Huni: "No one can rival us" in record-breaking season

Riot·Jul 15, 2015·0 votes·28,652 views

The 2015 Summer Split roster of Fnatic is the most successful regular season team in the history of the LCS. Currently sporting a 14-0 record in the EU LCS, they've rolled over every team they've faced so far this Split, looking like a genuine Worlds threat along the way.

Seung-Hoon "Huni" Heo has played an absolutely massive role in that record-breaking run. A relative unknown when he first entered the LCS, he's proven himself to be one of the premier top laners in the world, earning himself the Rookie of the Split during Spring 2015. Now, as his team aims for an undefeated run through the Regular Season, he's looking forward. He wants to be the EU LCS champion, he wants to destroy everyone on the Rift, and most of all, he wants a World Championship.

The teamwork meta

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"I really like this meta," says Huni.

That's not because his favorite champions like Hecarim and Rumble are viable, either. Huni says he likes a meta in which he can make plays across the map.

"My play style isn't about smashing in laning phase. I'm more focused on other lanes," he says. "If I don't care about my other lanes, it makes it really hard for my teammates. My strength points are when I move somewhere and take an advantage."

That team-oriented style of play is exactly how Fnatic has found success, and Huni says that it comes in large part as a result of their captain and main shot-caller, Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim.

"YellOwStaR is a really good captain, so we can follow him easily," he says. "In game, he knows how to make good calls because he's been playing for a really long time." As a result, Huni's already masterful Teleport plays are made even better, further enhanced by the well-timed wanderings of his other teammates.

Jokes on jokes

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Of course, you can't have a team full of successful friends without a few jokes along the way. And as we all know from a variety of Mic Checks, Huni is often the source of that humor, including his now famous HOLO HOLO HOLO noise.

We had to know: does HOLO mean anything? According to Huni, no. "I don't know why HOLO happened," he laughs. "It was pretty random."

All he wants to do is lighten the mood in team comms, and he often succeeds. "If I make my teammates laugh in comms, then they will lose some nervousness and then we can be more relaxed during the game. [The jokes are] so our communication doesn't drop and so we talk a lot," he says. Once they lose the nerves, it's time to just have fun and win.

Tearing up EU

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And win Fnatic does. Even as they've struggled in the early game in recent weeks, they've pulled themselves together in the mid to late game and found wins against the biggest threats to their streak -- H2K and Origen.

Huni puts it simply: "There are no EU teams that can rival us."

He expands, "Even if we start really poorly, we're still going to win for sure. We have greatly improved our champion pools, and most of Europe has a champion pool problem. Every time, we can out-draft them."

Much of that champion select smartness can be attributed to coach Louis "Deilor" Sevilla. "Our coach is really good about following the meta and making drafts," says Huni. "Every time he's preparing, he spends so much time on how to put together a draft before matches. Every time, there's a new patch, he asks about everything. If a champion gets buffed, then he asks about them."

From there, they can put together the exact compositions they want, taking advantage of the smaller pools of those around them.

As if he feels the need to remind us, he reiterates, "No one can rival us."

The next step: International victory

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Huni has no interest in being satisfied with taking Europe undefeated, however. Huni says that if they were at the spot they're at now a few short months ago, they would have been much more formidable on the international stage.

"If the current Fnatic went to MSI, we would have won," he declares. "We have improved since then. At MSI, we had champion pool problems. We didn't have big enough champion pools, didn't know how the meta was going, we didn't follow the meta properly."

"Now, we have so much experience compared to us at MSI," he continues. "I'm pretty sure we're a really strong team, even when compared to other regions."

Out of all the best teams in the world, Huni has one major target. "I want to to play SKT again, and I would like to smash them."

122 Comments

CryovixJul 15, 201521 votes

as good as fnatic look in Europe, can't really know how good they will do against other regions internationally till they actually play them. worlds is looking more and more exciting this year

TurquoiseYoshiJul 16, 20159 votes

At MSI, they almost beat SKT in a Bo5. Fnatic is definitely better now than at MSI. So they are looking pretty good right now for Worlds.

AurelliusJul 16, 20156 votes

Every other team has improved as well. The scary thing EU fans should think of is that EU has the top 3, and then the competition drops off, so even if Fnatic is dominating I'd be scared about whether or not it actually shows anything.

TurquoiseYoshiJul 16, 20156 votes

To be fair, most other regions have that problem as well. SKT is dominating their region. EDG is dominating their region. ahq is dominating their region. NA is probably the most balanced region of the main 5, and even they have tiers.

