Fnatic Proves it was No Fluke and Slays TPA Again

Fnatic bounce back from a long and painful loss against WE to defeat TPA, the world champions, for the second time at IPL5.

Game 1

Bans

Fnatic

Anivia | Orianna | Rengar

TPA

Lee Sin | Zyra | Blitzcrank

Picks

Fnatic

Evelynn | Olaf | Ezreal | Shen | Leona

TPA

Sona | Cho’Gath | Twisted Fate | Caitlynn | Twisted Fate

Fnatic were clearly not that badly shaken after their defeat in the upper-bracket and managed to draw the first blood of the game, with Ezreal lapping up the gold. Not content with merely killing Sona once, Ezreal did it again a minute or two later. An overly aggressive dive allowed Twisted Fate to pick up a double kill, although Ezreal did get one back for Fnatic.

Sona was really not having the best of games and she died once more. This opened up a Dragon for Fnatic, which they followed up with another kill by diving under bot tower. TPA picked up the first tower of the game at around 13 minutes in. This evened up the gold for a moment but a quick kill onto TF and a tower of their own upped Fnatic’s lead back to round 2k.

Fnatic kept up the pressure all around the map. They picked up a kill here and a kill there, Leona did a great job of roaming around, facilitating kills. By 22 minutes they had an 8k gold lead and seemed to be in a commanding position. A great fight by TPA, especially TF, allowed them to acquire two kills and slow down Fnatic’s pressure. Knowing they had to keep on-top of TPA or the game would spiral out of control, Fnatic made a sneaky Baron play. It paid off, partially due to a great ultimate from Leona locking Cho down so he wouldn't try anything.

A super slick taunt by Shen let Fnatic get a pick onto TF. This opened up the TPA base for Fnatic and they had no trouble killing Cho and taking one Inhibitor. Shen went to bot lane to try and split-push but got caught and killed by TPA. Unfortunately for them, while he was dying, Fnatic killed Baron. This put them 14,000g ahead and nine towers to two. With a lead that large they had no trouble finishing up TPA’s base and taking the first game in the set.

Game 2

Bans

TPA

Lee Sin | Evelynn | Blitzcrank

Fnatic

Anivia | Orianna | Rengar

Picks

TPA

Olaf | Caitlynn | Nunu | Karthus | Shen

Fnatic

Diana | Zyra | Cho’Gath | Ezreal | Kha’Zix

After a slow start to the game with almost no action at all for the first seven minutes, TPA finally made their move.  Catching Fnatic too pushed up they chased them through the lane and with some help from Karthus cleaned up two kills. Fnatic answered back almost immediately though and took two kills of their own.

Fnatic kept the pressure on and added two more kills to their sheet as well as three towers and an uncontested Dragon. After a pause in the action Fnatic made their next move and pushed down mid. TPA, knowing they had to act now or they would have no chance, went for the engage. Fnatic were much too strong however and secured four kills for no loss, as well as pushing down a couple of towers afterwards. By 25 minutes Fnatic had a 12,000g lead, Baron buff and nothing left to do but end the game, which they easily did.

This was a really strong set showing from Fnatic. They went from strength to strength and the second game was pretty much a stomp. This is pretty amazing when you think about how well TPA have played over the course of IPL5. The real question is can Fnatic keep their building momentum going and defeat WE?

- Jaszon 'Lightblind' Alexzander

Source : ign[dot]com