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KOO Tigers crush Fnatic to claim a spot in Finals

Riot··5 votes·24,867 views

In front of an energetic Brussels audience, the KOO Tigers outclassed home-crowd favourites Fnatic 3-0 to clinch a spot in the 2015 World Championship Finals.

Many European fans had hoped to see either Origen or Fnatic escape the Semifinals, but Korea proved too dominant -- rampaging through the entire Semifinals weekend without dropping a single game. SKTelecom T1’s victory over Origen had been widely predicted, but many expected the clash between Fnatic and KOO to be a much closer contest.

Fnatic certainly appeared to have an edge in the early stages of Game 1, with a top-lane gank from Yeu-jin “Reignover” Kim’s Rek’Sai securing First Blood for Fnatic. It would prove to be just the first drop of blood in the early-game bloodbath that followed, with the two teams brawling in a series of ramshackle engages that left multiple members of both teams dead, and helped Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten get out to a commanding 4/0 start on LeBlanc.

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However, at the 16-minute mark in Game 1, after burrowing his way from the jungle into turret range, Reignover added ‘-eager’ to the end of his name, flashing toward the enemy team just in time to get knocked by Jong-in “PraY” Kim's Fate's Call on Kalista. With so many knock-ups available in KOO’s composition, the turret had ample time to help burn down the health bars of Fnatic’s front-line. With Reignover and Seung-hoon “Huni” Heo’s champs dead, KOO chased down the fleeing Fnatic, and fed a third kill onto Seo-haeng “KurO” Lee’s Kassadin, helping him come online as a credible threat.

“The biggest reason we tend to fall behind early game is because we are more passive than aggressive,” says KOO’s top-laner Kyung-ho “Smeb” Song. “With the first game against Fnatic, even though we were down in terms of kill score and whatnot, we felt pretty confident that we would win, just based on the fact that there were so many fights early game. Part of it is our confidence in our ability to have good team fights, but a more important part was the fact that we initiated fights when we were supposed to, regardless of the result. That really helped us relax and play better.”

With Gragas deactivated for the duration of Worlds due to a bug, KOO surprised spectators by locking in Zac in the jungle. According to Smeb, the idea had come from the team’s coach No-chul "NoFe" Jeong, a Master Tier-level player who’d been having good results with Zac in Solo Queue and suggested that the team’s jungler Ho-jin “Hojin” Lee pick it as a counter to Rek’Sai. The extra utility from Zac provided a powerful engage tool and reliable means of disrupting Fnatic’s turret sieges.

After a decisive 4-1 team fight and subsequent Baron at 30 minutes, KOO gained control of the map, bulldozing several turrets in rapid succession, putting Fnatic on the defensive. The Europeans came close to recovering after winning a team fight and getting a Baron of their own eight minutes later. But, with two inhibitors down, Fnatic would be forced to use the buff to defend their base. One final apocalyptic team fight around Dragon at 42 minutes ultimately proved Fnatic’s undoing, with Smeb all but zeroing out Fnatic’s primary damage dealer Febiven just seconds into the fight. KurO’s Kassadin cleaned up easily from there.

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Giving up their early advantage in Game 1 and going on to lose such a hard-fought struggle appeared to deal a noticeable blow to Fnatic’s mental fortitude. Their performance in the following two games began to look increasingly desperate, and even on the Fnatic player cams you could notice severe emotional reactions to each misplay.

“I think for League, the psychological aspect is probably the most important part of the game,” says Smeb. “I was pretty happy with my performance in Games 1 and 2, so my [mental state] was pretty solid. Whereas Huni, he was shaken up a bit in my opinion. That's where the difference really came.”

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In a video feature that ran before the series commenced, KOO’s AD Carry PraY acknowledged the passion of the European crowd, joking that he hoped to turn the venue’s atmosphere as quiet as a library. But even as the situation for Fnatic looked hopelessly dire, the fans in Brussels never flagged in their support.

