The competition swings into the lower bracket as Winter’s dark horse punches up against a legendary European org in SK Gaming vs Fnatic Recap
Another high-stakes best-of-three series put Winter playoffs spectators on the edge of their seats as SK’s strongest roster yet took on Fnatic. And judging from SK’s recent performance on the rift, the black and orange team had to give their all to avoid losing to another German team.
Both of these teams have strongly evolved since Winter started, emerging from yesteryear’s disappointments as two world-class contenders on the LEC stage. The winner of this series is set to face MDK on Friday, the next contender set to contend for Winter split quarterfinals. Check out how the fight went down in our SK Gaming vs Fnatic Recap below:
— LEC (@LEC) February 12, 2024
SK Gaming vs Fnatic Recap – Game 1
Audacious engagements from both sides made for an exposive start of the series. Seamless three-man dives from Fnatic gave Razork first blood while the rest of SK bullied Oscarinin out of a proper laning phase.
Great vision control from the side of SK gave them more space to make plays. On top of that, Irrelevant had an answer for each of Fnatic’s engagements and helped SK land a 4-kill lead despite their Spanish rivals taking most of the drakes. From there, the gap was too wide to close and Nisqy and co. slowly pried Fnatic’s base open. One Elder Dragon later, and Fnatic’s fate was sealed.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: SK 1 – 0 FNC
- Time: 41:05
- Kills: 30 – 17
- Turrets: 10 – 3
- Gold: 80.5k – 73.2k
- Dragons: 1 – 4
- Barons: 1 – 0
SK Gaming vs Fnatic Recap – Game 2
Fnatic’s game 2 comp was heavily depending on their early-game success to build their poke lethality, and it worked. After SK Gaming scored a huge Ashe snipe on Nisqy, Irrelevant, Doss and Exakick applied pressure on all three lanes to establish dominance.
Fnatic was able to secure both Mountain and Infernal drakes 16 minutes in, which gave them a big leg-up in the skirmishes. And despite ISMA greeding kills, SK was able to impressively balance the scales. The struggle for Elder Dragon ended in the side of Fnatic however, who took out the competition’s bot duo, Nashor and the enemy nexus shortly after.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: FNC 1 – 1 SK
- Time: 26:06
- Kills: 11 – 7
- Turrets: 8 – 4
- Gold: 49.3k – 44.1k
- Dragons: 4 – 0
- Barons: 1 – 0
SK Gaming vs Fnatic Recap – Game 3
What felt like a replay of Game 1 had Fnatic’s toplaner being backed into a corner while the rest of his team faltered against ISMA’s high-risk dives. At the same time, a well-timed Bailout gave Nisqy enough time to win a mid-game slugfest.
A 6-kill lead put SK Gaming in the driver’s seat. Tenacious counterplays from Noah and the rest of his team considerably shrank the gold gap, but superior teamfight tactics by SK kept it from happening until they stacked 9 kills over the opposition.
Things weren’t over for Fnatic however as Noah found a great fight that gave their team enough space for a Baron. Afterwards, Nisqy teleported all the way to the enemy’s base to single-handedly destroy both of FNC’s nexus turrets. But in spite of their vulnerable state, Humanoid and co. were still able to find the fights they needed to secure Elder, survive another uphill fight and win the best-of-three series in an stunningly close series-ender.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: SK 1 – 2 FNC
- Time: 33:42
- Kills: 26 – 25
- Turrets: 8 – 6
- Gold: 63.8k – 67.5k
- Dragons: 0 – 4
- Barons: 0 – 1
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