic was the best team in the regular season and backed that up in the playoffs. They were the only big European team that was able to stay together in the offseason, and that proved to play a big part in the team being crowned kings of Europe again.
Odds to win the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Fnatic +1500
Backstory
Fnatic was easily the best team in Europe during the regular season. They finished three games better than second-place G2 and were the team to beat heading into the playoffs. In the postseason, they were finally able to grab the title that had been eluding them, but it was more difficult than the scoreline might lead you to believe.
While Fnatic were able to sweep G2 3-0, the old champions of Europe jumped out to sizable leads in the early game. They were able to get ahead in the laning phase, but missteps in teamfights later in the game cost them dearly. Other teams are sure to have seen that and Fnatic will need to have patched up their early game play.
What to watch for
During the EU playoffs, Fnatic did not have all five of their starters available. Top laner Soaz injured his hand during the last week of the regular season and was not able to participate in the postseason. Substitute Bwipo stepped in and played admirably, but the team lacked something without Soaz in the lineup. Fortunately, his hand is healthy again and he has been getting ready for MSI with his teammates.
Mid laner Caps will be looking at MSI as his chance for redemption. Caps did not play well at Worlds last year. He was getting bullied in the laning phase by other mid laners and he finished the tournament with a 2.7 KDA. This season he has again looked like a promising mid laner in European play. Caps will be trying to prove he can play against the world’s elite too.
Rekkles wants to be known as the best AD Carry in the world. Despite having perhaps the best split of his career, he went to Korea in order to prepare for MSI. He went alone as his team decided to take a break before prepping for the tournament in earnest. It will be impossible for him to improve on his performance on Tristana, Rekkles had an absurd 89 KDA on the champion in nine games, but he has only played five champions in competitive play so far this year.
Prediction
Fnatic will be playing on their home turf and have a real chance to make some noise at MSI. Many observers aren’t giving them a shot in a tournament with Kingzone DragonX and Royal Never Give Up, the team that eliminated them at Worlds last year, but they seem to have improved from what we saw last year. I think they have a better chance than people think of making it to the final.
