It’s a rough time to be a Fnatic fan. The team, after three EU LCS championship titles in a row, is now sitting 4-4 with one of their least impressive season openings ever. For Fnatic, taht’s a new trend. Let’s take a quick look at their records after Week 3 since the beginning of the LCS.
Spring 2013: 5-1.
Summer 2013: 3-6 (they quickly got a new bot lane and went 3-0 in Week 4).
Spring 2014: 7-1.
Today: 4-4.
See a trend? Fnatic open really well, Season 3 Summer excluded. Fnatic get a quick start and use it to leverage into prime playoff position at the end of each season. However, a 4-4 record today, with their presumably dream squad, indicates something is off. Has something gone wrong with the most successful LCS team in history?
Repeating history
Fnatic’s performance so far this split leaves much desired. Their opening match against rivals SK Gaming, for example, was an embarrassing start to the season. SOAZ all but admitted as much on Twitter after the game: “Did good earlygame and then i lost the game alone... sorry idk what i was thinking about midgame…”
In many ways, sOAZ represents the passionate heart of Fnatic. As one of the most vocal members of the team, he stands as a figurehead for the stoic team that has weathered three dramatic LCS seasons, and all that preceded them. The squad we see today existed in truth since January 2013, as YellOwStar joined to eventually replace nRated, while Rekkles wandered around the challenger scene until his 17th birthday. XPeke and Cyanide, who both joined Fnatic when it formed out of myRevenge, are the soul of the team, skilled veterans who the Fnatic organization built around.
Now the squad faces their greatest challenge yet—staying relevant against unreasonably high expectations. It’s a phenomenon we see all too often in sports: teams that win are expected to keep winning, no matter the cost. But take a casual look through any sports team that has met success, and you’ll find stretches of greatness interspersed with periods of weakness, of rebuilding, of rethinking and refocusing on the basics. No team can function at high levels without hitting the big red reset button every once in a while.
The big question to answer, then, is whether Fnatic is in need of such a reset. Do they need to tank a season to get back on solid ground to retake the upper levels of the LCS? And if so, can they survive the brutal relegation cycles that have seen some of the biggest names in League of Legends fade away?
Keeping the Faith
It might be easy at this point to give a simple “Yes” response. Nobody would blame Fnatic, after three straight titles, to take a step back from playing at the highest levels.
But ask any team in such a position, in any sport, whether or not they want to take that step back. The answer will always be “No!” True competitors fight against trends, they buck tradition, and they duel reason itself. In fact, the very same argument could’ve been made last split, when Fnatic were handed losses eight times in a row. With a 7-8 record, and two titles under their belt, nobody expected too much from the team.
Nobody, except Fnatic themselves. And maybe that’s the key that keeps the Fnatic engine chugging along. Refusing to give up, refusing to step back, and refusing to apologize. The story is now legend - Fnatic climbed back up the ladder, clawing at every opportunity until once again the crown was in their hands.
Sometimes you need logic, sometimes you need a break, but Fnatic’s 2014 Spring performance reminds us all that sometimes, you just need to win.
Stamina is what sets Fnatic apart from the other teams. If you want a statistic, try this one on for size: In two years, since the beginning of the LCS, Fnatic have never had lower than a 33% win/loss ratio during the regular season. And in seasons where they don’t have a mid-season roster change, that figure rises to 50%. Over 92 games since the LCS began, that’s a phenomenal feat.
In fact, TSM and CLG are the only other teams to play the same number of games and tie that 33% win/loss ratio floor. Consider, then, the extreme roster changes that have kept TSM and CLG going (Bjergsen, Seraph, Dexter, among many others), while Fnatic, outside of YellOwStar replacing nRated and Rekkles returning to the team, have had almost none.
Put simply, the five members of Fnatic are the winningest crew to ever grace the LCS.
BLEH
So how do they do it? For Fnatic, winning relies on the same stamina that sees them through each season. It’s easy to get caught up in early winners and losers of each split. but Fnatic are the ones in it for the long haul. Rather than the initial weeks, let’s look at the final three weeks of each split.
Spring 2013: 7-3.
Summer 2013: 5-5 (then 2-0 in the Tiebreakers)
Spring 2014: 7-1.
And then, at playoffs.
Spring 2013: 5-3.
Summer 2013: 5-1.
Spring 2014: 5-2.
When looking at the last three weeks of the season and playoffs combined, Fnatic’s win/loss ratio has never been below 66%. And last season was their best close yet, with an astonishing 75% win rate. If anything, now with Rekkles on board, the argument could be made that Fnatic are just beginning to power up.
So yes, while Fnatic’s current 4-4 record is nothing to brag about, they’re well within the set standards that they have operated under in all past seasons. What’s more, as the weeks roll by, Fnatic has shown an innate ability to finish strong, and they’ll be sure to be aiming against at the title. Rather than needing a reset, Fnatic is a team very much on course.
With everything on the line, these guys are without a doubt some of the most experienced in the LCS. Now down, but never out, Fnatic are sure to stun naysayers with some explosive games in the coming weeks. If their trend continues, this team will absolutely ignite as the season starts to close. Watch out Europe, here rise Fnatic.