The 2021 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2021 Summer Playoffs continues with a match between Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves, who will clash in the second round of the upper bracket. It will mark their sixth meeting of the year, three of which ended in favour of EG.
2021 LCS Championship – Round 2 – Evil Geniuses vs 100 Thieves
When: Saturday, August 14 at 14:00 PDT
Game: Best-of Five (Bo5)
Evil Geniuses won against Digitas in their 2021 LCS Championship opener and will now look to claim another scalp against 100 Thieves. The two teams have been going back and forth throughout the entire season, and now they will finally settle the score and give us the answer of which of the two is truly LCS’s best-performing team.
100 Thieves On The Decline, Evil Geniuses On The Rise
100 Thieves enter this match as betting favourites (1.877 at Pinnacle) but looking at their performance metrics, it’s very hard to make a case for them as a better. And the eye test would further confirm that.
100 Thieves were excellent throughout the season, but they noticeably declined in the latter stages of the regular season, which could be a problem. You could argue that they put their foot off the gas after securing a spot in the playoffs, but that is a terrible way to look at it.
As talked about last time out, Evil Geniuses have been by far the best performing team in the league. They might have finished the season in third with a 28-17 record (18-9 in summer), but they have been head and shoulders above everyone else during the summer split.
| Team/Stat | GD@10 | GD@15 | GD@20 |
| Evil Geniuses | +928 | +1800 | +1743 |
| 100 Thieves | -139 | +400 | +590 |
And let’s remind ourselves that Evil Geniuses not only produced some of the highest performance metrics in the league but across all four major regions. Much of that is due to their ability to accumulate gold leads by playing around the map.
Evil Geniuses have transformed from a volatile team to a squad that has its fundamentals down and knows how to get ahead without risking too much. They will have some weird plays at times and their approach might leave you scratching your head, but they get it done, and that’s what matters.
| Team/Stat | EGR | MLR |
| Evil Geniuses | 63.3 | 3.4 |
| 100 Thieves | 60.1 | 6.6 |
Comparing Evil Geniuses to 100 Thieves – EG will look to gain leads and put themselves in advantageous situations, whereas 100 Thieves will opt for more risky plays to shut down their opponents. Both styles work and should produce an exciting affair; however, there’s more to this match than just the team’s style.
Different Styles
Generally, you should prefer 100 Thieves’ style of play, which is essentially shutting down their opponents instead of getting yourself ahead. For 100 Thieves, it’s not so much about them winning, but more about not allowing opponents to win – If your opponent is unable to gain leads, he won’t win – it’s that simple.
Evil Geniuses are the complete opposite – they don’t care what their opponents do and instead focus on gaining leads of their own. In theory, 100 Thieves should be better equipped to deal with EG’s style than vice-versa; however, that is only under the assumption that both teams are equally as good in their style.
This is not the case here. Evil Geniuses are exceptional with what they do, and their ability to play side lanes better than any other team in the league is a big reason why they have been so successful this season. But EG are more than just that.
If need be, Evil Geniuses can play other styles, which brings me to EG’s second strength – versatility and flexibility. No other team has shown so many different styles of play than EG while staying true to their main goal of accumulating leads.
EG can be as flexible as they are largely thanks to their deep champions pool, which makes it a nightmare trying to draft against them. Evil Geniuses have introduced something completely new to the LCS and are quite an outlier, and a team you simply don’t know how to prepare for.
100 Thieves will have an extra week to prepare themselves for this match, and they had the luxury of watching Evil Geniuses play against Dignitas. That’s an obvious advantage; now the ball is in 100T’s court to come up with a plan on how to shut down EG.
Evil Geniuses Underrated
All things considered, 100 Thieves shouldn’t be priced as the favourites. Although I firmly believe that 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses are two of the strongest teams in the league, you could argue that EG should be slight favourites.
This could turn out to be a very close match. I wouldn’t be surprised if 100 Thieves round into form for the playoffs and show the same level of play they have shown throughout the season. However, if we take into account only the performances of these two teams over the last few weeks, Evil Geniuses are the better team.
I’m taking Evil Geniuses on the moneyline and -1.5 map handicap. The real dreamers might also want to consider a smaller position with a -2.5 map bet on Evil Geniuses at 6.220 (Pinnacle). Even though I wouldn’t say that Evil Geniuses are a class above 100 Thieves, the betting odds are enough to take a swing at a 3-0 sweep.
- Prediction: Evil Geniuses to win – 1.934 Pinnacle 1 unit
- Prediction: Evil Geniuses -1.5 maps – 2.850 Pinnacle (0.5 units)
- Prediction: Evil Geniuses -2.5 maps – 6.22 Pinnacle (0.25 units)
Betting Odds are correct as of Saturday, August 14, at 17:20 CEST