QuantumSpongeJul 16, 201518 votes

balanced....? i would say equally disappointing

IdenkitekiJul 16, 20156 votes

By balanced he means there is no one team dominating. It used to be Dig one week. TL one week. TSM one week. Now its Gravity 2 weeks in a row. With TDK staying consistent. NME doing alright. Cloud9 fell way off. Team8 is doing somewhat well. So by balanced he means all over the place so well that no one team is killing everyone. #Aliens

TurquoiseYoshiJul 16, 20152 votes

Thanks for the explanation. I may have copy/pasted it to the people that didn't understand what I meant.

Dank FuelJul 16, 20153 votes

**EDG isnt dominating.

TurquoiseYoshiJul 16, 20153 votes

EDG has been screwing around with different players all split. They've been tied for first while doing that. They'll easily win the split in playoffs once they actually start caring about matches.

RoIsuxJul 17, 20151 votes

EDG isn't dominating their region at the moment. Qiao Gu are top of the LPL and the only team not to lose a Bo2 yet.

TurquoiseYoshiJul 17, 20152 votes

Except it EDG has been playing around with substitutes for the entire split. Once they actually start trying, they'll destroy their region.

DukeSavJul 17, 20153 votes

wait, isnt gambit good? Huni said that this is the team they are afraid the most in playoffs.

I Am MagicianJul 16, 20156 votes

Fnatic looked good at MSI but you can't compare their stomp of EU to their perfomance at MSI and say they've improved. The competition in EU has declined dramatically with UOL and SK looking pretty miserable and H2K/Origen lackluster compared to expectations.

I still think they're going to be competitive on the world stage, but they "look better" right now because the teams they are playing are much worse, whether there is any significant improvement will be tested once they are at worlds.

NA on the other hand looks like a hot mess. I'm cheering for Fnatic or SKT to win because I don't think any NA team is even close. -2cents

QuantumSpongeJul 16, 20154 votes

I agree. Despite my undying love for the rookie lads, you cannot at all compare fnatic with other teams - its like comparing red wine and white, they function the same, but have very little in common. The level of competitiveness in Korea we all know to be terrifying. And even with fnatics ups and downs in their games, its easily possible the the EU region is just a step behind Korea (which is quite a strong reality) and so no matter how fiercely we fight...it may just be impossible

TanzarianJul 16, 20155 votes

Origen lackluster?? they just promoted to lcs with the intention of stablishing as a middle table team, and they are crushing all middle eu teams. UOL is just looking exacly the same as last season, capable of the best and the worst (wining to OG and losing to Sk for example).

Its just now that kikis quited that they can go worse. They are now 7-7 and last season ended 9-9... so i dont see how this is miserable in comparision. SK has indeed felt, but OG took its spot and better than that, OG keeps looking solid while we get closer to the playoffs, unlike SK did. So i think that overall, EU competition has stepped up, event though fnatic is far away from the others, this is not the other teams lack of quality, its fnatic virtue

Cheryl ColeJul 16, 20153 votes

Sir you can't be more wrong. Im seriously sure, this is best team composition EU ever had. SK is the same team as last summer split, but instead of 3rd spot they are lucky to be on 9th. UOL is the same good team just playing against far better competition. Fnatic looks better, becouse they are far better than last split.. And they play against Origen and H2K (better teams, than EU ever had, if Fnatic wouldn't be there). And "both teams totaly overperformed compared to expectations". H2K is super consistent same as Origen, both delivering better gameplay, than west ever seen. There are only very few bad teams in EU. More likely there are 5 teams with lack of consistency, but still with incredible talent. So no dude. EU as a whole region is in the best shape since s2 spring.

Cheryl ColeJul 16, 20152 votes

Don Eulrich Thats why i wrote "since s2 spring". I believe m5 was best team in that season, but still... TPA took the title of world champion so it's hard to argue. Or even speculate.

Cheryl ColeJul 16, 20152 votes

Aolong Hong

Well no. You are wrong in probably everything. SK is exact same team as last summer split.

UOL has some troubles, but only real problem is, that they get lost in fiercer competition.

Origen, H2K, Fnatic are great teams.. but they are far from being only ones in EU. So stop call them bad just to make EU look as same shitty region, becouse that is not true.

Most of major regions truly improved. I mean LPL and EU and TW a bit. Korea is actualy worse than year ago before talent transfered to China and with SSW as most likely the best team ever made, NA just replaced c9 and TSM for TL and GV, but their chances are still the same. And EDG wasn't even top chinese team week ago, so how they play against top second team is irelevant.

