I've accepted it
Fnatic are not expected to win this event
Teams have figured them out so unless they outduel every team coming their way hard they ain't winning
Yep that's what i'm saying
It's only Alfa winning duels consistently, everyone else is getting shit on.
I actually can't believe they havent changed anything the whole year. Oh well, next year eu will have other teams to support. I cba having to support fnc because the rest of emea is not good enough this year.
Next year will be different. I personally think PRX win this champs, if not PRX then LOUD
would agree except for the fact that fnatic, a prep heavy team, have had a solid month and a half to cook up some shit for pearl. you seriously think a team like FNC who prep for literally everything would just 'assume' they have upper bracket advantage, and won't have to play pearl the entire tournament?
They defo have some shit cooked for that map. whether it works, only time will tell, but don't expect a free win from playing them on that map.
you can keep a map prepped for a game and still act like its a perma ban. For example, if they play EG they can choose to ban fracture, knowing EG will pick pearl against them, and have some stuff prepped for it. They will have scrimmed it extensively but ofc won't have match experience, but for a tried and tested team like FNC I don't think that 'match experience' means as much as you think it does.
Sure it's prepped, but it's their perma-ban for a reason. If they felt like it was a good map for them, it would not be their perma-ban. Also, scrims don't equal match experience, and even if it did, the map still won't be as good as their other maps. Also, FNC only ban Pearl, even against EG they wouldn't ban anything else.
If you're FNC, and you've had a month to prep pearl, and you feel comfortable playing it (at least from scrims, which for an experienced team isn't just 'useless' experience), and you're playing EG - would you rather ban fracture, their best map, and play pearl, a map you've spent a month prepping - or ban pearl and play a team on their best map (and probably the best team at that map itw rn) just to keep your prep hidden?
It just doesn't make sense for them to have not prepped it. They can ban it in matches where they think they can have the upper hand in vetos without it, but I guarantee they'll float it against teams where they feel the need to ban another unfavourable matchup. They will almost certainly be holding on to their pearl strats for as long as possible to minimise antistratting potential, and honestly probably weren't really expecting to have to pull it out somewhere in the lower bracket run.
FNC has legit only first banned Pearl, they clearly do not want to play that map. I'm sure they have some idea of what they want to play in the event they are forced to play it, but they definitely don't want to play it. This is their major weakness and it is not up for debate. They have no map experience on it which is massive, even for FNC.
Fanatic team is an excellent team, however, the issue is that they spend the entire year playing against weaker teams (no offense intended).
So, when the end of the year arrives and the most important tournament takes place, of course they will figure out that they're not so dominat how they expect.
Champions is in another level.
They need to have more self confidence against the big teams. If they played vs Loud with the same confidence they had against PRX and EG in Tokyo that game could have been a lot different. But the issue is they get inside their own heads when they fall behind against other superteams. I still believe that FNC, PRX, DRX, EG and LOUD are separated by razor thin margins and can all beat each other depending on how they're feeling on the day.
They look good against weaker teams and even the 3rd place teams from each region because they're confident in those matches. I think Boaster was respecting Loud's gameplan too much and let Loud take the game tempo, which is a playstyle they're not used to. If you compare it to their game against NRG they just walk into site and completely disrespect their setup.
Tbh watching Fnatic these two days feels like watching 2022 fnatic with new players. Just so little confidence.
well for me Loud countered and outaimed them..
In another words, it was not only like "FNC played bad", LOUD was on fire.
In EMEA FNC would win even playing a mid game, now to win they need to be 100% every single match.
but FNC can do a run in lower bracket and still be champions, but it will not be easy.