There is one thing I found particularly disappointing though. Consistently, Fnatic was winning team-fights and getting kill leads, however, they were not doing very much with these. This was a constant problem for Fnatic throughout all four games and I wanted to take a deeper look into why Fnatic lost the series, even while winning most of the team-fights.
Though there were multiple problems - losing lanes, cs numbers, vision control, etc - I feel that Fnatics biggest problem was their decision making after team-fights and their general lack of objective control throughout the series. Aside from Game 1, Fnactic had the kill and teamfight leads, but even so, in all four games Royal was the first to secure the primary map/vision control objectives, the first turret and the outer turrets. I feel that Game 4 exemplifies this problem best, with Fnatic's huge kill lead but lack of doing anything with it, so I will be using Game 4 as an example.
Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4
First Kill - RYL FNC FNC FNC
First to 5 Kills - RYL FNC FNC FNC
First to 10 Kills - RYL FNC FNC FNC
First Teamfight Win - RYL FNC FNC FNC
First Turret - RYL RYL RYL RYL
First Outer Turrets - RYL RYL RYL RYL
First Inner Turrets - RYL FNC RYL
First Inhibitor - RYL RYL FNC RYL
First Dragon - FNC FNC FNC RYL
Most Dragons - RYL FNC FNC RYL
First Baron - RYL RYL FNC RYL
First Dragon
6:04 - This is immediately after Jarvan tries to kill Elise mid, and she barely gets away. Elise is forced to flash and to back, Annie has expended 90% of her mana and her ignite summoner (making her mostly useless in a fight) and Fnatic, with the exception of Jarvan, are all moving out of base, having just shopped. Rumble also has his ultimate where as Shen does not. These factors put Fnactic in a superior dragon position if they would collapse and immediately take it. They would reach and kill dragon before Royal could effectively respond. (Also note Rumble has 26 cs).
6:34 - If Fnatic had made the call to dragon after Elise was forced to back, they could have been at dragon as a 5 man team for roughly 8-12s, enough time to kill it. Even if they did not have enough time, it would have been a 4v5 as Shen does not have his ultimate at this time. Instead, Jarvan farms mid and burn his mana, vastly reducing his fight effectiveness and Royal takes note of this.
6:47 - With Royal noting that Jarvan was low on mana and at half hp, they immediately set up vision around dragon. Seeing that Jarvan has backed, they immediately turn to start dragon.
6:55 - Royal have started dragon without hesitation. Jarvan is all the way back in base. Kayle has now hit 6, Shen is about to hit 6. Rumble begins to head towards dragon, having only gained 6 cs from his trip top.
7:22 - Fight has broken out at Dragon after Royal have already secured it. Fnatic kill Kayle, but because Shen had just reached 6 and Kayle had been 6, their ultimates were enough to delay Kayle's death so that Royal could secure the kill on Varus.
Results - Fnatic do win the fight, but the kill score is 1 - 1 and Royal secured dragon, pulling them ahead from the engagement. Royal noticed that Jarvan was backing and that they would have an advantage and did not hesitate to go after Dragon. If instead, Fnatic had been proactive and headed towards dragon when Elise was forced to back, they would have been at an advantage to take it. Kayle and Shen would not have been 6, but Rumble would have been, leading to a massive 5v4 advantage for Fnatic. Instead, Fnatic get some minor farm. 6 cs on Rumble for his trip top, and a few cs for Jarvan farming mid. Fnatic did not capitalize on their opportunity, but Royal did and they come out on top for it.
Post First Dragon Fight
7:40 - After the fight at dragon, Fnatic come out on top even though the kill score was even. Elise is low on both HP and mana and cannot be useful in a defense situation. Fnatic have 4 members near the bottom tower while Cait heads mid and Shen heads top. Fnatic could and should at this point, push bottom. They would be able to take the turret uncontested and when Varus respawns he would be able to head middle to defend.
7:48 - Instead of pushing an objective after the fight, Rumble goes back to base an heads stop, Jarvan and Fizz take blue, and they leave Leona to farm bottom. This effectively takes their power play time and nullifies it. Instead of pushing for an objective that gives them global presence, they head back into laning phase mentality. Fnatic gain nothing from winning the previous fight.
Fizz Dies Middle
8:18 - Fizz attempts to make a play mid, but is caught by Annie and dies. Royal immediately respond by pushing mid with Shen and Kayle heading towards mid tower.
8:39 - Since Shen and Kayle collapsed to mid, Fnatic were unable to defend mid turret and Royal secure it, giving them a large advantage in vision control and map presence.
