Fnatic vs SK Gaming: The Classic
Riot·7/8/2014, 9:01:42 PM·0 votes·5,717 views
Some people are destined to be rivals forever.
No matter how many years pass, no matter how much things change, something always keeps bringing them back to the battlefield. Though the stage has changed from the de_dust of Counter-Strike yore to Summoner's Rift, SK Gaming and Fnatic continue to battle with a fervor that belies their decade of competition. Due to the teams' rich history together, and a mid lane that pitted Spain's two most famous players against one another, the matchup has come to be referred to as El Clásico--after the famed football rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona. A rivalry that embodies the very spirit of European esports, it is only fitting that the two first faced off in League of Legends in its very first season of professional competition.
The first time they met in an official match was the Season 1 Qualifier back in May 2011. Fnatic narrowly defeated SK in League's first El Clásico to advance to the Season 1 Championships out of the losers' bracket. There, they once again narrowly escaped elimination during the group stage before turning it on in the bracket to become the Season 1 World Champions. The rivalry started quite lopsided indeed.
Throughout the remainder of the year, SK’s roster slowly took shape, finding a support in Nyph and settling on Kev1n in the top lane. Meanwhile, xPeke switched from top to mid and Fnatic claimed an IEM title for themselves. Fnatic didn’t miss a beat in 2012, traveling to events all over the world, earning respectable finishes wherever they went, and bringing on sOAZ in the top lane. During this time, SK made relatively few major appearances as they continued to reform. YellowStar became the ADC and Araneae the jungler: changes that would mean a world of difference when it counted.
And then the Season 2 European Finals arrived. Fnatic, the Season 1 champions, were shockingly ousted from another Worlds berth, dropping games to Moscow 5 and then eliminated by CLG.EU. SK on the other hand managed to take out both Acer and CLG.EU, before falling to the Gambit Gaming precursor in the finals. Their roster tuning had finally hit on a winning formula: SK reached the highest stage League had to offer, leaving behind a Fnatic in need of major adjustments in order to keep up with a European scene that seemed to have left them behind.
They finally smashed into each other at IEM Katowice, the first event of the new year. Both teams were seeded into the same group, and both sat at 1-1 going into the last game of the day. Winner advances, loser goes home. Things started off well for SK: clear wins top and mid, with Cyanide’s impact minimized. This was SK's game, and they were inches away from closing it out. But Fnatic stalled their hearts out, defended their inhibitors, and managed to pull the game even. SK finally regained its footing and took a good fight to push the base, and Fnatic answered back by taking SK’s Nexus turrets before being forced out - xPeke juking the four players on his tail.
What came next was history.
Few moments live on in infamy like xPeke’s backdoor. Though already known to be strong, this moment elevated Kassadin to a must-ban against the daring Spaniard. His name became synonymous with the very act of backdooring, as players all over the world began to take extra care to avoid being “xPeke’d” when they least expected it. And the whole thing was at SK’s expense, solidifying El Clásico as one of League’s greatest rivalries.
In the end, management landed on EU LCS veterans fredy122 and Svenskeren on top and in the jungle, and brought in one of the Challenger scene’s top talents, Jesiz, at mid. The new squad started off strong, qualifying for the 2014 LCS Season and handily winning DreamHack Winter. But momentum has never been SK's strong suit, and just as it seemed to be hitting a stride, the team's support, Nyph, left to join Alliance. This vacancy would be filled by the lineup's original support, nRated. Quite the twist, considering nRated had gone from SK’s original lineup to playing for their bitter rivals. Of course, the player taking nRated’s place was none other than ex-SK ADC YellowStar, who had moved to support to make way for puzsu.
Fnatic, meanwhile, had begun to look a little shaky for a while. Their solo laners were not dominating the game as hard as they used to, and the team often seemed to look lost in the midgame: relying on Rekkles to clean up after stalling to farm him up. Of course, as Fnatic always does, they put those doubts to rest last weekend by taking home a decisive 4-0 Super Week with top-class play across the board. As long as they avoid that mid-game confusion, the three-time EU LCS champions look fully capable of taking home a fourth.
Right now, the rivals sit tied for second place. If they win their first match this weekend, this next El Clásico will break the tie. Given Alliance’s comfortable three-win buffer over the two teams, the SK vs Fnatic match-up could be the deciding factor in the way the playoffs take shape: stakes befitting a rivalry of this stature. After all, an El Clásico is something a little different from your usual LCS match. It's a match with years of history, going beyond League of Legends all the way to the very beginnings of eSports itself. When these teams take the stage, it’s more than just a game. It’s a classic.
