Fnatic vs KT Bullets - Who will win and why?

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

IEM Championship has this weekend proven to be some of the the most hyped games League of Legends has experienced since the World Championships. For the past week, Reddit has been painted with threads related to the tournament, which are filled with comments of fans stating which players they are most excited to see play at the event, which teams they expect to make it to the finals and the usual regional trash talk. Two of our writers sat down, took each side of the finals and made predictions as well as including a statistical breakdown of the two finalist teams and their featured head to head matchup in the jungle.

KT Rolster Bullets will win - Obscurica

KT Rolster Bullets are the uncrowned kings of South Korea. Though commonly considered one of Korea's top two teams over the course of the last year, an OGN Champions title was denied to them for four consecutive splits – three times in a row by current World Championship team SKT1 K. But with the Korean eSports scene so famously dominant, not having a tournament title at home (yet) hardly means that the Bullets are anything short of a world-caliber team.

Sure, they visibly had troubles when playing back home in the LoL Masters circuit. Losing jungler KaKAO to sister team KT Arrows was devastating to their team synergy, and it took a while for InSec to get back into gear. It had, after all, been quite a long time since his last stint in the role.

But none of their discomfort was apparent at Katowice thus far. The weeks they spent in radio blackout were clearly spent relentlessly refining their shotcalling and teamwork. In a tournament full of surprises and upsets, the Bullets stand proud and undefeated by the hands of fellow Asian and Western competitors – in almost every case, it hasn't even been close!

It bears reminding that this was the team that took SKT K to the full extent of a best-of-five set. Mid laner Ryu might not have Faker's fame and seeming invincibility, but the second-best mid laner in Korea is still one of the very foremost experts of his role. Though criticized for his relatively weak usage of activated items (a problem apparent as well against Faker), his roaming impact and timing is the mainspring behind the Bullets' devastating rotations.

In fact, all of the laners on the Bullets are high-tier, performing consistently all weekend. Even newcomer Leopard hasn't shown anything like sOAZ's instabilities (going 50 CS under would be rightfully unthinkable), and the combo of Score and Mafa remain as untouchable in IEM as they were back home in South Korea. But as high-tier as they all are, they're nonetheless overshadowed.

What will guarantee KT Bullets' victory at IEM Katowice: nothing else than InSec in the jungle. He was once the undisputed king of the jungle in Korea – a man with a Lee Sin so devastating, so flashy, even Diamond was learning from his footsteps. Multiple seasons as a top laner's temporarily rusted his capabilities in the role, but he is quickly gaining grounds again. With every game, with every gank, he remembers what it was like to be a feral beast within the fogs of war.

KT Bullets will take the series 3-1.

- James 'Obscurica' Chen

Fnatic will take it all -Timothy Lee

Fnatic plays well as the underdog. They're underappreciated and overlooked. Even entering the IEM, Fnatic was an afterthought to powerhouse teams, KT Rolster Bullets (KTB), Gambit Gaming, and even Cloud 9 (C9). Yet, it is the same Fnatic that has a knack for being the last European hope (re: Season 3 World Championships). Once again, Fnatic looks up at their opponents, KT Rolster Bullets, in the grand finals with something to prove.

If there is one thing that will plague Fnatic's chances, it is inconsistency. From the start of IEM, in the first round against Invictus Gaming (IG), Fnatic needed to turtle to make up for poor rotations and early game. Despite great team fights and engagements, IG brought through the defense and sent Fnatic to the loser's bracket.

From there, Katowice would be all Fnatic. Despite up-and-down results entering IEM (7-game loss streak in EU LCS), the resilience in this veteran team would show and show again. A lengthy matchup against Millenium showed the poise and coordination in late game. An aggressive victory over IG in the rematch demonstrated the determination and adaptation, and a three-game set win over C9 showcased the execution. This is a team firing on every cylinder.

Their opponent, KTB, is world-class. In fact, they're arguably the second-best team in Korea -- the region where the best teams play. To underestimate the power of mid laner, Ryu or jungler, InSec is a mistake. To counter the lane prowess and rotations of KTB's lineup, Fnatic must rely on its execution in team fights and their defensive and calculated pushes. What KTB excels in: rotations, aggressions, laning, Fnatic must counter with their own style of turtle LoL. It will be up to xPeke and Cyanide to start the "snowball" train going and catch KTB off-guard.

What Fnatic does have in their favor is momentum and experience. Three straight victories over great opponents, including a rematch with a different style in each set. There is no other team in the IEM that plays better with momentum and "snowball" tactics than Fnatic. This underdog shouldn't be overlooked by name-value on the other side.

Fnatic wins, 3-2.

- Timothy Lee

Infographic by the onGamers Stats Team:

Lead by @Spellsylol Design by @SrcsmApprciated

Stats Team: @PelkaSupaFresh, @Whedgehead, @Traepoint, @jakeFLAC, and Kathix

Image Credit: ESL