Worlds: Longzhu makes Quarters, Fnatic makes history

At the end of the first week of World Championship, it looked like Group B was already decided.

After scoring three back-to-back victories, Longzhu Gaming was set to finish in first, and Immortals were right behind them with two wins and one loss. And while Longzhu’s run went just as predicted, Immortals were overthrown by Fnatic, marking the first time in Worlds history that a 0-3 team managed to qualify for the knockout stage. 

How did this happen? Well, it certainly wasn’t easy, as every Group B match came down to the wire.

Longzhu towered above the competition, but other than that, it was anyone’s game. 

The first Bo1 between Immortals and Gigabyte Marines started with the GPL champions bringing out a surprise top lane Urgot pick as a counter to Shen. Of course, a part of Urgot’s success came down to Flame not building Bramble Vest, but it was really Levi’s full damage Shadow Assassin Kayn that was the star of the show. With one clutch play after another, Marines’ jungler led his team to victory and made sure Immortals didn’t have an easy road to the knockout stage.

After suffering a defeat at the hands of Longzhu, Fnatic entered the third game of the day with nothing to lose. They had to upset Immortals here, or they were out of the competition. But the game was close, and it took Fnatic 36 minutes to find the deciding teamfight. 

Even then, Immortals were looking to disengage and regroup, but Cody Sun flashed into the enemy team and knocked back Caps into Xmithie, effectively dooming his team. Was this a big play that went horribly wrong? Or was it a callback to Rekkles’s Twitch throw? 

Either way, with this win it became clear: Fnatic could make it.