Blue Buff Posturing and 2nd Dragon
11:47 - 12:27 - With the mid turret down, Royal begin to take vision control of Fnatic's jungle. They notice that Varus is backing and with 3 people they force their way into Fnatic's jungle while Kayle pushes bottom lane towards the turret. The jungle dance goes on for a bit, but when Jarvan decides to head towards wraiths, letting the blue buff jungle go, Royal use their superior position and objective focus to collapse on bottom lane and take down the turret.
12:40 - With Royal grouped up after pushing bottom turret, they have the better position for dragon, which is going to respawn. Fnatic are divided, both by positioning and decision making. Leona/Varus/Jarvan posture around dragon while Fizz make no attempt to head that way. With Rumble so far away and the threat of Shen ultimate at dragon, Fnatic decide to let this dragon go, even though they don't act like it. Fizz heads towards wraiths, but decides against it, heads to posture around dragon, then decides against it again. Fizz could have just pushed mid, while Royal are distracted with dragon, and take the turret or at least put on a lot of damage.
13:10 - After being indecisive about dragon, Fizz returns to middle to clear out another creep wave. However, he still does no damage to Royal's mid turret, even though they are currently distracted by dragon. With no pressure on mid turret, Royal are free to take Fnatic's blue buff after dragon.
Result - Royal's superior pressuring and map positioning along with Fnatic's indecisiveness allow Royal to get 4 different objectives - Jungle control, Bottom Outer Turret, Dragon, and Fnatic's Blue Buff. Because Fnatic did not take this time to pressure anything, particularly mid turret, Royal gained these 4 objectives without any cost to them.
Top Lane Fight - 16:30
16:16 - With their objective focus, Royal start to group up towards the last outer turret of Fnatic. During this, Royal end up catching and killing Leona in the jungle. With Fizz bottom, Royal immediately collapse top for a 5v3 in their favor.
16:46 - While pushing the turret, Shen and Rumble die, trading 1 for 1. Even though Royal have lost 1 member already, they still continue to push the turret 4v2, even though they know Fizz is en-route. The bigger thing to note here, is that Leona DOES NOT head towards the fight and her team, but heads middle.
17:08 - Fnatic get 2 kills and come out of the fight very healthy and with Fizz/Jarvan ultimate still up. Now with a 5v3 advantage, Fnatic have two choices. First - They could 3v2 top turret (4v2 if Leona had headed top) or they could rush middle, meet up with Leona and Rumble and push middle. Unfortunately, Rumble decides to head bottom.
17:15 - Instead, Fnactic opt to back and shop.
17:38 - Caitlyn however, does not back, continuing to farm top lane. With Fnatic gone, she pushes top lane and at 18:14 she takes the top turret.
Results - Fnatic are able to turn around a bad situation. Effecively a 5v3 fight for top turret, Fnatic hold out until Fizz arrives and turn the fight around. Fnatic comes out with 2 kills and has a 5v3 advantage on the map. Unfortunately they do nothing with this advantage while Royal keep on the pressure and gain a turret. In the end Fnatic take 3 kills while Royal take 2 kills and a turret. If Fnatic has pressured their advantage after the fight, they could have been the one up a turret instead of Royal.
3rd Dragon
18:35 - Fnatic attempt to get a pick middle in a 3v5 situation. Unfortunately they target Kayle who along with Shen ultimate, easily survives the attempt. This could not come at a worse time. Dragon is spawning soon and Fnatic will not have 3 of their ultimates. Royal will pick up an easy Dragon. Fnatic should have waited till dragon to fight, as they have been repeatedly winning team-fights so far.
Mid-lane Teamfight - 19:53
24:18 - Fnatic win the team fight, and even though both sides are low, Varus is full hp and Leona is at half. With Royal having the lower HP bars, and Shen pushed out of the fight, Fnatic have the advantage. Fnatic have the positioning to push mid turret 4v3. If a fight were to engage, Leona could run defense and Jarvan has his ultimate coming up. At the least, Fnatic could trade kills and keep their advantage on the turret.
20:22 - Instead, Fnatic backs. Caitlyn however stays mid and farms the pushing waves, lessening the gold gain Fnatic acquired from the teamfight and pushes the creep pressure back towards Fnatic.
Blue Fight - 23:40
24:18 - Fnatic win the fight substantially. This time they do decide to push an objective, however this is mostly because they happen to be there. Fnatic have a decent sized wave and could push onward to the inner turret, especially in a 4v1 situation when Elise showed middle. Leaon and Fizz however, end up backing.
Dragon Fight 26:05
26:45 - Fnatic once again come out on top after a teamfight and this time substantially ahead. Fnatic push the inner bottom turret and take it out. If they had previously taken down the inner turret with their last win, they could have swung middle and gained a 4th turret and their 1st mid one. Barring that, this pressure after the fight was well done.
