The League of Champions Korea (LCK)’s #3 seed, Gen.G, has qualified to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship quarterfinals in first place of Group C ahead of the League of Legends European Championship’s (LEC) #2 seed, Fnatic.
Gen.G secured the top seed over Fnatic in the final game of Day 7, Oct. 10, in emphatic fashion: a strong early game in the solo lanes derailed the European team’s long-shot attempt at a scaling composition, as the game’s outcome was cemented by the 6-minute mark.
As both teams started on an explosive note at Level 1, the victor was the team that performed the best during the initial levels of the laning phase. Although Fnatic secured first blood on Bdd’s Lucian at the 2:40 mark, Gen.G traded it with a top lane towerdive gank that set Bwipo's Malphite back.
From there, the game took a lopsided direction as Bwipo’ and Nemesis’s Lulu swapped lanes, only for Rascal’s Renekton and Bdd to take over from that point onward with yet another towerdive in the top lane, one that followed a Renekton solo kill on Lulu. At the same time, Ruler’s Aphelios and Life’s Taric scored a 2-for-0 skirmish in the bot lane in Gen.G's favor, culminating in a 6-for-2 kill score at the time.
Struggle as they did, Fnatic were unable to recover from losing all three lanes, eventually taking skirmishes when they reached their power spikes – minutes after conceding towers, Drakes, Rift Heralds and Baron Nashor. By the time the game ended at Minute 23, Gen.G widened the kill gap to 14-4, and added 10 tower takedowns (to Fnatic’s 2) for good measure.
Although Fnatic ended 4-2 in Group C, their seeding allows them to avoid meeting G2 Esports at least until the semifinals, should the two European teams win their quarterfinals. Their opponents remain unknown as Group D is set to unfold on Sunday, Oct. 11 – only then will their opponents be known.
Worlds 2020 is now over, and it's the Koreans of DAMWON Gaming who have claimed the Summoner's Cup! Find all the results from League of Legends' premier tournament right here.
The words “World Championship” and “FNATIC” are usually associated with “hype come-from-behind performances," "sloppy first weeks," and "internal conflict." Not this time, or at least not under the watchful eyes of FNATIC's current head coach Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez.
Team SoloMid and LGD Gaming were eliminated from the 2020 League of Legends World Championship in Group C before they clashed in their last game of the tournament on Oct. 10. In TSM’s case, their 0-6 record represents the worst performance by a #1 seed at the World Championship.
