Fnatic asserted its dominance over yet another top team in the European League of Legends Championship Series, taking a methodical 2-0 sweep over Splyce on Thursday to close out Week 5, Day 1 in Berlin.
Despite drafting a high-damage composition featuring Xayah and Rakan in the bot lane, as well as Cassiopeia in the mid lane, Splyce (4-2, 8-6 match record) was never able to get its composition off the ground. Splyce ran into a buzzsaw early in the game when Fnatic jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen's Elise jumped out the gate with three kills along with two towers for an early 2,000-gold lead. Splyce tried time and again to get back into this game, but Fnatic (6-1, 13-3 match record) simply kept securing picks in every lane to methodically chip away at Splyce's resolve. After picking up the first Baron, Fnatic had grown its lead to over 6,000 and all but sealed Splyce's fate. With an Elder Dragon at 36 minutes, paired with the incredible 30,400 damage done to champions from mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's Corki, Fnatic took one last clean ace in Splyce's base to take Game 1 in 37 minutes.
In a drawn-out bout that amounted to a tense chess match, Fnatic bided its time before finally putting Splyce away for good. Fnatic jungler Broxah, on Elise once again, picked up another first blood that it used to also secure the first tower in the bot lane. Both teams resigned to simply farming until setting up around the Baron in the late game. While Splyce took a lead around 30 minutes with a 2-for-1 teamfight win and a couple towers, but the lead was short-lived. Fnatic grabbed the lead back after a pick to open up a 34-minute Baron that allowed it to start pushing into Splyce's base. After taking a second Baron a few minutes later, Fnatic then strong-armed its way into the dragon pit to steal the Elder Dragon from Splyce, setting up one last teamfight win to fully push into Splyce's base for the 45-minute win.
Splyce will be back in action next Friday at 11 a.m. ET against G2 Esports, while Fnatic will hope to keep its momentum against Team Vitality next Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.