After some thrilling semi final matches, Fnatic and the Unicorns of Love were through to the grand final. A young Fnatic roster lead expertly by veteran Yellowstar, showed true grit and fortitude to triumph over H2k, and the Unicorns pulled out every trick in the book to defeat us in their semi final. Both semi finals reached the full 5 games and Fnatic and the Unicorns were probably the right teams to be in the final.They both showed some unorthodox picks, and the ability to thrive in a constantly skirmishing environment. The final promised to be very exciting, both teams loved to fight often and early, and both were not adverse to trying new intriguing strategies.

For the losing semi final teams, third place and world championship points were on the line. Both teams might have been a little aggrieved not to have gone through, as both semi finals were extremely close and every team had chances to take it. SK were probably favorites although H2k had arguably played better in their semi final, and it was almost a mini final. Both teams gave it everything and produced another extremely exciting series.

3rd Place Playoff - SK Gaming vs H2k

H2k had shown they were a team with few weaknesses. Stable and controlled play had seen them through to this match, but with KaSing and Ryu they possessed some play makers who were able to capitalize on our mistakes. From our perspective it was a similar repeat of the semi final against UoL, some players played out of their minds, but some were lackluster.

Overview of the match:


Series MVP: Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook

Ryu continued his impressive performances, making plays and showing us some glimpses of his former stature. He has been getting better and better over the course of the split, and his Zed destroyed us. Great showings on a multitude of champions means his champion was diverse enough to counter any targeted bans, and he put up very impressive KDAs in games 2-5. While Hjarnan also played extremely well, I thought Ryu added some play making potential to the roster and was the X factor H2k needed.



Grand Final - Fnatic vs Unicorns of Love

It was fitting that the final series of the split and also a meeting between two teams very similar in style went the distance. It was the perfect neutrals final, as while both teams may have not been the most strategically sound, they were definitely the most entertaining. Yellowstar showed why is perhaps the greatest western captain ever, reviving a great Fnatic team from the ashes of it's former legends.

Overview of the match:


Series MVP: Kim "Reignover" Ui-jin

While Yellowstar was the most popular candidate for MVP, I believe Reignover stepped up to the occasion, Blasting UoL in Game 5 and playing a great series throughout. His pinpoint perfect Gragas ultimate to fling PoE and Vardag back into his team was spectacular, and he was worked hard to improve his poor pedigree from Korea. One of Europes best junglers, Reignover had a stellar split and he and Fnatic should be looking put in a strong performance at MSI.



It's been a very interesting split, the regular season may not have always been amazing, but the playoffs were incredible and were certainly the most entertaining ever, we now look forward to the Summer split even more!

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