Fnatic once again impressed European League of Legends Championship Series fans with a slim 3-2 win against H2K Gaming in the league's third-place match Saturday in Paris.
With the EU LCS regional-qualifiers bracket already set, the series was about bragging rights and a slightly increased prize purse for the winner. Despite this, neither team seemed to hold back in an effort to collect momentum to move into their final chance at Worlds.
The series was a battle of early games, with both teams using quick leads and swiftly taking over for eventual wins. And from game to game, both teams jostled and adjusted during drafts in order to grab that early advantage.
Fnatic AD carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson, who was awarded MVP of the EU LCS before the match, did just what he's done all split for his team and took over the matchup. Notably, he single-handedly won a teamfight in Game 4 to stave off an Fnatic defeat despite the rest of his team falling apart.
But Rekkles' huge performance wasn't enough to completely shut down enemy AD carry Shin "Nuclear" Jung-hyun, who performed just as well at times. Rather than make room for Nuclear in the early game, however, H2K struggled to make moves at a crucial juncture and let Fnatic to get far ahead at the start of Game 5 to take a relatively uncontested victory.
Fnatic will attempt to use the victory as a starting point to qualify for the World Championship. H2K, meanwhile, needs to shake off the defeat in an effort to make its own run in the gauntlet.