Anyway EU is better region than it was in spring. And it does mean exactly what it does mean and that's all i wished to say and i don't understand what it has to do with other regions....

TurquoiseYoshiJul 17, 20152 votes

Taiwan is LMS. You're welcome.

TrollFan01Jul 16, 20156 votes

Fnatic is awesome this season. First they were the Rookie Champions and now they're the Invincible Gods of EU!

xJLx MCHammerJul 15, 20155 votes

Probably no one in europe. No one has as many korean as Fnatic

Project SolunaJul 15, 201517 votes

says NA -best toplaner: Quas (venezuela, wich lies in southern-Amerika) -best jungler: Move (Korean) -best Mid: fenix/bjergson (korean/eu) -best adc: piglet (korean) -best sup: bunny fufuu (Na)

summoner 11

EleshakaiJul 16, 20155 votes

Aphro is CLEARLY the best support NA. By a pretty big margin. Regardless of what you may think of CLG as a team, and there are definitely issues with them, Aphro has consistently proven himself to be a monster as a support. He's the only support in NA I'd rank as being worthy of standing on an international stage.

ÀthenaJul 16, 20159 votes

Lustboy is world class....

Sluggo78Jul 16, 20155 votes

I would put Lustboy over Aphro because Lustboy has actually proven to do very well on the international stage

I Am MagicianJul 16, 20154 votes

I agree Lustboy is the best NA support. Aphro has some big highlights but he's not consistent under pressure, same with Bunny. To the OP I think you have your whole list wrong, besides bjerg for mid (far superior to fenix btw). I'd argue piglet is not currently the best, but I think his team holds him back some, give him bunny or lustboy and he might prove himself as the top choice.

EleshakaiJul 16, 20153 votes

{quoted}

I would put Lustboy over Aphro because Lustboy has actually proven to do very well on the international stage

That's a fair point. I don't know if I'd agree, but he definitely deserves mention. I tend to forget about Lustboy... but he definitely is top two supports in NA.

TurquoiseYoshiJul 16, 20154 votes

I wouldn't say Quas is the best top laner in NA. Maybe Zion Spartan if CLG actually puts him on a carry top laner.

InvinciblePieJul 16, 20154 votes

Rush best na ;-;

AurelliusJul 16, 20155 votes

NA is defined by imports. As in, this country IS imports. EU, however, is not.

LandreinJul 16, 20159 votes

Hate to be picky with you, NA isn't a country. And while I'm aware the NA server is not contiguous with NA the continent. It still has good ole Canada. Anyway, its true America's Identity is based around immigration, it doesn't mean the EU can't or is even wrong to accept foreign talent.

Also, many European countries have large immigrant communities of their own, so its a bit unfair to act like they have some special restriction on them.

AurelliusJul 16, 20153 votes

Fine, let me be more correct with my statement. NA is defined by imports. As in, this region* IS imports.

And I'm not saying EU is any more wrong than NA is, just the fact that at least we get called out on it than any other country (Specially China, that place is filled to the brim with imports from Korea). If people don't want us to use imports than we'd have to trudge down to a Native American tribe to do recruitment there, and I doubt we'd have any players then.

ShortstafJul 16, 20153 votes

That is pretty bold statement considering the best EU team (Fnatic) has 2 imports in Huni and Reignover. Let's just face it Asia has much better players on whole.

QuantumSpongeJul 16, 20153 votes

I wouldn't forget that the NA scene began the craze with EG going over, bjergsen, and it continues with Jebus heading over, incarnation...the list i feel is endless and yet some how a few koreans over in EU is suddenly us importing talent.

"Hi Pot, I would like you to meet Kettle." "Oh hi Kettle, wow you are black."

LandreinJul 16, 20152 votes

That's mostly opinionated stuff and largely just grabbing players from the top 2 or 3 teams. Your right, its hard to argue that bjergson or fenix aren't the best midlaners in NA though Keane is a very near the competition and pobelter isn't to very far behind. However, you can argue that IWillDominate is as strong as move currently and if not is a strong number 2. Aphromoo is probably a better support then bunnyfufu but isn't on a team that showcases his skill often. If Piglet is the best adc in NA, and that is a big if, its a close competition with Sneaky (suffering from the C9 rearrangement).

I agree though, that anyone who likes NA shouldn't be criticizing Fanatic for having EU players. Its actually nice to see EU finally open up and accept foreign players.

But at least you didn't accuse TSM of having 2 europeans, 1 korean, one Canadian, and 1 North American. Amusing but that is getting OLD.

