Boards›Esports

Reignover: We are the best team fighters in the world

Riot·10/1/2015, 7:05:12 PM·1 votes·22,076 views

Europe's Fnatic opened the 2015 World Championship with a statement game against China's Invictus Gaming.

The crowd in Paris was behind Fnatic from the beginning, and the confidence the home team garnered from winning the game will be crucial as they advance through the tournament, at least according to jungler Yeu-jin "Reignover" Kim.

"I was really worried," he admits coming off of the game. "People said KAKAO is really smart and really good, and he is. I felt a lot of pressure."

[[{"fid":"19854","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//admin.prod.lolesports.com/s3/files/styles/centered/public/fncvsig_fncteam.jpg%3Fitok%3Dxjsn2xPQ","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered"}}]]

Fnatic had firm control in the early game, thanks to Reignover's excellent map presence. He knew where he needed to be even if he wasn't ganking, and emphasized how important vision and his deep wards were, as they allowed Fnatic's laners to safely push.

"There were opportunities for the gank, but I just couldn't because I felt pressured. So I put a lot of effort into vision and it worked pretty well," he explains.

In a match-up many predicted would be tough for him, Reignover was was able to take advantage of Byung-kwon "KAKAO" Lee's passive farming on Skarner. 

"We were controlling the game and we knew where KAKAO was for a lot of the time. So we felt zero threat on our normal lanes," Reignover says. "With rotations and vision we were faster, so we could make more plays."

Take the fight

Reignover says with his team's composition, they were on the lookout for skirmishes and took them every time they had an advantage. "I think we are the best team fighters in the world, so even though their comp was pretty good at team fighting, we actually thought that we could win every team fight, so we forced skirmishes."

It happened early on when they knew KAKAO was on the opposite side of the map, netting Fnatic First Blood against support Hong-jun "Kitties" Liu in the top lane. Later, Fnatic had control of the map and forced a fight at Dragon, which they decisively won, taking out four IG members for only one of their own. It was the only kill IG got all game. 

Towards the end of the game, Fnatic kept hold of their lead and maintained a safe and steady style, knowing they didn't need to do anything risky in order to lock down the win. "We were controlling the enemy jungle until the match was up. We knew that it was really hard for them to come back if we didn't make really weird mistakes, so we just tried to play a zero risk game, even though the game was going to go long, because we could take every jungle [camp] and pressure them inside their base."

"From that time, we knew we were going to win the game," he continues. "It was weird that they surrendered, but we knew we were going to win the game."

[[{"fid":"19855","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/centered/public/fncvsig_endgamestats.png%3Fitok%3DzX_C64Ir","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered"}}]]

Looking ahead to his next Group Stage games, Reignover says that he's not too worried about ahq. Sure Fnatic lost to them at MSI, but both teams have improved a lot since then he says. "We are pretty confident against them."

"The confidence from this game will help me a lot," he adds. "I will play better and better if we win one game. It will stack my gameplay. I'm proud of our team that we played pretty well, and I'm super happy after the match because I was feeling so much pressure. I was worried for one week, but now I feel super free."

[[{"fid":"19856","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//admin.prod.lolesports.com/s3/files/styles/centered/public/21680360270_42f2562a3d_k.jpg%3Fitok%3DCcVHgW4D","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered"}}]]

If you missed any of the 2015 World Championship so far, head over to the spoiler-free VODs page to catch up on the games.

15 Comments

DarkKillerRS10/1/2015, 9:21:32 PM7 votes

This is the best World Championship so far, and this is the best FNC so far. As a FNC fan, i can't wait to see them playing their other games. I am truly confident FNC will go out of the group as first. If they continue to play like this, than they will put SKT and EDG to the test. Can't wait to see those matches.

I really hope FNC wins the world, even tho it's a difficult feat. But, harder it is to get, the more it's worth. GO FNATIC.

Helel10/1/2015, 9:23:04 PM5 votes

When Shen support does more dmg than KAKAO's Skarner... Wow, FNC is on fire.

MoriartyS10/1/2015, 9:24:00 PM5 votes

I felt a lot of pressure

WHERE THE FUCK WAS THE PRESSURE????

