Game 3: Fnatic v UoL
UoL have the bruiser duo of Irelia and Udyr, with Syndra and Sivir as their carries. Fnatic have brought a bunch of tanks and Ahri/Lucian to kite the bruisers around with.
The early game is all about top lane, as with no lane swaps, and Ignite/TP on Hecarim, there's a ton of jungle pressure applied. Huni reads the first gank thanks to his early ward, predicting Kikis would gank him before going to his blue. Reignover then shows up and gets some good damage down on Viziscasci. Next time he secures first blood for himself, before they're able to tower dive 2v2 when Kikis tries to turn the tables and net a double kill for Huni's Hecarim. He comes back to lane and kills Viziscasci solo with his large advantage, meaning he gets a 10 minute Frozen Heart. Viziscasci goes to bot lane to farm and immediately gets killed again.
UoL pull a clever rotation, moving Hylissang and Vardags to the top lane, which catches Fnatic completely off guard and gets them two kills. Ahri, who's been pushing the very weak Irelia in to her inner tower in the bot lane, roams behind UoL's mid tower and they dive PoE and Hylissang for a double kill. At this point UoL realise that the laning phase is completely lost, and they go for guerilla warfare.
This catches Fnatic by surprise, and they punish an overcommitment to a bot lane collapse by Fnatic with a charge down mid lane for two towers, leaving Kikis to his fate afterward. They are somehow only down 1k gold and a tower up at 17 minutes. At 18 minutes a chaotic teamfight breaks out as UoL try to rotate to defend their top inner tower, and UoL somehow win it 2-4, Kikis coming in for a clutch stun at under 30HP and living thanks to his shield. I think Steelback may have went far too hard.
Fnatic reassert their control by grouping up and catching PowerOfEvil before killing Hylissang and Kikis under their mid inner tower as they destroy it. Despite the chaos and the noise in the stadium they keep their heads and focus on controlling objectives, pulling out to a 3-0 dragon lead before baiting baron and forcing a favourable fight with Hecarim's Homeguard/TP. They don't quite get it, but they get to 22 kills in 23 minutes.
UoL manage to make the game chaotic again, somehow dragging out a teamfight that started with their AD carry dying instantly to Febiven's Ahri till Udyr and Irelia take down Fnatic's carries and flee with bleeding red HP bars (26 minutes). Then they sneak in to Fnatic's south jungle and pick off Yellowstar, before 5-man diving Steelback. They drive in to Fnatic's base before retreating, while Fnatic book it for baron. Eventually they get it, killing most of UoL as they tried to stop them. This lets them get the first inhib of the game. Then they leave Steelback to push bot lane when UoL try to push down Fnatic's top lane.
UoL threw every sucker punch and guerilla tactic they could think of at Fnatic, and they got purchase more often than not, but overcoming such a disastrous lane phase proved to be impossible. Fnatic kept their heads, were prepared to force fights when they had the opportunity and remembered, after briefly forgetting, to play the objectives. What a game.
0.5 - Laning phase
0.5 - Objective control/preparation/vision