Schalke knock out Fnatic from LEC Playoffs with a historic sweep

Schalke 04 defeated Fnatic in the LEC Playoffs elimination series for the first time ever in the organization’s history. This defeat means Fnatic finishes fifth in the LEC Playoffs, making it their lowest-place finish since 2016. It is also the first time since Summer 2016 that Fnatic do not advance to the final week of the Playoffs.

After stretching G2 Esports to a full five games in their first Playoff series, Schalke were slightly favored for this series.  Schalke march on to face Rogue in another elimination series for a semi-finals spot.

What is Next for Fnatic after crashing out of LEC Playoffs.

After losing Martin “Rekkles” Larsson to G2, Fnatic have struggled this Split. Their overall gameplay through the Spring Split put question marks on the entire team’s ability to contest G2 and Rogue in Playoffs. While they defeated SK Gaming in their first series of the LEC Playoffs, they still looked shaky. Fnatic’s head coach, Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi took to Twitter to apologize to fans for the overall performance stating that he still believed in the ability of his players.

I take full responsibility, there’s a lot of things that I could’ve done different and the power of this roster has not been shown this split. My confidence in my players and I will take every lesson I can from the split.

— YamatoCannon (@YamatoMebdi) April 2, 2021

Fnatic must now look towards preparing for the Summer Split as it will be a race for a spot at the League of Legends World Championship.  While there are no rumored Fnatic roster changes, it is clear that this team has to generally improve. Without improvements, it looks like the beginning of the end for an old god and the rise of new ones in Europe.

How Schalke ran away with the Series

Fnatic started off game one of the series with surprise Olaf and Lulu picks in the draft. Although it seemed like Fnatic had a better early game composition overall, Schalke gave them no room for early advantages. The blind Gangplank pick from Sergen “Broken Blade” alongside Felix “Abbedagge” Braun’s Sylas paid off for Schalke.  Also,  Schalke made sure that Erberk “Gilius” Demir was on the Udyr, a comfort pick for the jungler.

 

The 1v2 for @BrokenBlade! pic.twitter.com/WYhqGdGAIt

— LEC (@LEC) April 2, 2021

Broken Blade went deathless and helped his team with crucial assists to take control of the game. The first game swung in Schalke’s control after a Sylas outplay from Abbedage in the mid lane, taking down multiple Fnatic members.  Schalke closed out game one in 34 minutes with a 13,000 gold lead.

Furthermore, game two of the series also witnessed an off-meta Fnatic composition. Fnatic’s jungler, Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek locked in Lee Sin, a champion not played throughout this year in the LEC. Schalke started off game two in dominant fashion and simply grew stronger with their early game advantage. The Lee Sin pick failed to counter Schalke’s composition with Broken Blade’s Gangplank running the show once again.

There was a slow start to game three for both teams. Fnatic had a much better start to this game being on the blue side with two kills and map control. However, Abbedagge turned the game in favour of his team with a Corki triple kill. Schalke then took the dragon and baron after winning a team fight in the jungle. Fnatic tried to get back into the game but could not match the team fighting power of their opponents. Schalke took down Fnatic’s Nexus and with that their hopes of a miracle run at Playoffs.

The LEC Playoffs resume on Saturday, April 3 at 11 a.m. ET as G2 take on MAD Lions in the battle for a winner’s final spot.