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Fnatic first team to be eliminated at MSI 2024 Bracket Stage
Fnatic have become the first team to be eliminated from the MSI 2024 Bracket Stage. In the ongoing rivalry between NA and EU – today, NA was victorious. After a long and arduous series, Team Liquid closed out their elimination series 3-1 against Fnatic to start the MSI day.
Coming hot off the heels of the exciting day that was G2 vs T1, we have a battle for survival between the 2nd seed from EMEA and the 1st seed from North America. Fnatic, having had to face Gen.G in their opening bout, failed to leave a mark against the giants despite a valiant effort from the former. And Team Liquid, who similarly faced another goliath in Top Esports, shared a similar 0-3 fate.
Fnatic Shellshocked by NA’s Top Seed
Coming into today, many fans expected a hard-fought series. Both Team Liquid and Fnatic had drawn difficult first round opponents. Despite expectations to the latter, neither team willingly rolled over and the games were closer than the scores would otherwise indicate.
Team Liquid drew first blood in this series, but Fnatic was swift on the response. In a nail-biting conclusion, Fnatic ultimately failed to push the series to Silver Scrapes (series ended 3-1), thereby finding themselves eliminated from MSI 2024. Team Liquid, meanwhile, continue their MSI journey.
Their next opponent will be a tricky one. T1 is set to face Bilibili Gaming in a star-stopping matchup worthy of the Grand Finals. Whichever teams falls in that series, will serve as Liquid’s next opponent.
Fnatic vs Team Liquid MSI 2024: How did it go down?
Stylistically, this matchup is an interesting one. Fnatic has a strong reliance on early game, preferring to self-generate early advantages and snowball those into leads. Meanwhile, Liquid has a tendency to lean on their solid fundamentals and build into the late game.
Game 1:
Liquid, knowing Fnatic’s tendencies, managed in Game 1 to find windows of opportunities for ganks to happen. This occurred multiple times as Fnatic seemed unable to find their footing in the game. Not entirely too much to write home about by Fnatic as Team Liquid simply snowballed their lead into a clean 30-minute win. An especial nod to Impact and APA in this game for their exceptional performances.
Game 2:
Fnatic answered back in Game 2, looking for more proactivity early on. This led to them heavily countering Team Liquid and getting their mid laner Humanoid ahead in the already winning matchup. Key target bans on APA was a key contributor as well in this game, banning out his Aurelion Sol, Taliyah, and Ziggs. Moreover, Oscarinin’s Poppy was a mega pickup for the Fnatic side, allowing them to silence Liquid’s teamfighting capabilities.
Game 3:
Coming into Game 3, Liquid now found themselves on Blue side for the first time in the matchup. This afforded them the opportunity to ban out Oscarinin and draft away from the Poppy. Another key aspect was APA was afforded the opportunity to play his signature pick of Aurelion Sol with a K’Sante frontline. Despite pulling out the Hwei, Humanoid struggled to find impact in the game against Liquid’s carries, ending the game with an 0/6 record.
Game 4:
Heading back to Blue side, Fnatic one against adopted their strategy of banning out APA, forcing him onto a Tristana. Meanwhile, Liquid managed to draft an early Lucian-Nami, which negated Fnatic’s attempt at a double-ADC bot lane with Ashe support.
Fnatic throughout the series appeared sloppier than normal, and regularly finding themselves caught in traps laid out by Liquid. Considering their LEC performance and run, as well as the form they showed against Gen.G, the loss appears more uncharacteristic than anything else. Moreover, this loss is also historic in the sense that Fnatic has not loss to an NA team in 7 years. Considering Fnatic's consistent international presence, an incredible achievement has been overturned today.
With Fnatic’s exit, the sole hope for Europe at MSI 2024 lies with G2, who also currently sit in the lower bracket, awaiting their match against PSG Talon. Liquid, meanwhile, as the remaining NA representative themselves, await the T1-BLG match.
Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
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