The European players had plenty of ups and downs in Group B.

The LoL Mid-Season Invitational 2024 approaches the Brackets Stage, and we already know four teams that qualified for the Playoffs through the starting Play-In Stage. Fnatic is one of them. The team was pretty close to winning the Upper Brackets Final, but eventually, the players somewhat struggled even in their decisive game of the lower brackets. Ironically, it felt like they created problems for themselves.

Fnatic in the Play-In Stage of the MSI 2024

The team had three matches in this part of the LoL esports tournament.

Upper Brackets Semi-Final

Fnatic had a confident victory in the Semi-Final vs GAM Esports from Vietnam. The match wasn’t phenomenally quick or anything — it wasn’t the destruction of FlyQuest by T1. Fnatic played methodically, avoided mistakes, and gained a strong advantage. The plan worked effectively in two games of that match.

Upper Brackets Final

The Upper Brackets Final started with a big down for Fnatic. They simply could not do anything with the power of Top Esports from China. Game 2 was totally different — we could see why experts call Fnatic a team of momentum. The European team got early kills and earned some gold. Closer to the end, Fnatic looked mighty and undefeatable. They couldn’t repeat that in game 3, and Top Esports made it to the MSI 2024 Main Stage through the upper brackets.

Lower Brackets Final: Fnatic MSI 2024

Fnatic played GAM Esports once again in the Lower Brackets Final. Still, the opponent had a different aura and reputation — after their match against LOUD. In the Lower Brackets Semi, the Vietnamese players managed to recover from a disastrous game 1 and were super dominant in the rest of the match. Could they do that again vs Fnatic?

The problem with LOUD was that the Brazilian players took unnecessary risks. They had a good plan of being thorough in growing strength and getting objectives. But they rushed to obtain victory, lost in many team fights, and couldn’t be competitive in the second part of games 2 and 3.

Fnatic at MSI 2024 learned from the others’ mistakes. Game 1 vs GAM was long, slow in the mid-stage, and successful for Fnatic. Game 2 was a moment when Fnatic started repeating LOUD’s steps. They were aggressive in situations when it would be better to step back and wait. GAM Esports delivered amazing team fights again, but Fnatic took their aggressive style under control, returned to the methodical (still very offensive) play, and won the match.

Thanks to this victory, both LEC (EMEA) teams will play at the Bracket Stage of the LoL Mid-Season Invitational.

Another team that made it through the Lower brackets is PSG Talon. The Hong Kong players (the Pacific region) eliminated the NA team FlyQuest in Group A.The LoL MSI 2024 Main Stage starts on May 7. Fnatic will play their first game against Gen.G Esports from Korea. It will be quite a challenge, considering the power of this League of Legends region. Stay tuned to esports.gg for everything interesting and important from the Mid-Season Invitational 2024!