In this short documentary, we look back on 2018 Fnatic, the team that first made Western fans believe that a Western team could win the World Championship. Please like, comment, and subscribe if you enjoy!
@@darthunleashed it wasn't just caps. Broxah and Hyli were stagnant and too late on their rotations. Bwipo played a little too far forward without any vision or map awareness. & Dylan and Rekkless were idiots on drafts trying to get a counter botlane matchup rather than leaving the counterpicks for their solo laners and waiting till stage 2 of the drafts allowing IG to ban out rekkless's best ADC's.
Historic roster. when fnatic had true grit and just starpower to overcome the east. the hyper int playstyle from hylli and disciplined rekkles somehow making a fantastic team environment. broxah had hands for one year. good memories. theshy just built different sadge
They didnt overcome no one. Before 2018 EU teams where on the level of LPL so it wasnt unexpected to beat an LPL team and ecpetially the 3rd seed. They beat IG in groups, but a similar thing hapened the next year whit FPX and SPY. The same year G2 beat RNG too, so it wasnt just FNC who beat them. And then it comes the semis which was C9. Also Korea wasnt good that year. The reason Capa left was because that team was not on the level it was needed to win, they where actially a britle team that didnt get tested until the finals at worlds and then they collapsed.
@@combeebrian247 How is he KD. He was taken as a rookie ( even tho he had a title in Turkey ) in a top team for 2 years and then whent to another top team and he has been there for 5 years in good and bad. He also won in every team he has played for and hasn't talked shit to anyone or about anyting.
2018 Fnatic is my all time favourite team, and this captured it all neatly. I’d give anything to go back to the moments before those finals games. It was so damn exciting before it all went wrong. Then came pure pain when the hope was ripped away, but I believed in them right till the end. It always feels wrong when I watch it back, an anomaly, as if losing wasn’t supposed to happen. Still sad to this day. Thanks for the cool video covering it all.
Thank you for this video. Fnatic always gets pushed aside since they havent won since then but people just seem to forget how they paved the way. Im confindent that we will FNC at the top again at some point after all they always are close.
also mention iG won 3-0 against a G2 that came from winning against RNG which was the favorite team of the tournament after winning both splits and MSI
Riot was so terrified of RNG completing the golden road their entire pre worlds patch was aimed at nerfing RNG's playstyle. Totally screwed Uzi out of his potential world title.
Great video. FNC was a beast that year and it was not even close in Europe to anyone else. It's a bit ironic that FNC Worlds finals are not remembered but everyone remembers G2 although both teams were really stomped by the LPL.
I'd even consider IG2018 far better than fpx2019 tbh, i think the only real difference is g2 winning msi that year, thats why they are remembered more - and g2 kinda made the meta in 2019
People do remember 2018 finals lol, be it for the first lpl win at worlds (TheShy's peak year is literally a legend in LoL pro ecosystem) or the legendary stomp that happened in finals. Of course newcomers wouldn't know, but to the rest it is a famous year.
NGL people remember 2019 G2 because they beat DWG and T1, you know DWG the team that won worlds the following year with 4 of the same players and SKT who were the LCK 1st seed and had the greatest player of all time. Compare that to FNC beating EDG and C9, keep in mind this is not worlds winning EDG, this is Ray toplane haro Jungle EDG they were by far the weakest LPL team. You could make a fair case that 2019 G2 was only the 3rd best team because IG looked very good, but FNC was at best the 4th, maybe even 5th best team at worlds in 2018, they just got blessed by the bracket gods putting IG, KT and RNG all on the other side of the bracket. You could honestly make a fair argument that 2018 G2 played better than 2018 FNC because at least 2018 G2 beat RNG(the team that won both LPL splits and MSI) whereas the best team FNC beat in Bo5s was EDG. Also another decent argument is timezones, fewer westerners watch FNC live in 2018 because worlds was in Korea and therefor had much worse viewing times for western fans whereas 2019 worlds was in Europe.
