Pro Play By Play

During a tense fight between Rogue and FNC in week 5 of the LEC, both teams demonstrate some incredible mechanics to outplay each other; let's break it down.

The Play

State of the game

After taking 5 towers during an impressive early game, FNC have earned themselves a decent 2k gold advantage. Baron is spawning imminently, so both teams are vying for control around the pit. RGE have a plethora of zoning tools with Caitlyn traps, Gangplank barrels/ult, and Azir's wall, while FNC have strong engage options with Nautilus hook/ult and Gnar's ult.

Interrupting key abilities

The play begins with Trundle (Razork) and Nautilus (Hylissang) entering Rogue's jungle. They're trying to set up a pick or set up vision before the Baron spawns, but they are spotted by Poppy (Malrang) and a fed Azir (Larssen). Rogue kill the Trundle by investing their GP and Caitlyn ults:

Rogue look to press their advantage by turning onto the Nautilus, who tries to escape with his Q. However, this is interrupted by a fantastic Q from Renata Glasc (Trymbi):

Though Nautilus is forced to flash away to escape, it buys time for Corki (Humanoid) and Gnar (Wunder) to join the rest of FNC in the fight. Gnar lands a critical Q onto Azir to break his Banshee's Veil spell shield, and looks for a huge ult by jumping in with his E. Once again, FNC are denied as Poppy reacts instantly with the W to deny this engage:

This engage could have been huge for FNC, as Aphelios (Upset) was able to land a 4 man ult and could have started shredding through RGE if they were CCd by the Gnar ult. Aphelios has his blue gun equipped and wants to turn onto the clumped up members of RGE, so uses his Galeforce to move forward. Azir tries to stop this by using flash/ult, but Upset's reactions are too quick and he instantly flashes out of the Azir ult:

The great escape

After being denied his ult by the Poppy W, Gnar still wants to get off his ult before the Mega Gnar expires so flashes in to try and stun the Azir. However, he is once again thwarted as Larssen pops his Stopwatch just in time:

On the other side of the fight, Caitlyn (Comp) and Renata Glasc try to kill the dangerous Corki with the Ranata ult. Though the ult successfully CCs the Corki, Caitlyn hasn't reached her late game power spike yet and lacks the damage to blow him up. Once the Renata ult has ended, Corki is able to turn on the Caitlyn with his Galeforce and blow her up:

Corki is then able to disengage from RGE with his W. Meanwhile, Gangplank (Odoamne) has completed his teleport from the bot lane and has joined the fight. He tries to finish off the low health Nautilus, but is demolished by Aphelios while Nautilus pops the Stopwatch:

Gangplank then flashes away and retreats to the safety of his team, while Poppy tries to finish off the low health Corki. Corki manages to escape with his Flash, before Poppy makes the great escape on very low health. Malrang utilises Flash, Phase Rush, Blast Cones, and the bonus movement speed from Poppy's W to slip away from FNC. Critically, this escape means he was able to steal Baron with a Hexflash/Q just after this fight:

Summary

This was an exceptionally close fight, featuring incredible reaction speed, individual prowess, and great target selection. The reason why this fight only ended in a 1 for 1 was because of how well both teams played; it was a fight of inches, and the slightest misplay could have resulted in a completely different outcome.