Day 1 of LEC Week 6 had the ancient rivals of Europe facing off; Fnatic against Origen. Neither of them close to their former glory, but both of them wanting that glory back. Lets see what happened in the Fnatic vs Origen match.
Last week, Origen beat the undefeated G2 in what can only be described as godly performances from Nukeduck and Patrick. The match was cemented by a 5 win streak to finish week 5 with a 6-4 record. Meanwhile Fnatic lost to SK gaming in what has been one of the worst splits for the organization, culminating week 5 with a 3-7 record.
However, even the best teams had had terrible splits and still recover (2014 SKT T1 was a disaster, but 2015 SKT T1 won almost everything). Fnatic has proven constantly to be at the that top position. Most recently Fnatic getting to the 2018 Worlds finals again since 2011. But most importantly, Fnatic vs Origen will always be relevant, because of what the rivalry meant back in 2015 and the extensive fanbase of both teams. This was one match that League of Legends esports fan couldn't miss.
Here we have the picks and bans for this game. Fnatic first picked Galio and immediately red alarms were turned on. The first losses of the team in weeks 1 and 2, which started the domino effect that has destroyed Fnatics split so far, happened when Nemesis played Galio in a losing lane. However Fnatic picked Zoe in the 2nd round, signaling a Galio support for Hylissang. He's the newest Korean trend right now. And this paired up with Rekkles' Kai'Sa meant a lot of early damage and crowd control.
Origen's team was very promising. Having a lot of zone control with Urgot and Nunu, and a lot of poke with Le Blanc and Ezreal. Their plan was probably to set up sieges in the mid game to get objectives. But they never got to that point. Right off the bat Rekkles and Hylissang were hunting prey waiting on a bush, and managed to killed the Ezreal level 1 with a combination of Reckless Punch and Icathian Rain to deplete Patrick's life bar. This gave 400 gold to the Kai'Sa and forcing Patrick's Teleport to lane. But that was not enough for Fnatic, as Broxah came from the jungle for a level 2 tower dive using Galio's knock up and taunt to hold Mithy in place while he killed him. Mithy ended up trading 1 for 1, but the deficit in farm, kills and pressure was already too big for Origen's Bot lane to recover from.
So far, Nemesis' performance in the LEC has left a lot to desire. It is clear that he has a lot of mechanical prowess, since he has done several really good outplays, even in losing matchups to gain a lead. However, if the team always dumped him in a losing lane he wouldn't be able to perform to his level. It is clear that Nemesis is not the only problem the team has. But to see Fnatic go for a change with him leaves them optimistic for the future.
Coming back to this match, Nemesis completely destroyed Origen. Joining his team in the Bot lane onslaught, Nemesis managed to get a couple of kills. He ended up with an item lead against Nukeduck, who would otherwise would have won lane with Le Blanc. Nemesis managed to buy his Luden's Echo first. It meant a faster push of the mid lane, so he could move to make plays with his team while Nukeduck was forced to farm in lane.
And the extra pressure added up fast. Making the score 12-3 in favor of Fnatic with all outer and inner turrets of Origen destroyed. Nemesis used this gold extremely well, getting for himself a Mejai's Soulstealer and a Rabadon's Deathcap. So any Sleepy Trouble Bubble he landed was deadly. Summing all this, the pressure Nemesis managed to put on Origen was definitely decisive.
Finding themselves in that dire situation, Origen had only one option, to delay the game as long as he could. But this became difficult when Fnatic started Baron at 21 minutes. Origen threw everything into the miracle steal, and actually managed to get it with the double Smite from Urgot's Ancient Spellbook and Nunu's own Smite and Consume. Adding more than 2.5k true damage to the big purple worm. However every member of Origen died to get into the pit, so the Baron buff was completely lost.
After that teamfight, Fnatic led the score 18-3 and felt confident to siege the Inhibitor turrets even without Baron. And the gold lead crushed Origen in their last defense, giving Fnatic the victory in this one-sided match.