Mid-Fight 30:09
30:42 - Fnatic win the fight going 3 kills for 1 and successively take mid turret. While they have the numbers advantage, they still don't push the inner turret. Being fair, this is another case where doing so might put Baron at risk. However, neither Baron nor the inner turret are on Fnatic's mind at this moment. They do not push their current 4v2 at middle turret, and Varus/Rumble do not go back to base to heal for Baron (Rumble will die because of this in the next fight).
Baron Area Fight 31:38
Fnatic with yet another teamfight, this time near Baron Pit, getting the ace. If Rumble had healed after the previous engagement, then the fight would have been even more of a Fnatic win, with 3 or potentially 4 up. That didn't happen however, so lets look at what did and what Fnatic have for options. I believe that this fight is where Fnatic could have secured themselves the win.
Notables:
Jarvan and Varus are alive.
Varus is strong and has B.T. for lots of leech.
Baron is mere feet away.
There is a massive creep wave in bot lane.
Leona has 23s till respawn and has level 2 boots.
Elise has 33s till respawn and has level 1 boots.
Option 1 - Baron
I believe that this would have been the best option for Fnatic to take. Clearing the map of Baron would have removed it's threat and further increased Fnatic's fighting potential, even if it was only on a few members. At this point in the game, turrets are worth less as 1 good fight can lead to an inhibitor push or even a nexus push and having Baron siege/fight benefit would almost secure the next fight for Fnatic and would give them the confidence to, for the first time in this game, take the fight to Royal.
Jarvan and Varus could have split baron aggro back and forth, and Varus could have created a lot of tank time with his life leech. They could even delay a few seconds before starting so that they sustain less damage before Leona arrives. With Leona spawning 10s earlier than Elise and having the ability to purchase homeguard, she could have arrived at baron 15s+ earlier than her. Fnatic had a good 35-40s window to two-man Baron.
We won't actually know if they could have two manned it, but I believe that they could have started it, delayed for Leona, and finish it and get away before Royal could respond.
Option 2 - Push Top
This is the option that Fnatic chose, but they hesitated a few seconds which turns out to be crucial. Jarvan and Varus head top and take the inner top turret. The massive creep wave there would have taken the turret without them though. Unfortunately, Jarvan decides to back, a huge mistake. Varus continues to push and takes down the top lane inhibitor turret and moves on to the inhibitor. Varus alone is not enough though and has to back off before it is finished.
If Jarvan had stayed, the extra damage and AS he provides should have been enough to take out the inhibitor.
Option 3 - Push Mid
Not really a better option, but just one. Fnatic could have pushed mid, but it would have gotten them the least value.
Results - Because Fnatic pushed Top lane and did not commit to getting the inhibitor, they effectively only gained 1 turret as the result of this teamfight. Unfortunately, throughout the game Fnatic has not been putting the pressure on Royal at all. The extra inhib turret take-down only net's them the global gold, which is not too effective this late in the game. Committing to the inhibitor or choosing instead to take down Baron would have created pressure on Royal that Fnatic so desperately needed.
Royal Catches Jarvan - 35:08
35:08 - This is were the game really ends. Annie makes an amazing play and catches Jarvan and Rumble away from their team. Because Royal are OBJECTIVE FOCUSED, they are group up while Fnatic are not, a common problem throughout this match. Royal get a clean kill on Jarvan and then proceed to win their first team fight.
36:00 - After winning their first team fight, Royal show no hesitation and push through middle all the way to take Fnatic's inhibitor. Granted that this is a much easier decision than most Fnatic has had to made, but the difference is Royal makes it WITHOUT hesitation. Before the fight began they knew what they were after.
At this point the game is 90% over. Royal have gained their first lead, won their first teamfight, and have generated a ton of map pressure by taking Fnatic's inhibitor. Uzi has reached the point where he is almost unstoppable, out-scaling Varus. Royal has gained a Royal Flush and the only way to lose is to fold at this point. For the rest of the game, Royal plays it by the books, slowly pushing with lane advantage and taking Baron and lanes while Fnatic is forced on the defensive.
Synopsis:
Even though Fnatic wins every team fight until the 35 minute mark, they never put pressure onto Royal. Throughout the entirety of this match, Royal are constantly looking for objectives. Their fights have purpose and Royal has a plan for every move they make. Even though this only pans out for them in the beginning of the game, they do not cease. They constantly pressure Fnatic and in return Fnatic only play re-actively, not proactively. Throughout the series, Royal do not hesitate to pressure even the smallest advantage. Anytime they have a numbers or position advantage they put pressure onto Fnatic. This fourth game shows that Fnatic did not do the same. Even while winning every team fight, Fnatic does not push objectives to force them.
Fnatic's reactive play, even while winning, fell short of Royal's proactive play. Fnatic needed to show aggression and push their numbers advantage onto objectives, but they did not. As we have heard in the past, winning a team fight but not getting an objective after means nothing. This game exemplified that more than any other.
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