Fnatic vs Team Vitality – LEC Spring Split 2019

The League of Legends European Championship, the new LEC, which arrives to change the format of the already old LCS EU that we knew until now, the league kicked off on January 18. Some surprising results have been witnessed and that what makes this competition so interesting.

The reason we have picked this match for you is that it is between two teams, Fnatic and Vitality, who have very strong lineup but have failed to make a mark in the early days of LEC. Therefore, predicting the match winner between two well established but struggling sides will be a good practice.

Fnatic

2x European Champion, World Finalist: After an exceptional 2018 year, Fnatic appears as the favorite of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) but they might need time to co-op from their losses. Admittedly, this team has lost two major elements of its workforce: Paul “sOAZ” Boyer (top), who moved to Misfits and especially Rasmus “Caps” Winther (mid), now at G2 Esports. But on the top lane, Gabriëls “Bwipo” Rau showed last season that he had the stature of a great player and replacing Caps does not seem to scare an ambitious Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek. On paper, Misfits and G2 are perhaps more afraid than Fnatic but with so many changes in their formations, the defending champion offers more guarantees of a great season.

Mediocre start

Fnatic didn’t get off to a flying start! The finalists at the last League of Legend World Championships conceded a loss to SK Gaming in opening the League of Legend European Championship (LEC). The reigning European champions are without any doubt affected by their best mid-lane player, Caps, who has been transferred to G2 Esports this season and will probably need time to better integrate his replacement, the young Slovenian player of 19 years Nemesis.

Dominated by SK Gaming in full form, the Fnatic call for several technical breaks. Latency issues rose that destabilized players and forced Riot to restart the game after nearly 30 minutes of play.

Fnatic feeling the pressure

SK Gaming had a good game plan and they held it! Filling out all the pressure on Fnatic Hylissang support, SK Gaming have gradually taken the advantage and despite very tight game phases, they manage to break the Fnatic who must bow. A scathing defeat followed the next day by the face of the Origen who also managed to find the flaw in the Fnatic plan after about 20 minutes of play. On day two, Origen also did his homework on Fnatic. The current European champions and runners-up in the world were completely outplayed by the team led by ‘ xPeke ‘. An almost absolute annihilation by the side, who came out all guns blazing. Fnatic got the first blood, led in kills department 11-6, got 7 turrets, a Baron Nashor, an inhibitor, and the Nexus to get their first victory over the last years 2x League of Legends European Champions Championship.

Vitality

The French structure is the one that has least disrupted its workforce in the offseason. Same coach, same players, except for a big rookie in the jungle: South Korean Jae-ha “Mowgli” Lee. Mowgli had a decent season with Afreeca Freecs but failed miserably at World. The Korean is now aiming to make a big impact in EU. For Vitality, all the lights are green after an excellent performance in 2018 and a great run at the Worlds. 2019 looks a bit like the year where we see Vitality getting themselves recognized on the global landscape. The team’s stability and chemistry will be its main asset after so many roster changes of other teams in Europe. Jakob ‘YamatoCannon’ Mebdi knows he can trust the undisputed quality of Daniele ‘Jiizuke’ Di Mauro and Amadeu ‘Attila’ Carvalho.

Not so good start

The team didn’t get off to flying in their first game against Schalke 04. The team was predicted by many to have little to no chance against Vitality but they defied the odds. Schalke had a great game from beginning to end, showing a different style of play, which despite a few mistakes in mid-game allowed them to take the advantage enough to beat the favorites. The team won a fight in front of the Baron fit and managed to capitalize on their advantage to get a win.

In the 2nd match of the league against Splyce, Vitality redeemed itself. In the early stages of the game, Splyce completely dominated Vitality as they got multiple kills on Attila in the bot lane. Despite this huge advantage, the Splyce fail to get with win owing to their multiple unsuccessful attempts at the Baron. Vitality, despite a terrible performance, managed to stall the game so that Attila’s Vayne could get the farm. The French side’s strategy played out in the end as they managed to get the victory.

A note of merit goes to Attila. In fact, despite the nightmare early game, he held on and owing to his excellent farm while managing to lift the team on the shoulders of his Vayne. In the last fight, he got a triple kill to seal the win.

Final Verdict

Vitality sits at 1-1 score in the LEC while Fnatic sits at 0-2 losing both of their games. So will come out on top? We believe that Fnatic will bounce back as the team just needs time to get Nemesis settled. Vitality might have the superior stats, but they almost lost to Splyce. if Splyce had capitalized on the great start they would have won. Fnatic is not known to make mistakes, and we should see get their first win on the board against Vitality.

Fnatic victory

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	Fnatic Odds		Team Vitality Odds
	European	American	European	American
GG.bet	1.85	-117.65	1.88	-113.64
Loot.bet	1.89	-112.36	1.89	-112.36
Bet365	1.83	-120.48	1.83	-120.48
Betway	1.80	-125.00	1.90	-111.11