@@julianarnold21 G2 was simply the kryptonite for SKT, they barely qualified to MSI play offs after a 5 - 5 score got stomped by IG in both legs, TL gave them the free title after beating IG lets be honest, G2 was so good but they were only that good against SKT
Another thing I feel that people are forgetting is how much of a rookie Caps was in 2017 but also still in 2018. He did some awesome plays, but you can also see him in many games not being the carry but rather the opposite. In hindsight I think people just summarize the 2018 and 2019 success with "Caps was in both teams", but lets be real, Caps 2018 wasn't the reason alone they made it that far. And sometimes maybe it was even despite his play that they pulled it through.
@@stefankatsarov5806 thats why they called him craps first and everyone wanted him out? dont be stupid, he wasnt the carry everyone is making him to be.
So fun to have this trip down memory lane. I actually had to go back to see the overview of the tournament. Seeing a north american team 3-0 Korea's second seed, former world champions Gen G go 1-5 in groups AND having 3/4 westerns teams in the semifinals only to be swept off the rug by IG. It is actually kinda hard to believe... Loved this. Keeping going bro
I think this Fnatic 2018 Roster was the closest we ever were in the last decade to getting a world championship title. Noone yet has come close to this roster. Its just sad that they won 2 group stage games against them, but IG leveled up throughout the tournament and eventually prepped well for Fnatic and the result was the smashing defeat.
Thank you for the video. They did what was considered impossible at the time, but since G2 did it again the following year (and won the MSI), everyone forgot about Fnatic 2018.
This Fnatic team and 2013 were my favorites. Good times. I still cry everytime I see that 1hp Nexus in 2014, which basically ended the xPeke & Cyanide era of Fnatic.
I just found this channel today but your content is so good and can definitely serve as a library of iconic LoL moments/players/rosters. I especially enjoy all of the discussions under the Mount Rushmore series. The community here is so good and reminded me of a few GOATs I forgot over the years. Keep up the good work and praise the algorithm. As a Fnatic fan since S6 it was a great nostalgia ride for me. I saw someone suggest a vid about UoL and it’s a great idea. If I could suggest something I think a vid on Kiedyś Miałem Team which later became Team Roccat could also be interesting - this is how the greatest jungler Europe has ever produced in Jankos was born and he wasn’t even supposed to play for that team. They just borrowed him for the tournament and he kinda stayed. Hit me up if you ever need more info on that topic. Greetings from Poland!
I'm glad you're enjoying the videos and thank you for the suggestion! Definitely will love to do a video on Jankos and a little more on European lol history. I will let you know!
i'd love if you made a video about UoL especially 2014-2017 i feel like that could be an entertaining video about how a "'troll" team almost won 2 splits in LEC
@@cinematicesports Maybe not as interesting, but I always found the CIS team just as entertaining, if not more so, and its path through the LCL and even the team's dominance in the Prime League is fascinating just considering the organization as a whole, especially Sheepy as a coach. Probably less of an audience for it, but it might be interesting to look into.
I loved 2018 Fnatic, if they held it together, they could have won it. IG was the the better team on the day and it showed. I think the TRUE forgotten team was Fnatic 2015. 18-0 in EU LCS Summer Split, undefeated worlds group stage, 3-0 EDG in the quarters. Only downfall of that team was Huni's arrogance leading to the 0-3 loss against Koo Tigers, had he been more humble, who knew what might have happened, tho SKT was UNSTOPPABLE that year.
I remember it so well. Worlds finals was playing the day I turned 16. Seeing the opening was so fucking hype. Sadly the games didn't live up to the hype. Would have been an amazing birthday gift to see Fnatic win worlds.
I rewatched some of the games because of this. Looking back, FNC giga lost in draft. Giving up old Liss / Camille jung was completely int, especially with the runes at the time, and they pick no melee mid that just gives prio 1-5, and can't engage at 6 cuz aftershock.
The thing is they got hardly overshadow by 2019 G2 who was a very dominant team in inter tournament, and a clear favorite, when this fnatic team was good, but also appear to reach this stage because of a lot of the big team crumbling (RNG against G2, Afreeca against C9). in a lot of peoples mind the real final of 2018 was the infamous KT-IG in quarters.
