Fnatic Puts on a Gritty Display Against OG in PGL Arlington Major Opener

The Dota 2 personalities haven't rated Fnatic positively heading into the PGL Arlington Major with three stand-ins, however, the team certainly showed it still has the might as it put forth a gritty 1-1 tie against OG in its first series of the group stage. In the first game, Fnatic dominated OG by keeping its aggression up to win in a comprehensive manner. Though Fnatic assembled a competitive draft, it could not hold off the pressure of OG to lose the second game. While it fielded three stand-ins, the Southeast Asian (SEA) squad displayed decent cohesion in its first series.

Fnatic vs OG: Match recap and highlights

Recap

In game 1, Fnatic went for a meta draft with a mid Puck and a carry Razor, whereas OG went for a considerably slower roster. Early on, OG lacked damage, and all three of its cores required some farming and key item timing, like as BKB, to be able to combat the enemies front on. Fnatic took advantage of this opponent's vulnerability early on to establish a sizable lead. Both Bryle and Timado were able to get massive on their heroes, and when OG found the desired items, it managed a handful of kills but not enough to create a typical OG comeback and lost in 33 minutes.

In Game 2, OG chose Monkey King for ATF, a hero he hasn't played much in official games. However, even against a carry Razor, he demonstrated his amazing laning abilities and exploited part of his allies’ mobility to drastically shut off Timado. During the early stages, the networth lead was basically equal because to Fnatic's mid Alchemist. Both teams were finding kills until OG took the lead in an instant. OG was extremely quick on the map, going from one hero kill to the next, causing Fnatic to lose control. The game, which had no networth advantage after 23 minutes, was won in 32 minutes by OG, who then had a 20k edge.

Highlights

Here are some highlights of the series.

Even though it was still the first series of PGL Arlington Major, Fnatic looked very competitive with three TSM stand-ins. There hasn't been a change in lanes since the offlane is still occupied by Djardel "DJ" Mampusti and Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong while the other two lanes are being played by the three stand-ins in their usual manner.

As clueless as it looked in the first game, OG made up for it in the second game with some characteristic gameplay. Despite playing with Sébastien "Ceb" Debs as its position five stand-in, we all know how far this team can go if they find their rhythm.

It was the first Bo2 series of the tournament, however things can change rapidly for either team in a tournament of such scope and which involves so many games. The next Bo2 series for Fnatic will take place against Outsiders later today, while OG takes on PSG.LGD on 5th August.