Fnatic has dealt with the punches and emerged with two victories to open the 2022 World Championship, despite League of Legends players and spectators having to contend with a variety of delays and COVID-19 restrictions.
The third-seeded European squad has encountered many roadblocks on the way to the World Championship, including claims that they did not practice in advance and last-minute substitutions because of COVID-19. Even yet, the squad didn’t think twice about crushing Evil Geniuses in the second game of the day, collecting some much-needed momentum for their upcoming match against OCE’s Chiefs Esports Club.
On the other side, Chiefs entered the tournament as the underdog. Their lone game of the day was this opening match versus FNC, however owing to game delays, they had to wait a long time to begin. Although the area has never advanced past the group stage at the Worlds, an unexpected victory over a LEC squad would have been the ideal way for them to begin their run. Instead, following a strong performance from the defending European champions, they will need to start over.
FNC had unwavering poise and self-assurance throughout the whole game, whether they were flashing in and engaging or counter-attacking after successfully dodging an enemy gank. As an illustration, during the 15-minute point in their match against the Chiefs, Upset and substitute support Rhuckz outwitted the opposition team’s three-pronged onslaught long enough to enable their squad a time to teleport down to the bottom lane and hit back.
Fnatic continued to find interceptions as the Chiefs frequently found themselves out of position as the game went on. The match finished with an Upset pentakill as the game grew increasingly chaotic. It was the ideal response to any skeptics who believed they would struggle to get the event started.
The fact that the team performed so well even without starting support player Hylissang also helped. Due to COVID-19 constraints, the veteran has yet to join the team, but if Fnatic continues to perform this well without him, they may soon be headed to the group stage. Fnatic will take on DetonatioN FocusMe of Japan tomorrow in an effort to maintain its excellent start. The Chiefs will also take the field against DFM, but they’ll be attempting to recover from such a crushing defeat. The games will start at 3 o’clock CT.