“My plan to kind of turn the arena into a library-like atmosphere didn’t really work,” says PraY. “Because even when we were up, fans kept cheering ‘Fnatic! Fnatic! Fnatic!” to root and show their support. And that actually applied a lot of pressure on us, so we felt the pressure definitely.”

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Players competing in the Semifinals were able to feel the energy of the crowd even more palpably due to an altered stage set-up in which the crowd surrounds the stage on four sides. The new round set-up also has the two competing teams facing one another, as if perched in a close-quarters stand-off.

“What I really liked and like about the stage setup,” says PraY, “is the fact that we’re surrounded by the crowd, the players. Everywhere you turn, you see the fans. It feels almost as if we can feel the chants and the crowd noise better in this setup. I really liked being surrounded by the fans.”

Next weekend in Berlin, the KOO Tigers will square off against the tournament’s only undefeated team, SKTelecom T1. What do they feel they need to improve to have a chance of taking down such an intimidating opponent?

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“Against SKT, we’ve tended to fall apart rather easily,” says Smeb. “I think what’s most important for us to do well against SKT is to continue this momentum and keep our form. And I think we’ll try to not leave everything on the table and not feel the pressure, especially given that this is the last match. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

“We actually faced SKT during the LCK Finals [earlier this year], and we lost,” adds PraY. “Even going into that, there were questions in the back of our head, like, do we really have an honest chance of winning? I think with next week’s Finals, we’re going to do better. Like Smeb said, what’s most important is to continue our upward swing and keep our momentum. Since we beat Fnatic 3-0, I think we may have a better chance against SKT this time.”

You can watch KOO take on SKT in the 2015 World Championship Finals next Saturday, October 31st, 12:00 CET / 07:00 EST / 04:00 PST.

Find more articles about Worlds 2015 at Lolesports.com.

Jason Killingsworth is a senior writer for Riot Games, based in the company’s Dublin office. He can be found on Twitter @RiotWhiski and has previously written about the history of lane-swaps in professional play.

125 Comments

Legacy of Ra51 votes

I hope that this crushing defeat will humble Fnatic in the future. They threw away two victories to sloppy play, and were completely outclassed by Koo Tigers in the long-run. The last game was a complete embarrassment for Fnatic as a whole, but Huni especially (considering he's praised as one of the best top-laners in the world right now). 0/8 on a "comfort pick"? His Riven was probably one of the worst we've seen hit the Rift since Worlds started, and that says a lot for a player of his caliber.

Considering the sheer amount of arrogance in the interview following their game against EDG (and all their interviews leading up to this point, really), I expected a lot more from Fnatic with the finals on the line. This was the team with players saying, "No one can beat us," "We're the best team-fighting team in the world," and other nonsense like that. Did they really think that KT would roll over simply because EDG gave up an easy set? I dare to say that Fnatic was drunk on their previous success and came into this set half-cocked, and they paid for it with their chance at the championship.

Honestly, it serves them right.

2Boo4Berry4 votes

logged in to upvote.

Heinz Legend9 votes

As someone who was rooting for Fnatic, I have to agree.

Straw Hat Loki5 votes

The best comment so far. Couldn't agree more.

Street Jimby4 votes

My inner FNC fanboy wants to disagree but my brain tells me everything you said here was true, maybe next year boys.

Idenkiteki5 votes

Half of it has to be the fan hype. The fans made it worse they where like "Fnatic blah blah blah" and they bought into it and got drunk off half the world calling them better than everyone at worlds. Everyone knew EDG would lose but who ever thought that KT/KOO would be a stomp coming into it I would call them crazy. Saying that they couldn't beat them is not what I am saying its the fact that the fans and them believed an EASY 3 - 0 kind of relaxed them. Smeb is performing out of his mind right now, the whole team was doing so well. I remember in twitch chat someone saying Kuro sucked game one and that they can get game two.. Guess they did not see that Kuro made plays else where and the team basically got 2 v 5 with an 11/1 Kass and Smeb Riven. Bang was like 2/4 (or close to that if I remember) He just made plays with fates call instead. Fnatic I liked them because they played well but they came in cocky as well but I feel like half of the blame goes to the fans as well. #0 -16 when it counts #WesternTeams