Im sorry but no. IG vs KT was literally 2 auto hits away from being clean 3-0 for IG. Same IG that lost to FNC in group stage couple days ago 2-1. IG clearly leveled up during tournament while fnc kinda stayed the same,especially ning who suddenly got hands. Afreeca was shit tier team,RNG was uzi and 4 wards. FNC beat EDG on their way to finals. Like how are we still gonna dick ride KT when entire region that year was dumpster fire.
@@janisarbidans8931 said it "two auto away" their is no point bringing this as an argument. But still kt got the win, and the following one, and the game 5 was way closer than any of the finals one. U can think its dick riding, but its a fact that KT was the closest team to beat IG in the elimination stage, with fnatic in the other hand having one of the easiest path to the finals ever, especially when u compare to the one G2 had the years following. And yes, it was one of the weakest lck ever, but this kt squad was one of the best team of the tournament and was able, unless other korean team, to play through her solos
@@jgmepgjlrmxcf2188 But FNC literally beat IG back to back couple days earlier to win nr 1 seed. They got same amount of wins as KT did against them lol how is their 2 wins against them meaningless while KT's amazing and finals worthy especially with ning playing like he had one hand in hes pants at all times. G2 had SKT as their hardest oponent in 2019 year. And against Chinese teams they folded just as fast and same would have happened in msi if not for TL cracking the code of century and beating IG. Im sorry but i just disagree with IG vs KT being the finals,especially when we all saw how good IG got over time as the tournament went on.
@@janisarbidans8931 because i do think - 1 its far hardest to win twice in a bo5 than winning twice in a group stage, one game being a tie-breaker (for obvious prep/in series mind game and draft idea) + u said it yourself IG went stronger as time goes by. Anyway , i never said fnatic wins were worthless, they were just less meaningfull. - and 2, yes i do think IG was miles ahead of everyone, but KT come as second with fnatic as a close third but i anyway can see a point in swapping them. To keep the point of my first comment, G2 wasnt a close 2nd/3rd, G2 WAS the favorites, going against a FPX wich had shown weakness in groups, and had an arguably easier bracket (because IG had lost a BO to TL earlier this year) ( and sorry, but G2 bracket of Damwon wich was one ghost away from world title and the SKT superteam WAS harder than Fnatic's edg /C9)
Bruuhh,, Theshy didn't even respect this team. He ignored the draft and insta locked fiora because he can beat this team on his own. And in game 4, Duke played instead of the shy. People also forget how hard IG stomped KT in games 2-3.
@@spacelizard5280 He left because it always ended up the same. He wanted to win so he went to G2. Which was a mistake as he himself claimed afterwards. Also he was in Fnatic since the start of his career (except the Alliance transfer? I think they were called that) so he might've been seeking new challenge too.
@@eKuely Yeah I know. I was hoping that time would be different and he'd stay with Hyli. I think they were something special together. Yeah it was Alliance, who later rebranded to Elements, in 2015. Also Rekkles hasn't just been with FNC since the start of HIS career, he has been with them since the start of THEIR career, if you include the time he wanted to play with them, and they with him but he was too young to compete after age regulation changes.
@@spacelizard5280 If you're talking about Hily, he used to play in UOL first (amazing team btw. Vizi's poppy, Kiki's tf and udyr and any other cheese picks, Febi's outplays and nashor tooth ori, they were not scared to play anything)
@@Biditchoun I was talking about Rekkles. Kikis pulling out TF Jungle out of the blue was insane though, ngl True that UoL squad was stacked. It's a shame how Febi evolved throughout the years. He was insane in his FNC times.
I never believed in 2019 that G2 could win against FPX, in large part because I watched FNC lose in the previous year's grand finals. But that year prior, that 2018 FNC team was truly something special, it was the only western team I ever truly believed could win against the titans of the east.
Honestly, 2019 G2 was worse then 2018 fnc. The only difference was jankos being slightly better then broxah in2019, at a time were both were absolute monsters.
