Last year, Fnatic had an amazing run. They were the best in the EU LCS (now LEC) and were considered the heavy favorites in the 2018 edition of the Worlds. They were undeniably one of the best rosters in League of Legends. The roster of Soaz, Bwipo, Broxah, Caps, Rekkles and Hylissang.

They played phenomenally till the end of the 2018 edition of Worlds, even in the finals. A huge part of their success were 2 players, Rekkles and Caps. They were at the center of Fnatic’s success (one of them literally). Both of them made a team which supplemented Fnatic’s playstyle.

Lately, the scene has changed a lot. Fnatic is currently playing in LEC. People expected Fnatic to return to their dominant state. What happened next is completely inexplicable. They lost 4 games straight and broke the streak by beating the only team performing worse than them. This has been one of their worst seasons yet.

People who see the matches now will be confused about what happened to the famous Fnatic, but those of who keep in check with esports news (or read my blog) realize that Fnatic is missing one of its integral parts, Caps the brilliant mid laner. He recently moved to G2 esports. Caps is helping G2 climb in the ranks of the LEC this year.

This shift meant for Fnatic to find a new mid laner. They ended their search on Nemesis, former mid laner for Mad Lions. He may be a good laner, but I believe he is being capped (pun intended) or he is getting supported too much.

Nemesis played Azir most of the time. It is his preferred champion and one he is probably best at. If you see his picks during the LEC, it is mostly Galio. Galio is a good champion for team fights. He is not exactly the best at laning, unlike Azir. Azir is a good mage with a high skill cap. Galio works when you make it to the end game. Unfortunately, Fnatic has never made it to the end game, at least not properly. They were losing lanes, especially the mid lane within a span of 15 minutes. Nemesis never made it to the endgame.

He is playing defensively as opposed to his aggressive playstyle inspired by his favorite pick, Azir. Fnatic is handicapping him as a player and preventing him from playing at his position. It’s like having striker play as the goalkeeper in soccer. What Fnatic need to do is to let him play how he plays. They might fetch better results.

What I think is that Fnatic needs to believe in Nemesis and let him play the way he plays, like an aggressive player. He may not be Caps today, and never will be with the restrictions Fnatic has imposed on him.