Bitesized11 votes

Only one person is in Baron Nashor on Pick'Em now. Hope that guy wins the skin!Riven

Dotok1 votes

I wonder what he voted for the final.. Can you imagine if he got wrong the last pick? :O

TrollFan012 votes

That guy picked SKT I heard them say it before going off the air.

CJ Entus Dragon1 votes

Rather not for me XD Riven is just too toxic of a champion to encourage people to play.

SecondComing9 votes

Seems that all the "Take my energy" from EU fans was nowhere near enough to help Fnatic or Origen. And this wasn't even SKT's (and KOO's) final form (NA fans tried as well but... Oh well, at least C9 made a perfect day 1 at Groups :P).

Well, look at the semifinalists. It was Origen's, Fnatic's and KOO's first year since their creation (Fnatic's with the 4 new players with Yellowstar) and they made it to top 4 teams in the world. I believe they can only learn and become better with time. As for SKT, I don't think they can lose this- in fact, I don't think they'll lose a single game in the Finals (provided Faker starts). And it is nice seeing Faker having a team that can back him up and stand up to his level for a change (season 4 SKT was complete trash and Faker was the only beacon of hope).

Now, I believe it is obvious we need to stop with these stupid "EU>NA/NA>EU" debates and make a united front to beat Asians (Koreans mostly but still...) in video games. Who's with me?

Jangbolsal1 votes

season 4 SKT complete trash?? SKT had a perfect record in 2014 Paris Allstars. No region took a game out of them.

SecondComing1 votes

Yes they dominated All Stars cause Korea was still light years ahead of other regions. But in Korea they struggled hard. They lost all 3 chances they had to qualify for Worlds (and the sole reason they even had these chances was Faker).

Nadramia Please7 votes

Honestly, it seems kind of boring that skt is probably going to win again. I hope that KOO could beat them. As for Fnatic, they deserved this crushing loss for how cocky and arrogant they were becoming. Following the EDG series, the team seemed so arrogant about their playstyle. Today, it seemed like that the best players in Europe for their respective areas ( Huni, Reignover, and Reckless), were becoming trash and losing horribly against their oponents. For example, Rekless' Adc Kennen was a game changing champ in game 1 vs EDG or huni's riven. I mean seriously, 0/8 in game 3 for Huni, while getting solo'd by Smeb in game 2. I remember in the spring split, these rookies, excluding yellowstar, played with finesse and they weren't over confident at all. This was the Fnatic that I wanted to get to the finals. I hope they learn in the future that they won't turn into the overconfident cocky bullshit they are fucking today. These losses promote Europe today, since they have some world-class teams, however lets hope they have the experience to become the 2016 Season 6 League of Legends World Champions hosted by Riot Games.

Talis12 votes

Logged in to down vote. How is SKT winning again boring? Watching the first ever two time world champions wouldn't be exciting to you? This is why nerds don't get to have sports.

1403866 votes

Looged into to upvote thisMalphite .. and Downvote the above .. summoner 11

Count Buffon1 votes

I don't understand what AD Kennen is supposed to do other than win lane. Sure, he has base damage, but the ADC is supposed to scale, not kamikaze into the whole enemy team while doing zero damage...

Straw Hat Loki3 votes

I think this was one the biggest reasons why Fnatic did not pull through. They are supposed to be a triple threat team but Huni was outclassed and Febiven while did okay, Rekkles was filling some utility role which did absolutely no favors to his team.