I would personally say 2019 G2 is better than 2018 FNC. 2019 G2 was consist of the best player of every position that EU has ever produced, and they won pretty much everything other than the grand title, the talent was definitely there. But the 2019 FPX was, in my opinion, the most dominate championship team in the past recent years, they really wasn't challenged outside the semi-final against iG and some hiccups in group stage games. I really can't wait for another super team from EU like 2019 G2 to shine in the world stage.
@@nathanhosea489 bro caps sucked in 2 finals back2back, but 2018 was peak broxah, rekkles and hyli smurfing, toplane woth 2 great players. If you stop the bias fnc was far better in 2018 then g2 in 2019
caps is just insane. worlds finals, change team, going straight first place the whole season and worlds finals again. sadly no worlds championship trophy, but thats the closest you can get to one. and even won MSI 2019, too. any team + caps = insane. obviously his team mates both in fnc and g2 are insanely good too and imo dylan falco is SUCH a good coach, but still. the constant in those successes is caps.
This feels like a team and now we know that there was a lot of problems in fnatic 2018 but they still performed as a team like you can see the room is fall wity players and coaching stuff now its seems empty 1 or 2 coaches and our beloved dardo and thats it even legends in action is not the same the team culture is not the same
FNC didn't sell him. It was the end of his second year there, so he went to G2 on a free. The real mistake was creating an environment that Caps no longer thought could improve and compete.
It might be because I've been a Fnatic fan for 10+ years, but it has always bugged me that since 2019 every one talks about G2 being the only EU team to really compete with the LCK and LPL and almost win worlds. Even in 2020 Fnatic took TES to the full 5 games in the worlds quarter finals, G2 were never the only competitive team. The really sad thing for EU fans in general is that both G2 and Fnatic didn't show up and play at the level they were capable of in the 2018 and 2019 finals, if they did I believe they both could have won at the time.
2018 FNC were the strongest western team by far, it was beautiful, Rekkles in his time was for sure top5 in his prime arguably top2 adc in the world and ppl will clown him today "kda player, kekkles" like this dude was THE BEST adc in the west and its not even close, the best EU player in history and the most loved by fans, FNC is also the most succesful and influential western team. Show some respect for them even if they are not the best today.. But back then.. ♥
as the players started to talk more about the final, there are several issues on why Fnatic could not fight IG at the final. The first is obviously Ning performance. Every fans and analysts pinpoint jungle and botlane as the weakness that Fnatic can exploit from IG. But Ning played like a monster in the final, earning MVP, and gaping Broxah. The second one is mentioned by Bwipo in TL channel. Fnatic, fans, and all analysts expect IG to put carry on top and mid because TheShy and Rookie are better laner than Bwipo and Caps. But instead, they put Sion on top so that they can pick Camille for Ning in jungle. Bwipo said that Fnatic never win any scrims game against IG when they have Camille jungle. It is Ning's comfort champion.
Problem is that quarter finals was the exit point. So its not rlly comparable. Despite some good looking teams on paper 2021 was one of the worst years for EU in recent history. Sadly its only got worse ever since 😂🥲
G2 might be considered the greatest EU org considering its recent success, but don’t forget who was standing as the west’s only hope for years. It’s always been Fnatic. 2011* Worlds winner (debatable tournament) 2013 Worlds semifinalists 2015 Worlds semifinalists They had reached top 4 multiple times before any other western team could get a glympse of it (OG in 2015). They were carrying not only EU, but the whole occident, while the rest could only watch and cheer. Reaching Worlds finals in 2018 was truly a statement, the culmination of their run, which could have been historical hadn’t IG had that substantial improvement through the Bo5s. Nevertheless, Fnatic deserves some more respect on its name, we can’t forget what they’ve done for the first 8 years of the sport.