MrXaturnJul 16, 20157 votes

Wait, a Canadian isn't a North American?

warpedmindJul 16, 20151 votes

and your point is? all those guys decided on their own will to immigrate into NA which makes them NA. not to forget that altec and wildturtle, both very good adc and close behind piglet, are both members of the NA region (usa and canada respectively) so NA is not lost without imports. but for example the USA is a country founded by immigrants and useful immigration is always (!!!) a good thing

Cheryl ColeJul 16, 20152 votes

Well sports visa has nothing to do with immigration. And i believe your own government would highly disagree what makes them NA. Hard to believe they were tired of all these free health care around them. (just joking, don't take it seriously pls :D).

XonraJul 16, 20154 votes

{quoted}

says NA -best toplaner: Quas (venezuela, wich lies in southern-Amerika) -best jungler: Move (Korean) -best Mid: fenix/bjergson (korean/eu) -best adc: piglet (korean) -best sup: bunny fufuu (Na)

The majoirty of the NA region is made up of the United States, a single country, with a couple of Canadian players, as half of Canada is unpopulated realistically (population compared to region size).

Compared to EU...

With countries like Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Netherlands Norway Poland

(should I keep going?)

So it takes about 51 countries, give or take a few, to make up EU, compared to NA who has 2, since Mexico is part of the LAN region.

Funny - 51 countries worth of people, and you guys still only have 1 team that is considered good, despite all the trash talk. How many of them aren't from EU? So 51 countries in EU compared to 2 in NA, and you still need to importan Koreans?

I think that looks a lot worse on you than it does on NA. Just sayin'

Cheryl ColeJul 16, 20155 votes

Well USA has 50 states plus Washington. Plus Canada and you are on 52 states. And since Greece doesn't have money for internet, i can say 49 is proper number.

EMPOUSA FT FLASHJul 16, 20152 votes

this statement is so dumb xD because North America (continent) is bigger than Europe (continent) despite how many states/countries they both have America is more populated so please don't jump to conclusions about how many countries it may take to have "1" beast of a team when A. NA doesn't have 1 and B. Your best players are European finally C. NA as a region has never won an actual World Championship.... (Katowice had no competition) furthermore in the last match of EU vs NA, I recall Fnatic winning within under 30 minutes. Case Closed.

Cheryl ColeJul 17, 20153 votes

actualy i need to correct you. Europe has like twice amount of people.

CantripsJul 17, 20153 votes

Your statement doesn't really improve how intelligent you sound, either, EMPOUSA. North America has generally one main cultural base. Europe is such a cultural kaleidoscope that it's hard to list it all. Culture plays into how people approach their lives, and within those lives, their gaming. NA may be larger, blah blah blah, but at the end of the day we don't have nearly as much cultural diversity as EU does, everyone who joins the melting pot in the U.S.A. becomes part of the melt.

pIronManJul 17, 20154 votes

With 700 millions inhabitants in Eu with about 80 millions in Turkey that has his own server and 530 millions inhabitants in NA, yes we can be proud of Fnatic! Also because they are probably gonna win against all the north-american teams at worlds (I think)

Cheryl ColeJul 17, 20152 votes

Why probably? im pretty sure we will see the most disapointment performance from NA. Well if that is even possible.

A LEGEND 2Jul 16, 20153 votes

Man... Quas is a really good top laner but he is not the best. He lacks in many inportant facts. I would say that the best top laner NA is probably Impact because he can carry games as a team member but individual as well. The old members of SKT T1 K should really be considered...

thefegamerJul 16, 20154 votes

NA and EU fanboys stop arguing. We should Focus our resources on beating Korea and China at worlds!

Kim JišooJul 16, 20153 votes

In LCK, SKT1 is 13-0 and in games they are 26-1. They getting close to that 14-0. Will love to see another SKT vs Fnatic game :D

GrubzzJul 16, 20152 votes

I'd be surprised if Fnatic can get past any of the Eastern region big dogs. I'm no fanboy, but by the looks of their performances, my money is on SKT being the first 2 time World Champions. They look invincible, even when they play from behind, they execute near perfection to comeback in the game and take it. EDG is looking good too, and AHQ is looking a lot stronger than before as well. If they really want to prove themselves, FNC has got some tough trials ahead of them. But let's see if they can even remain undefeated in their own region yet, lots more league to be played......

Earl EulrichJul 16, 20153 votes

they have a really lackluster competition in Korea this year. My money is on EDG (especially since Pawn is simply better than Faker and SKT can´t win if Faker gets outlaned).