Straw Hat Loki1 votes

Really? Boring? Seeing as C9 was playing a tiebreaker game to hold onto their spot in LCS then managed to make a run thourgh Gauntlet and then go 3 - 0 in the first week at Worlds was appreciated as a great story, why is SKT winning S3 but losing hard in S4 Summer and not even qualifying to Worlds BUT redeeming themselves and working through to get to Finals of S5 boring?!?

Xonra3 votes

{quoted}

Really? Boring? Seeing as C9 was playing a tiebreaker game to hold onto their spot in LCS then managed to make a run thourgh Gauntlet and then go 3 - 0 in the first week at Worlds was appreciated as a great story, why is SKT winning S3 but losing hard in S4 Summer and not even qualifying to Worlds BUT redeeming themselves and working through to get to Finals of S5 boring?!?

Because watching a team completely steam roll everyone (like SKt did this season and S3) is boring.

I was glad C9 didn't make it out of groups because realistically they aren't a great team compared to a lot that were there, but their story was fun to watch, and their games were surprisingly competitive up to a point.

SKT just stomped EVERYONE, and it was like watching a 4v5 ranked game. Where is the enjoyment in that unless you are an SKT fan? That is boring. Sure the getting back to worlds is cool, but the stomping everyone on the way there isn't that great a story, because we've been there done that in season 3, and they were a worse team in season 3 to be quite blunt.

Straw Hat Loki4 votes

It may be boring to you. No problem. Don't tune in to the finals at all. I'm sure you will end up saving at least 4 hours. SKT has worked hard to get to the point where they are head and shoulders above the rest. Watching them play the game at levels others barely can compete with is absolutely fantastic in my opinion. Just as in yours, it is boring.

FYI SKT did not stomp everyone neither on their way to qualify in the OGN season nor their run at Worlds. Look at their season back then and see how they qualified as well as at Worlds what happened at the series w/ Najin.

You must not have enjoyed EU LCS, LCK, LPL, and LMS this season b/c Fnatic/OG and SKT/KOO and EDG/QG and AHQ destroyed the scene with huge undefeated streaks. You best watch NA b/c that's where the teams play it real close.

Idenkiteki2 votes

Haha, your ending is the best. Its exactly correct. You must Hate EU LCS because Fnatic and OG stomped everyone. No other team got a chance. Damn I would like to see Gambit in Worlds man just cause you know. Give them a chance it wont be "boring"

Eleshakai2 votes

Nah, watching SKT win isn't boring, but watching a Korea vs Korea rematch of a relatively one-sided regular season is kinda boring as a final. It's prettymuch a foregone conclusion since the meta favours SKT even MORE than it did when they had their relatively one-sided games against KOO before. The story of SKT is interesting, but this FINAL is boring.

Straw Hat Loki1 votes

I don't doubt that SKT is expected to crush KOO as they have done before. What is exciting is that LoL history is being made w/ a perfect Worlds run as well as repeat champions who are still w/ the same team. League is relatively new w/ only 5 championships so these moments are exciting.

Will the level of play be better than other matches at worlds? Probably. Will KOO pose enough of a challenge to shake SKT? Unlikely. I can see why you'd think that is boring and that is completely fine.

Eleshakai2 votes

Eh, the moments up to here were exciting. I really enjoyed watching Origen push SKT, and watching the FW almost take a game. Watching SKT's run has been cool. But at this point the final is a foregone conclusion now, since I would argue that KOO is a known quantity for SKT and the only way SKT drops a game is if they DRAMATICALLY underperform. Against FW and Origen there was an unknown quantity of clashing between different regions that could've played a factor... but KOO is playing like KOO... just a little bit better than before, and SKT knows how to beat KOO already AND they're playing dramatically better. The matches are going to be sad. REally sad.

Again, the STORY is interesting, but the matches are going to be awful.

Straw Hat Loki2 votes

That last statement is spot on. Story? Interesting. Matches? Pretty one sided.

Count Buffon1 votes

C9 reverse sweeping themselves in Week 2 wasn't much to watch. The series has had way too many stomps in general. Just about all of the quarters and semis, on top of a lot of group stage games.