Chaotic Beginnings
Both SK and Fnatic jumped into League very early on, though those early squads are virtually unrecognizable as the teams we know today. While SK technically got off the ground in September 2010, the roster took several months to solidify: a process that started by bringing on mid-laner Carlos Rodríguez “ocelote” Santiago. Famous for his lane dominance and outstanding choice in scarves, SK's new mid laner was the very face of the team as long as he was a part of it. During the first few months of 2011, he led SK to top finishes at several international events, in spite of a dangerously unstable roster. Fnatic formed in March of that year, with a team featuring two of its current players, Enrique Cedeño “xPeke” Martínez and Lauri “Cyanide” Happonen.
The first time they met in an official match was the Season 1 Qualifier back in May 2011. Fnatic narrowly defeated SK in League's first El Clásico to advance to the Season 1 Championships out of the losers' bracket. There, they once again narrowly escaped elimination during the group stage before turning it on in the bracket to become the Season 1 World Champions. The rivalry started quite lopsided indeed.
Throughout the remainder of the year, SK’s roster slowly took shape, finding a support in Nyph and settling on Kev1n in the top lane. Meanwhile, xPeke switched from top to mid and Fnatic claimed an IEM title for themselves. Fnatic didn’t miss a beat in 2012, traveling to events all over the world, earning respectable finishes wherever they went, and bringing on sOAZ in the top lane. During this time, SK made relatively few major appearances as they continued to reform. YellowStar became the ADC and Araneae the jungler: changes that would mean a world of difference when it counted.
And then the Season 2 European Finals arrived. Fnatic, the Season 1 champions, were shockingly ousted from another Worlds berth, dropping games to Moscow 5 and then eliminated by CLG.EU. SK on the other hand managed to take out both Acer and CLG.EU, before falling to the Gambit Gaming precursor in the finals. Their roster tuning had finally hit on a winning formula: SK reached the highest stage League had to offer, leaving behind a Fnatic in need of major adjustments in order to keep up with a European scene that seemed to have left them behind.
Backdooring a Rivalry
Everything changed in 2013. The LCS system promised a bigger stage, bigger rewards, and greater stability. Those promises necessitated a roster to match, and both teams used the preseason to make changes. For Fnatic, this entailed bringing in the promising young Rekkles at AD Carry, whose presence led them to quick success in off-season events. For SK, this meant finally finding a stable roster. YellowStar and Araneae were out, and in there stead came CandyPanda at ADC and Hyrqbot in the jungle. Unfortunately for Fnatic, however, LCS’s age restrictions left Rekkles ineligible, making room for the newly teamless YellowStar to take his place. It was only a matter of time before these two new teams would collide.
They finally smashed into each other at IEM Katowice, the first event of the new year. Both teams were seeded into the same group, and both sat at 1-1 going into the last game of the day. Winner advances, loser goes home. Things started off well for SK: clear wins top and mid, with Cyanide’s impact minimized. This was SK's game, and they were inches away from closing it out. But Fnatic stalled their hearts out, defended their inhibitors, and managed to pull the game even. SK finally regained its footing and took a good fight to push the base, and Fnatic answered back by taking SK’s Nexus turrets before being forced out - xPeke juking the four players on his tail.
What came next was history.
Few moments live on in infamy like xPeke’s backdoor. Though already known to be strong, this moment elevated Kassadin to a must-ban against the daring Spaniard. His name became synonymous with the very act of backdooring, as players all over the world began to take extra care to avoid being “xPeke’d” when they least expected it. And the whole thing was at SK’s expense, solidifying El Clásico as one of League’s greatest rivalries.
