WBG Crisp claims Fnatic lost Worlds 2023 the moment they picked Alistar
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesFrom Trymbi’s reaction after locking in Alistar to the way the game ultimately ended, Fnatic’s drafting in bot lane has resulted in the team getting a lot of flak. We’ve now learned that Alistar was Trymbi’s choice, and that Crisp knew the game was over the moment it got locked in.
Though some teams can skill diff their way through a draft gap, draft is ultimately a huge part of winning games. Even the best teams in the world can fall victim to a poor pick/ban phase.
This is part of why blue side is so strong at Worlds 2023, as LNG’s Hang told us in an interview, and taking advantage of both the blue side first pick and the R5 counterpick is essential to winning a draft.
Weibo Gaming had the rare case of a game feeling like it was won off of an R5 counterpick, and Liu ‘Crisp’ Qing-Song himself thought so in a post game interview.
WBG Crisp claims they won the moment Fnatic locked Alistar
It’s important to note that, when it comes to putting together a strong front-to-back team composition in LoL, that having a frontliner is essential. Though there are 1-3-1 and poke compositions that can work well without having someone to engage and start fights, things tend to be made much easier with an initiator.
Currently, support is commonly the role that fulfills the team’s need for hard engage. Though there are other roles that can pick teamfight tanks, supports like Alistar can give the team a ton of value.
However, these engage supports often lack poke and strength in lane, creating an opportunity for the enemy to overwhelm them. Crisp saw this opportunity in Game 3 of their set vs Fnatic, and he took it.
The Chinese broadcast’s post game interview had Crisp claiming that his Lux pick won them the game. Though Fnatic may have had plans for engaging with Alistar late game, their lane being almost unplayable due to the Alistar pick has garnered Fnatic a lot of flak from fans.
Speculation ran wild in relation to Trymbi’s facial expressions in draft and whether or not he willingly locked in Alistar. Some thought it may be the case that coaches told him to pick it up rather than him picking it by his own choice.
Considering Fnatic already had plenty of frontline and he hovered two champions that could better deal with a Cait/Lux lane, it was hard to say how things went down in the pick/ban phase.
Fortunately Nightshare, Fnatic’s coach, shed some light on how Game 3’s draft went and why they wanted to go for Alistar.
“We knew Cait/Lux was coming, and we were deciding if we pick something that’s good into it or if we pick a different support. Ultimately, Trymbi chose Alistar, so we went Alistar. I think the pick was… not the best, but if we were playing a bit better against the Cait/Lux, we were still very much in the game.”
Nightshare went on to explain the Cait/Lux surprised them since Crisp hadn’t play it in scrims, and he revealed that Fnatic chose not to ban either part of the Cait/Lux combo.