S3 SKT was more dynamic. They derped pretty hard and almost threw to Najin Sword. This year, they're Samsung White material every game. I expected Fnatic vs Edward and Fnatic vs Koo to be a lot closer.

Two out of six Bo5s went to 4 so far, and none went to 5. And the sweeps were extremely tilty without even a hint of a comeback.

It can't be helped, exactly. It happens. I blame semis on Fnatic, though - they were capable of better. That was supposed to be the most exciting series left in the tournament.

Straw Hat Loki2 votes

My expectation was the FNC could perhaps take a game off SKT (FNC has far too many mistakes to upset SKT in a series imo) and then FNC goes and loses to KOO who they should have beat. FNC vs SKT would have been more fun to watch for sure.

JooshBag7 votes

All this talk about how Fnatic was arrogant and how they didn't deserve this win, bullshit. They went 18-0 against professional teams, they had confidence that they're team was the best, what's wrong with that? Everyone wants to be the best, or else why even play in the tournament. I do agree that Fnatic played sloppy and didn't watch enough film from koo. I'll also admit that Huni did his fair share of bad plays, but Reignover makes total shit plays. His engages are totally unplanned and therefore fucks over Fnatic. Next year I think they'll have it come together, there a fresh hungry team.

Delicious Sushi21 votes

SKT didn't even admit that they were the best team in the world after they won the finals in 2013. Faker doesn't think that he is the best player in the world. And here, the Fnatic teams thinks that they are the best after winning shit EU teams. They WERE arrogant and they DIDN'T respect the KOO Tigers.

Straw Hat Loki7 votes

This. Believing you are one of the best is completely fine as long as it does not take you to the level of arrogance and overconfidence. Fnatic seemed to have the attitude that they will steamroll everyone up to finals where they may face a challenge. SKT's roster says it repeatedly that we do not want to get complacent at all and so treat all teams as being really good and having the potential to take games off SKT. They don't say we will lose or that we will crush them.

Xonra2 votes

{quoted}

This. Believing you are one of the best is completely fine as long as it does not take you to the level of arrogance and overconfidence. Fnatic seemed to have the attitude that they will steamroll everyone up to finals where they may face a challenge. SKT's roster says it repeatedly that we do not want to get complacent at all and so treat all teams as being really good and having the potential to take games off SKT. They don't say we will lose or that we will crush them.

You've never seen any Easyhoon interviews then. He says every single time he is asked why he thinks his team will win "because I'm better than they are". Faker is quiet and just wants to play, but Easyhoon is cocky as hell lol

Death Vizier10 votes

There is a difference between saying you're better and then prepping to be better. Nothing wrong with that. Now you have to put money where your mouth is. FNC didn't. Saying things match by match is fine but saying things FNC CLG etc say about going all the way please. You are just saying things now. OG took it game by game look at them. from Challenger to Semis. Amazing work ethic.

Btw I don't remember Easyhoon saying they are just better. The interview you're talking about is when they asked him why SKT as a team is so successful using Subs when no other team can do that. He answered "Isn't it because im just good?" So when did he say he is better than everyone else? SKT as a team talks no BS they answer frankly and honestly. Faker says what he truly believes and works hard for where he is. It sucks when other players say things without much to back things up. Easyhoon is definitely not cocky. He is where he should be. Proud of himself and his team.

monkeybitter6 votes

Fnatic got way to cocky as they were fighting teams that were not to the level of Korea's team. They got way to cocky

TrollFan015 votes

Come on SKT! Win 3-0 and make history with a perfect 15-0 run! #thedream

BhangiNator2 votes

T1 Fighting!!

NiceeLife4 votes

Sorry, am I lost? I want to watch League of Legends World Championship not Legends Championship Korea finals.

Legacy of Ra23 votes

The two best teams are in the finals. They can't help which region they come from.

