Team Liquid pave their way towards victory.
The first elimination match in the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational was guaranteed to break the hearts of Western LoL fans. LoL MSI 2024 lower bracket was kicked off by the Fnatic vs Team Liquid match.
Fnatic was sent to the lower bracket after their 3-0 loss to Gen.G Esports. Team Liquid had a similar story, losing to Top Esports with a sweep.
LoL MSI 2024 Fnatic vs Team Liquid result: FNC 1-3 TL
Fnatic Role Team Liquid | Óscar "Oscarinin" Muñoz Jiménez Top Jeong "Impact" Eon-young | Iván "Razork" Martín Díaz Jungle Eom "UmTi" Seong-hyeon | Marek "Humanoid" Brázda Mid Eain "APA" Stearns | Oh "Noah" Hyeon-taek Bot Sean "Yeon" Sung | Yoon "Jun" Se-jun Support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in |
Team Liquid prevailed 3-1, causing the elimination of Fnatic. This means one less representative for the EMEA region. This also marks Fnatic's first loss in a best-of series against a North American team.
The only remaining LEC representative, G2 Esports, is also in the lower bracket with a do-or-die against PSG Talon from the PCS.
The match opened with a dominant win by Team Liquid. The lanes looked better, and Impact's K'Sante had a lot of... impact. It was a big W for the LCS representatives all across the map. Apart from a slight fiasco in the top lane, the whole game by TL felt cohesive.
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To the surprise of many, Fnatic allowed TL to acquire K'Sante once more. This time, FNC chose to counter it with Poppy. The early- to mid-game of their second face-off was close in kills and resources, but Fnatic had a big lead in map control. Eventually, Fnatic evened out the series thanks to the Baron Nashor buff.
Game 3 still had a frustrating lack of K'Sante bans or takeaways from Fnatic. They return to the Zac to face Impact's K'Sante, just as in game 1. Team Liquid began this game with fast-paced plays early into the laning phase. Most of these turned out to be successful and resulted in a substantial lead for them.
Fnatic punished some missteps from Team Liquid in this game, but APA's Aurelion Sol kept on stacking and became unbearable for FNC by the end. This placed TL in match point, and FNC at the brink of elimination.
Fnatic finally took away the K'Sante for themselves in game 4, which TL answered with Ornn. Big fights occur all over the map, with Razork and Yeon being the biggest winners from each team.
While there were glimpses of hope for Fnatic, Yeon's Lucian (powered up by CoreJJ's Nami) ultimately became their ticket to surviving elimination in LoL MSI 2024. Team Liquid closed out the series, 3-1.
Team Liquid will face the loser of T1 vs Bilibili Gaming. On the other hand, Fnatic bow out of LoL MSI 2024.