FunPlus Phoenix early on was one of my favorite teams in EMEA. I still remember ANGE1 playing an aggressive Brimstone on Bind and now watching him play agents like Yoru on Fracture. Despite being unable to attend Masters Reykjavík as EMEA’s #1 seed this year, I still have high hopes for what they will bring through Stage 2. FunPlus Phoenix vs. Fnatic was an anticipated matchup for me; teams I look at for their tactical depth and strong fundamentals. Another reason I was excited to watch this matchup was to see if either team would attempt utilizing Fade. On Map 2, Ascent, both teams used Fade instead of Sova.
With the introduction of Fade, I had done a lot of theory crafting and compositional analysis about her replacing Sova on Ascent. I was not surprised by teams like Fnatic or FunPlus Phoenix using her on Ascent. However, FunPlus Phoenix’s usage of her in a no-duelist composition was something I did not expect. Their composition consists of Omen, Fade, KAY/O, Chamber, and Sage. FunPlus Phoenix won against Fnatic 13-5 on Ascent to tie the series 1-1 but lost the last map in the series.