Cover-Credits:
After helping Fnatic out during the PGL Arlington Major by lending its players, TSM are looking to collect its debt on Fnatic as they faced each other in the final series of Day Two of the group stages at ESL One Malaysia 2022. The series ended up with a draw, as both TSM and Fnatic shared a win each in the best of twos. Fnatic will look to grab an upper bracket slot tomorrow as they will face Nigma Galaxy as their final opponent in the group stage.
Fnatic vs TSM: Match recap
One of the final games of Day Two at the ESL One Genting Group Stage saw Fnatic play against TSM. Fnatic were nicknamed “FNA-TSM” by the community during the Arlington Major as TSM lended three of its players to Fnatic to play in the Major. Going into the matchup, it seems that TSM had the upper hand as they are playing in full strength and Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek’s form is continuing to impress the community at large.
Recap
Fnatic vs TSM - Game One
TSM went with a stable lineup which saw Enzo "Timado" O'Connor on the Phantom Assassin (PA) and Jonathan "Bryle" Guia on the Queen of Pain (QOP) while Fnatic went its signature Keeper of The Light (KOTL) for Armel "Armel" Tabios and a hard support Brewmaster for Jaunuel "Jaunuel" Arcilla. While the early game was pretty even for both teams, TSM were looking like the better team going into the latter stages of the game. After the 10th minute mark, everything started to go wrong for Fnatic as they overcommitted on the top lane, which ended up causing three of Fnatic’s heroes to die in vain as TSM’s net worth advantage increases.
To make things worse, TSM’s teamfight potential was so powerful that Fnatic’s hero dealt almost no damage to TSM’s heroes as the heal from Kim "DuBu" Doo-young’s Warlock kept them alive. Fnatic called the game at the 33rd minute mark as TSM just steamrolled over Fnatic’s questionable draft.
Fnatic vs TSM - Game Two
Game Two saw a switch up in both team’s draft as TSM drafted a triple lineup of Medusa for Timado, Snapfire for Bryle and Mars for SabeRLight- while Fnatic drafted a support duo of Jaunuel’s Enchantress and Djardel "DJ" Mampusti on the Tiny with an offlane Visage to provide additional damage and push potential.
During the early game phase, it was a back and forth phase as Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong’s Visage dominated Timado on the bottom lane while SabeRLight-’s Mars was heavily focused on disrupting Jinn "Palos" Lamatao ‘s farm on the Monkey King. However, after the 15th minute mark Fnatic started to increase its tempo as they forced a couple of teamfights and ended up increasing their net worth advantage after converting the kills into objectives as Fnatic claims Roshan.
Keeping up with its momentum, Fnatic started to slowly chip away at TSM as they managed to claim more team fights over TSM as Armel’s Storm Spirit dived into the backline, picking off certain heroes while DJ’s Tiny tosses TSM heroes into his teammates, allowing them to finish TSM heroes off. TSM tried to come back into the game, buying time for the Medusa to be fully ready but Fnatic’s damage output was too much for TSM as they called the game after 44 minutes.
Fnatic will look to try and grab an upper bracket slot tomorrow for the Playoffs stage, as they will face Nigma Galaxy for the slot. TSM on the other hand, will look to keep its tournament hopes alive as they face Liquid tomorrow.
