We are once again heading into a clash of kings duel between G2 and Fnatic. This time, a place in the LEC Spring Finals against Rogue and a break in tradition is on the line.
Let’s go over the key narratives.
© LEC
G2 Esports and FNC will fight a second time in this 2022 LEC Spring Playoffs. The two already battled it out in Round 1, with FNC prevailing 3-1 over G2. Their double Playoffs duels are now becoming somewhat of a tradition. Fnatic has a tendency to win the first duel but G2 bounces back when it matters and wins the Final or the elimination match later on.
Will history repeat itself?
Fnatic advanced in the winners’ bracket, but were reverse swept by Rogue. On the other, G2 had to claw their way into the top 3, winning against both Vitality and Misfits Gaming. They will have now have the chance to redeem themselves, although it will be an uphill battle. Rogue is the penultimate opponent waiting for the winner of the series in the LEC Spring Finals.
From the start of Playoffs, G2 have slightly tweaked the way they have been playing. Brokenblade is still playing split pushing champions, but the team is not playing around him as much anymore. The attention has switched to mid and bot lane, with Flakked being the primary damage dealer in the team. Hyper scaling champions are still meta and they require more attention by the jungler in order to reach their powerspikes. Jankos and Targams tend to move towards mid to help Caps gain leads and then transfer them back to the ADC.
This play style is very similar to Fnatic’s, who have been playing in this way basically since the start of the season. They let Upset scale safely, playing around dragons and objectives in the early game. Once they have reached their spikes, they strike with well-executed teamfights.
That being said, I’m expecting the series to have a similar “rhythm” to the previous one. However, I think that both teams will have much better drafts, meaning we are in for a five series fiesta.
There are mainly two roles where picks will be highly contested: ADC and Jungle. In the marksman role, the top 4 ADs in the current meta are Aphelios, Jinx, Zeri and Xayah.
While the first two have been present since the start of season 12, Zeri has slowly gone up in priority as teams got accustomed to her playstyle. Xayah, on the other hand, is a great counter to both Jinx and Aphelios and with the Lethality build, she can burst down targets from afar. In addition, her ultimate is extremely useful for kiting in a meta where pick comps are present. G2 Esports have banned Zeri most of the time in their drafts and will likely do the same in the series. Flakked usually ends up defaulting to Aphelios first: Upset will then answer with Xayah. These two picks will be surely present in the series.
As for the jungle role, we saw how Hecarim is still overpowered in patch 12.5. Fnatic hates to play against it and in fact, they banned it 3 times out of the 4 games against G2. The one time they left it open, they lost the game. If Hecarim is out of the equation, then Volibear and Viego will be the two contested picks between Razork and Jankos, followed by Lee Sin. Razork prefers the Ruined King, while Jankos is comfortable on the Bear. We’ll have to see whether the two teams will try to deny either pick.
To conclude our prediction, I’m expecting Fnatic to take the series. If G2 will try to emulate the playstyle FNC has been playing forever, they will likely lose. Upset and Hylissang will outperform G2’s bot lane so unless Razork is heavily gapped by Jankos, Fnatic shouldn’t have problems winning the series. However, if G2 throw a curve ball or simply out match Fnatic as they have in re-matches in the past, then all narratives fall.
Below you can find our recommended odds for the series, offered by GG.bet:
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