Royal Never Give Up vs Fnatic: MSI Semifinals Predictions

Posted on May 17, 2018

The 2018 MSI Semifinals are right around the corner, and they kick off with a Bo5 series between Royal Never Give Up and Fnatic. Can Europeans overcome this historically bad matchup? Or will the LPL champions trample Fnatic on their home soil?

Our predictions account for a variety of factors, including recent showings, head-to-head records, player form, and more. Even so, international events tend to have a fair degree of variance, so keep that in mind if you want to partake in any betting action.

Royal Never Give Up vs Fnatic Overview

Royal Never Give Up stunned the MSI crowd with their spectacular teamfighting. They’re not a perfect team by any means, and they do have holes in their early game and vision control. However, the meta is in a perfect spot for them, and as long as their ace—Uzi—is performing, RNG can seamlessly come back from massive gold of deficits.

Fnatic are a great example of a hit-or-miss team. They display occasional flashes of brilliance, especially when they’re playing around their powerhouse mid laner. But they also opt-in for bizarre late game drafts only to give up a ton of objectives and lose game-changing teamfights. Their macro is a bit stronger than that of RNG’s, but they don’t have the consistency to press this advantage.

Royal Never Give Up vs Fnatic Matchups

The top lane is evenly matched. RNG LetMe is a measured top laner that spends most of his time on tank duty. His team doesn’t give him a ton of resources, so he mainly shows up for teamfights and skirmishes. Bwipo is a bit more explosive in the laning phase, and Fnatic are definitely willing to play around him. He’s still a rookie, though, so he can easily throw his lead in the later stages of the game.

Bard-MSI-2018

It’s hard to get a read on the jungle matchup. RNG Mlxg tends to be all over the place with his level of play, and Karsa doesn’t seem to have much synergy with his teammates. FNC Broxah is very solid in comparison. He knows where he has to be on the map, and he has the perfect mixture of experience and mechanical prowess to come in clutch for his team.

The mid lane largely favors Fnatic. Granted, RNG Xiaohu isn’t a bad player, and he does his job in the laning phase. However, he will struggle to stand up to the constant pressure from FNC Caps. And if we look at the later stages of the game, Fnatic’s mid laner always seems to find game-changing plays.

The bot lane will decide this MSI Semifinal. RNG Uzi is a monstrous marksman that towers above the competition, and his support Ming does everything in his power to set up his AD carry for success. Meanwhile, Fnatic have a very shaky duo. Rekkles suffers from champion pool issues, and he gives up a lot of ground in teamfights as a result. As for Hylissang, he’s far too aggressive with his pathing and playmaking, which often leads to him giving away free kills.

Royal Never Give Up vs Fnatic: Conclusion

The bot lane difference is strong in this one. Even if Caps plays the best series of his life, it’s hard to imagine Fnatic shutting down Uzi for the entirety of this Bo5. So, unless Rekkles steps up, Royal Never Give Up will win the series with a 3-1 score.

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Kieran L.

Kieran is a gaming & esports betting enthusiast, and one of our top contributors based in Australia. He mainly follows the LoL esports scene, focusing on North America, LEC and LCK. Follow Kieran's updates, exclusive stories and bookmaker reviews.

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