After a stellar performance at the Mid-Season Invitational, Rasmus “Caps” Winther quickly became the highlight of Fnatic’s roster, as the tournament allowed him to realize his full potential and bring Fnatic just one series away from the MSI Grand Finals.

And now, as the team moves forward into the second half of the season, it only made sense for the organization to wholeheartedly trust Caps in today’s opening game. However, Fnatic ended up putting all of their faith in the mid lane, and practically nowhere else. By the time champion select had ended, Fnatic’s roster consisted of one tank, three supports, and Caps, who played Kai’Sa.

The obvious plan with Fnatic’s team composition was to bolster Caps’ carrying potential and ride him to victory, but it didn’t take long for the team to realize that perhaps picking a team comp with one true damage dealer wasn’t the best idea. By the 20 minute mark, Fnatic were down by 10,000 gold, and only 4 minutes later, Misfits had secured the Baron and Caps’ scoreline sat at a lowly 1/3/1. Not even 3 minutes after that, the game was over.

But why did Fnatic’s masterplan go south so quickly? For starters, the root of their problems began in the bottom lane, where Steven “Hans Sama” Liv’s Draven completely shut down any hopes Fnatic might have had. As it turns out, Fnatic’s bottom lane of Janna and Rakan couldn’t stand a chance when faced against Draven and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle’s Morgana, as the Misfits duo lane combined for a perfect KDA of 8-0-19 when all was said and done.

Perhaps placing the best AD Carry in European history on Janna was not the best idea. Martin “Rekkles” Larsson finished the game with a scoreline of 0-0-2, as his Janna was effectively invisible throughout the course of the entire game. Him and Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov were outpressured, outplayed, and frankly outclassed on Friday by Hans Sama and Mikyx, as their tower in the bottom lane only lasted for a little under 11 minutes, while Hans Sama was a full item and then some ahead of Rekkles.

Additionally, Caps took Smite this game, while Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen’s Taric took exhaust, just to make Fnatic’s strategy even more bizarre.

And although Caps proved that he was one of the world’s strongest midlaners at MSI, it’s obvious that a player can only be as strong as the team that surrounds him. As soon as Caps had died in any teamfight, it felt like there was no coming back for Fnatic. The team was effectively done for, as a 1-1 trade felt like a clean ace.

After today’s game, Misfits improved to 3-0 vs. Fnatic this season, and won’t face off against the European champs until July 21 during the 5th week of EU LCS play. As for Fnatic, they’ll square off against FC Schalke 04 tomorrow night, where maybe we’ll see the team take a different approach.

Photo Credit: Riot Games, Lolesports, League of Legends