G2 Esports Triumph Over Fnatic 3-1 to Win 2023 LEC Season Finals
Few domestic rivalries in the world of League of Legends esports can compare to the one between G2 Esports and Fnatic, and in Montpellier this weekend, G2 continued to build upon their historical superiority in the matchup. The series was a bloodbath that averaged over a kill per minute throughout, but time and time again, G2 came away with more than Fnatic after the dust settled.
Game 1 featured extreme aggression from both teams in the early game, but G2 kept edging out more advantages in terms of map state after each scuffle. G2 top laner Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik was able to weather the storm of a superior laning phase from Fnatic’s Martin “Wunder” Hansen. BB provided massive impact around the map with masterful followups to the engages of his jungler Martin "Yike" Sundelin and support Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle, which ended up being the primary factor in G2’s 1-0 start to the series.
Game 2 was exemplary of what makes G2 Esports so hard to play against. Fnatic drafted a well-balanced composition that featured plenty of comfort picks for their individual players, but Broken Blade’s Olaf and Mikyx’s pocket Lissandra completely stopped Fnatic in their tracks. G2 Esports boasted a 9k gold lead at 13 minutes and never looked back on their way to match point.
Fnatic was able to wrestle back some control in the series in game 3. G2 Esports mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther was a one-man army on Yone, but the team effort of FNC was enough to shut him down and take the third nexus of the series.
Unfortunately for Fnatic, Caps refused to be denied his 10th domestic title. After G2 esports exploited the shallow champion pool of Fnatic mid laner Marek "Humanoid" Brázda by forcing him onto Syndra and exploiting the champion’s vulnerability to dives, Caps decided to lead by example in game 4. On the Dark Sovereign, Caps stole the show from the Draven of G2 AD carry Steven “Hans Sama” Liv by finishing with a 10/0/7 scoreline against Humanoid’s Taliyah.
As a result of the 2023 LEC Season Finals, G2 Esports will be representing EMEA at the 2023 League of Legends World Championship as the region’s 1st seed. Fnatic, having already qualified for Worlds prior to the match, will be the 2nd seed as the Season Finals runner-up. LEC Spring champion MAD Lions will be the region’s 3rd seed following their 3rd place finish in the season finals. Spring finalist Team BDS will be the region’s 4th seed and will face off against League Championship Series 4th seed Golden Guardians in a do-or-die series to decide whether it is North America or EMEA that gets to have a 4th team join their ranks at the main event of Worlds 2023.
Esports/gaming journalist since 2016. He's covered live competitive gaming events from coast to coast in the United States and is based in the esports epicenter of Los Angeles, CA. Over the better part of the last decade, he has developed a unique voice in the LoL Esports space as a columnist, built relationships with premiere organizations, told captivating stories through interviews and features and authored industry-shaking reports all the while maintaining razor-sharp understanding of the game at its competitive peak. He has published exclusively with Inven Global for four years and has been freelancing/writing independently since parting with the publication. If you need someone to tell a story, let's chat.