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    When Fnatic was placed in a Worlds 2021 group with teams like MSI champions Royal Never Give Up and PCS champions PSG Talon, they knew they were in for a tough struggle weeks ago. Fnatic, however, have dug themselves into an unusually deep winless hole halfway through the group round of this year's League of Legends World Championship, making an uphill climb near-impossible.

    WHAT A GAME@PSG_TALON TAKE DOWN @FNATIC! #Worlds2021 pic.twitter.com/EUOJgIMqkl

    The LEC squad finished their first round-robin of the Worlds group stage with another loss today, this time to PSG Talon. Fnatic led throughout the first 46 minutes of today's back-and-forth match. The tide of the game shifted back in favor of the PCS champions as the other shoe fell during a crucial late-game Baron sneak for PSG.

    Fnatic's prospects of advancing to the tournament's knockout phase are little to none and at best, they may end with a 0.500 record in the group stage. Only one of the past ten teams with a 3-3 record in the Worlds group stage proceeded to the tournament's bracket stage.

    This isn't the first time Fnatic has gone winless in the Worlds group stage's initial round robin. Fnatic started their run in the main event of Worlds with a 0-3 record in 2017, but finally proceeded to the elimination round via tiebreakers with a 2-4 group stage record.

    Fnatic's hopes at Worlds this season have been significantly hampered by a last-minute squad change. Due to a personal problem, Fnatic's starting AD carry, Upset, was forced to start a somewhat inexperienced replacement in Bean just hours before the tournament started. Bean has never played a professional game at the LEC level before Worlds.

    Fnatic will have three days to rest and rethink their approach before the second round of the tournament. Teams from Group C will play their last three matches on the same day, October 17th, as is customary at the World Championships, meaning Fnatic will almost certainly need to win all three games of their tripleheader to advance to the knockout stage.