Apart from League Fnatic is bigger than G2. In Valorant they are the most dominant team in the moment too. Fnatic is in a bad time in league, but is one of the greatest orgs in the occident
@@viniciusBR23 agora q eu vi q tu eh BR kkkkkkk Mas eh isso ai, eu acompanho apenas LOL de e-sport e de vez em quando valorant (já q eh gosto da fnatic)
lol, this is a great video, but there was 1 point that I had to laugh a little at. The narration was, "Rekless finally made an impact in the botlane". So I took a look at the stats and JKL had 13/0/7 on Kaisa. Guess the narrative wasn't quite reflected by the results.
Really good video, I think it could have been slightly more interesting if it wasn't entirely focused on Fnatic but instead went over all of the different story lines that happened in that tournament. You already talked about 5/7, five game series, but the other two are arguably the most interesting at least to me, you have the god performance from Perkz to carry G2 to a victory over RNG, and Na's first modern Bo5 victory against Korea. There are also so many different interesting aspects about the champion select logistics that I love, Hjarnan's Heimerdinger being pick/ban as far as I remember, Bwipo being arguably the best victor top being a big reason for their performance as well as Licorice having a pocket pick Hecarim counter to Aatrox making that pick weaker vs C9 come to mind. As should be obvious this is by far my favorite league tournament that has happened maybe second to MSI 2019. Still loved the video and keep up the good work.
I loved 2018 FNC but realistically they could never beat that year's IG. They were dominant throughout whole year. Just couldn't win bo5 series against Uzi, who earned all the wins that year too
Are they forgotten? Feels like they are always talked about together with 2019 G2? Of course G2 has a larger spotlight, but mostly because of their playstyle and less because of the talent and hype.
FNC showed the world that EU was stronger than ever and there was a chance, G2 took the torch and ran with it, then MAD lions threw the torch on the ground and bent over for a spanking
This is the best team that EU has ever produced. Too much favouritism for G2 who did nothing better internationally. They beat a dying SKT and Team Liquid in the finals of msi 😂😂😂😂
as strong as they were, g2 2019 was just more fun to watch. the chemistry in the g2 2019 was insane. the voice comms were pure comedic gold. they literally defined the meta. perkz switching to adc and still played head to head with the best adcs. jankos. i dont need to talk about jankos. everyone knows jankos... lpl, lck, etc. everyone. and tbh caps was a bit shaky and inconsistent in fnc, but with g2 2019 he went beast mode. but still, yes fnc 2018 was still strong af. chemistry was a bit off in my opinion.
2018 Fnatic > 2019 G2 I still believe that if Caps would have stayed, Fnatic would have been even more successful than the 2019 G2. To this day I dont understand why Caps did it, he was at the best team in europe and still decided to go to G2. I mean in the end he did the right thing, he won MSI, went again to worlds Finals and won the LEC multiple times but in the perspective as a player, why would you leave the best team in europe. Him leaving was the downfall of Fnatic, we tried so hard with lots of players but it didnt work out. I will never forget this Fnatic.
In 2018 I was sure the west can catch the east, IG was faster In 2019 I really believe the west can finally beat the east, FPX was unpredictable Man, no west team can compete better in International league better than those two year
In 2018 I don't think there was any way for fnatic to win the finals, IG was just way too good. On the other hand G2 trolled hard in 2019, I personnally think that was by far the best shot the west ever had :/
No one forgot them. People are just slowly picking up, that the tournaments suck and being finalists doesnt mean 2nd best team. You can even make a point for KT and RNG being a much better team then IG this year.
Honestly, if the draw was just a little bit different as in KT got placed on the opposite side of IG, fnc wouldve probably never made this incredible run
Nah don't make me emotional man I thought we were on the right path of closing the gap but nowadays it seems like the gap will never close and has only gotten bigger
Caps didn’t deserve anything he won by how ungrateful he was. Like it’s okay trying to improve and find a better team, and i know fnc had problems, but caps wasn’t the only thing fnc had. Hyli and rekkles on their peak, broxah was a monster, bwipo was basicly the best top eu… it was a monster roster. Take caps from g2, what do you have? Jankos. That was it.
Fnatic always gets left behind especially the csgo team which was at its peak the most dominant in cs history maybe even all esports history exception of og in dota 2.