Lafouboy13 votes

Then the rest of the world needs to get better, because Koreans are obviously too good for them.

1403865 votes

Its not like KOREA is given more slots than NA,EU or CN .. Korea dominated the worlds .. Its the other regions that need to put up a fight .. Just that other regions cant put a decent fight against Korea doesnt mean that only one Korean team should be in the finals ..

Spot in the finals needs to be earned, and both SKT and KOO deserved it.

Eleshakai2 votes

Nobody is disagreeing with this.

What people are saying is that it takes a lot of the interest out of the final, since we already know how the end is going to go. We've already seen this match, and there's no reason to believe it's going to go any different than before. There's no unknown element to the match, so it's going to be a pretty dry match to watch.

They absolutely deserve the spot, although I don't know if KOO is really that much better than the other teams... I think ti was more a matter of complacency that led to FNatic and a few other teams(like China) not showing up well... but from a viewer standpoint it leads to a less interesting match.

There's a difference between saying 'I think it shouldn't be a Korea vs Korea final', which would be stupid to say, and 'I don't find a match with a foregone conclusion with no unknown elements interesting because we've already seen how this match goes and it is arguably more onesided than it was before'. The former is an unrealistic piece of stupidity, the latter is just an observation and a statement that one likely won't watch.

MURDERSQUAD Zero4 votes

FNC played so poor godamm i know they can do better then that

magic pole4 votes

i wasn't invested in either team, just enjoy watching great players play other great players. makes for really entertaining games where i often learn several things during the course of a game (if I'm attentive). this is probably why i enjoy LCK the most out of all the leagues. Not knocking any other region, however, other regions often seem imbalanced with 2-3 teams out of 10 or whatever being dominant. LCK this year I've seen a lot more close games between similarly skilled yet stylistically different teams. (except for SKT maybe who were just clearly the best).

anyways, i was kinda disappointed with the FNC KOO series. That first game was a great game. So back and forth and close despite several glaring team-misplays. It's gotta be some pressure playing in the semi-finals of worlds of such a popular game which millions of people are watching. Did you see that stage and crowd??

anyway Im looking forward to a close final. KOO showed back in spring that they can be THE top team. So far they haven't choked like they did at MSI, and they even faced KT, arguably one of the top-tier teams at worlds. so here's to hoping for a great final series.. as cool as it is for the team themselves, IDK, but look at last years grand-final and the stomp of SHRC by SSW wasn't really entertaining. It almost felt like watching a bot game.

All this said, FNC had a great season and semi-finals at worlds is no disappointment.

anyone who hasn't seen the games today, Game 1 was a great game.

Sycksh1t3 votes

The throws are real.... Hopefully huni will mature some next year and not tilt so easily...

Otherwise i know most wont agree but imo reignover is the weak link of fnatic...The team makes him look better than he is. They carried him all year and he got far to much praise.

Anyway fnatic couldve won worlds on a good day, replace reignover and tell huni to grow up, maybe next year.

SecondComing6 votes

Won Worlds? Not really.... Cause SKT average day > Fnatic good (or even best) day

leaguewut2 votes

Really? I feel the weak link is Huni, who should not get so much focus and help. Let Huni make Huni plays if he's going to but the team shouldn't depend on whether he's on or not for whether Febiven gets a worthy carry. Rekkles has his head on straight, why not give him the focus?

Andersonthegreat2 votes

So, FW 2-0 KOO tigers and Fnatic got 3-0 by KOO tigers? I never knew Taiwan teams were this good!

Kvvvv6 votes

And AHQ almost 2-0 Fnatic if they didn't misplay in the last teamfight...

EPIKON4 votes

FW played their A-game while KOO was sleepwalking.

It doesn't mean FW is good they still suck.

But that AHQ team did under-perform at this Worlds.

Gooseberry4 votes

FW beat KOO, KOO beat Fnatic, Fnatic beat Origen, Origen beat FW. I hope you get stuck in this circle forever with your logic ha !

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