GRFGRFGRFGRFGRF10/2/2015, 10:56:03 AM2 votes

Incredible performance by FNC.Honestly that was as clean as it gets,next time they face iG in this group we will get a better game.KAKAO was not even playing something to pressure reignover this game and reignover just destroyed him.I think they thought worse of fnc and got surprised.Although even with KAKAO performing i don't think the results will change,fnc is just better right now.Seeing fnc in this form makes me even more hyped for worlds.This will indeed be the most competitive world championship ever.FNATIC HYPE

EIS Blacky10/2/2015, 11:43:54 AM2 votes

It's awesome to see FNC doing as good as they were in this game, one thing I want to point out to everyone is just how good is the thought process behind their draft. Bans were essentially just power picks getting thrown out the window from both sides.

  • iG is a team that heavily relays on Kakao, either to enable Zz1tai or Rookie to carry, or to play this "dominate the enemy jungler" style, and win through simply having a bigger jungler for teamfights/skirmishes or attempted ganks.
  • Elise is a premier jungler in the current meta, she is good all around and notably is one of the best duelist junglers early in the game, so picking her first for Reignover tells us that FNC probably expected Kakao to indeed try and bully Reignover, but that they are also confident they can survive the laning phase even if Kakao adapts to their first pick Elise and tries to help his laners instead.
  • Kakao ends up picking Skarner in the first rotation, a pick that definitely focuses on snowballing out of lanes and teamfights and not individual pressure on the enemy jungler
  • The only thing FNC really have to worry about now is Rookie and Zz1tai, especially because they now know for certain that these guys will get ganks and pressure from Kakao, and in the second rotation of picks, Fnatic essentially shuts down absolutely any win condition that traditional iG compositions have when Kakao is not on a carry jungler
  • Picking up Shen as a flex pick, the ace in Fnatics sleeve, the logic behind the pick, it helps protect Febiven in mid, regardless of it being top or supp, it protects bot from ganks in case that it goes to Huni, and otherwise it helps Huni a ton in any gank situation or if Zz1tai goes ham. The Sivir pick up is there to simply allow the Shen to go support if needed. Sivir is a very reliable and safe when it comes to ADCs, in case of a Shen support she can survive alone in a lane when Yellowstar uses his ult.
  • In iGs second rotation, FNC sees Riven, a carry top lane champion that could also go to Rookie in mid lane. If it goes to Zz1tai however, you really want to have a bit of a bigger threat in top lane when your opponent has one as well, you want to give Riven as hard of a time as possible and also match her damage and effectiveness in teamfights, so at this point Fnatic decides to send Shen to support and pick Hecarim top, a good carry top laner and also a very capable teamfighter.
  • The Azir pick combined with Shen ult, allows Febiven to stay safe in mid, even if Riven goes to Rookie, and Azir also has a pretty decent gank escape in case of Kakao camping there.

The final win condition that iG could play around is teamfighting, Fnatic' draft has very efficiently shut down both the "Kakao carry us" and "Rookie or Zz1tai dominate" strategies, but take one more look at FNCs composition: Hecarim, Azir, Sivir - That is one though teamfighting comp to beat :)

All in all, one of the best drafts that I've seen specifically targeted and tailored to the enemy team, while giving comfort to your own players, and still it adapted on the enemy teams picks, sick :D

Shadare10/3/2015, 2:11:06 AM1 votes

I can't believe that C9 has not been brought into this conversation. They are in this group too! C9 is going to surprise everyone. Just you all wait.... C9!!!! C9!!!!!! C9!!!!!!! C9!!!!!!!!

H0L3CH3K10/1/2015, 10:55:38 PM1 votes

Hey you cant leave out origen... im going to be honest... EU is looking like one of the strongest regions right now... Yeah korea and china have it out for them but can they pull through the mental game?

SecondComing10/2/2015, 8:01:00 AM1 votes

I believe the real test for FNATIC would be if they played vs OMG. They've lost to them every time they've played (3 times recently iirc) and ofc, dat game with the OMG Nexus needing 1 hit... But sadly OMG didn't make it for that to happen