Season Three: Rise and Fall
Season 3 kicked off with the first ever El Clásico on the LCS stage taking top billing. Making sure to ban out Kassadin this time, SK once again had everything going for them before Fnatic turned the tables in the late-game and took home the inaugural match of the European LCS. This was a match that would set the tone for the remainder of the Spring Split, as Fnatic would go on to win all four of their meetings as they rolled into the Spring Playoffs in first place and ultimately brought home the gold. While SK finished at a respectable third in the regular season and 4th in playoffs, Fnatic seemed to be on another level. Unfortunately for SK, things only got worse from there. The emergence and subsequent domination of newcomer Lemondogs elevated the level of competition in an already cutthroat region, and SK found themselves unable to keep up. The team finished at 13-15, just two wins shy of the great four-man tie for second place. Along the way however, they continued to give their rivals all they had, managing to defeat the Spring champions in three of four meetings. Despite that run, a series of tiebreakers left Fnatic in second place, and SK in seventh. Fnatic ended up champions of back-to-back splits and took third place at Worlds, while SK, the Season 2 European runners-up, found themselves on the brink of elimination from professional competition.New Season, New SK
Last season’s poor finish couldn't possibly satisfy a storied organization like SK. The team began by releasing Kev1n and Hyrqbot, citing a chemistry problem amongst the team's members. Then, fans across the world were shocked to hear ocelote was moving to a substitute role, intending to leave the team soon after. “The reasons for this departure are just motivational,” he wrote, “It just feels like this wonderful page of this amazing book we were writing was done and not viable to grow.” Saddened by the departure of one of League's most recognizable players, many felt that regardless of who joined, SK just wouldn't be SK anymore.
In the end, management landed on EU LCS veterans fredy122 and Svenskeren on top and in the jungle, and brought in one of the Challenger scene’s top talents, Jesiz, at mid. The new squad started off strong, qualifying for the 2014 LCS Season and handily winning DreamHack Winter. But momentum has never been SK's strong suit, and just as it seemed to be hitting a stride, the team's support, Nyph, left to join Alliance. This vacancy would be filled by the lineup's original support, nRated. Quite the twist, considering nRated had gone from SK’s original lineup to playing for their bitter rivals. Of course, the player taking nRated’s place was none other than ex-SK ADC YellowStar, who had moved to support to make way for puzsu.
A Rivalry Reignited: 2014 Spring Split
Week 1 of the Spring Split saw the first edition of the 2014 El Clásico. With Rekkles finally old enough to play, Fnatic brought him in to take puzsu's place as their sole roster change. He slid into the team as though he had been there all along, leading them to a convincing win over the new SK Gaming to kick things off. SK struggled to find their footing for a while, showing tremendous potential but failing to put it all together. A third of the way through the season, they finally clicked and took revenge on Fnatic during their second encounter, and rode that momentum all the way to first place. Their rivals coming in right behind, both teams took care of business in the playoffs: setting up the first El Clásico Grand Final in League of Legends history. Fnatic came out fast and hard, taking two kills in less than four minutes in Game 1, snowballing to a decisive first win. SK answered back strong in Game 2, pushing high ground by 8 minutes, but a single botched team-fight in the late game blew the game wide open for a Fnatic victory. Though SK was able to grab their first win in Game 3 thanks to a relentless push, Fnatic nonetheless cleaned up the series 3-1 and became the Spring Champions for the second year in a row.The Summer's Winds of Change
After years of lopsided results, finally the rivals entered the Summer Split looking roughly equal in strength. Fnatic may have taken the least season, but SK had more than proven themselves. They took out their rivals in the first match of the Summer Split, and have shown themselves as one of the most consistently solid teams in Europe. While individually the players may not stand out, SK always enters the game with a plan. They pick up solid, safe champions that they know inside and out, and all their movements have a purpose. When they score an advantage, they’re never afraid to snap into a five-man push or make a beeline for an objective. If you give SK an inch, they’ll take a mile.
Fnatic, meanwhile, had begun to look a little shaky for a while. Their solo laners were not dominating the game as hard as they used to, and the team often seemed to look lost in the midgame: relying on Rekkles to clean up after stalling to farm him up. Of course, as Fnatic always does, they put those doubts to rest last weekend by taking home a decisive 4-0 Super Week with top-class play across the board. As long as they avoid that mid-game confusion, the three-time EU LCS champions look fully capable of taking home a fourth.
Right now, the rivals sit tied for second place. If they win their first match this weekend, this next El Clásico will break the tie. Given Alliance’s comfortable three-win buffer over the two teams, the SK vs Fnatic match-up could be the deciding factor in the way the playoffs take shape: stakes befitting a rivalry of this stature. After all, an El Clásico is something a little different from your usual LCS match. It's a match with years of history, going beyond League of Legends all the way to the very beginnings of eSports itself. When these teams take the stage, it’s more than just a game. It’s a classic.
