Fnatic beat HKA in the elimination stages for the play-ins (best out of 5). Fnatic defeated HKA 3:0, gaining entry to the main group stage alongside Cloud 9. Fnatic showed the power of their team fighting and communications. Although there were some moments when Fnatic struggled against HKA, FNC presented a high level of team management and overturned the disadvantages to win all three games.

After the games concluded, FNC’s Support, Jeziz, was interviewed. Let’s see what he had to say about the games.

¤ The group stages for you guys were rough but this was a one sided affair. Did you guys expect that? What did you guys expect coming in today against HKA?

Personally, I think I played pretty solid in the group stage. I think the only reason why it was so rough for the team is that we have some rookies. We had some players who haven’t played on an international stage before, other than Rift Rivals. So, they were a bit shakey mentally. In the games vs HKA, they carried me and Rekkles super hard. Especially me, I think in the 3rd game it was one of the worst performances of my life. I had to start deep breathing because I thought to myself “oh man I’m playing bad I have to mentally reset”. But overall, I’m happy that we made and and happy that the rookies of our team stepped up and carried.

¤ You are back at world now and the last time you were at Worlds was in 2014. What do you expect this time round and what do you expect at Worlds this year?

I think the last time I was 18 years old. I was basically the same as Caps is right now. I didn’t have any of the staff or veterans to really help me out back then. I think I was also very fragile mentally back then as well. There was also an issue with my jungler getting banned… the whole thing was just a mess. Now I know how to handle stressful situations and lead my team both in game and outside of the game. I also feel more comfortable as a player.. pretty much everything's just better.

¤ There are going to be 2 groups you guys will be placed into. Either going to be SKT, EDG, and AHQ or Immortals, Longzhu, and Gigabyte Marines. Which group do you want to go into and not go into?

I feel like in a way both groups are fairly equal and you can never know. This is because, EDG is supposed to be very strong, but China as a region is usually very inconsistent at Worlds. You never really know if they are better than Immortals. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t really mind either group. I am just really excited to vs SKT or Longzhu. Their bot lane is really strong, super renowned players. Yeah.. I don’t really mind either group (laughs).