Dignitas vs Evil Geniuses
After their commanding win over Immortals, EG are now set to face Dignitas, who are looking like one of the worst teams in the LEC. Even though we can give them some props for their solid drafts, the individual quality on this roster is (still) severely lacking.
V1per is likely the worst top laner in the league and I’m not sure why Dignitas replaced Lourlo with him. Other than V1per, Dignitas have a solid jungler in Dardoch and FeniX in the mid lane, who can have his flashes of greatness, albeit those became very rare as of late. He finished his last two games against Golden Guardians and TSM without a single kill and I’m not sure how exactly that can happen, but FeniX ended the game against GG with 0/0/0.
Evil Geniuses seem to be on the rise and while I’m still not convinced with Huni nor am I impressed with Goldenglue’s lack of consistency, there is no denying this team has improved and will likely contest a solid finish this season.
Overall, EG are a far better team compared to Dignitas and I like their slightly more proactive playstyle. There is still a strong sense of inconsistency especially in the top-mid, but since Huni and Goldenglue are facing V1per and FeniX, I’m not too concerned with EG, who should to win those two lanes simply due to the individual quality gap.
Across the last two games, Dignitas combined three kills, whereas EG averaged 14.5 kills in their last two against Cloud9 and Immortals. The quality gap here is massive and considering Dignitas’ passive style of play, I don’t see how EG can’t close out the fixture with at least seven kills to spare.
Prediction: Evil Geniuses -6.5 kills – 1.840
Team Liquid vs Cloud9
I’ve talked about it before and I’ll say it again. Team Liquid are not nearly as good as the standings would suggest. Impact and Broxah are a huge problem and unless they start playing significantly better, I don’t believe this team can make it far. Luckily for them, the remaining teams in the LCS are playing extremely poorly, so perhaps they are the No.2 team.
On a more positive note, Jensen is playing exceptionally well, and the same can be said for CoreJJ, who is doing most of the heavy lifting in his team. I can’t criticise Tactical either since he is playing solid, but at the end of the day, he would look much worse alongside another support.
Cloud9 have had a few shaly performances last week, but did not need long to bounce back and showcase their true power with commanding wins over FlyQuest and Immortals. This team is across the board far better than Liquid and the fact that C9 field one of the best junglers in the league in Blaber as well as the best top laner in Licorice, they’re a perfect team to expose Liquid for their flaws.
If Team Liquid manage to win here it will be a massive upset and I’m not sure they are capable of achieving that feat after what they have shown as of late. I expect a complete stomp from the side of Cloud9 and nothing less.
Prediction: Cloud9 -6.5 kills – 1.970
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team SoloMid
Neither team has shown any consistency this split and since they both have obvious weaknesses, I can’t make myself believe either deserves to be regarded as one of the strongest teams in the league.
TSM defeated Dignitas on Saturday, and before that took down 100T, however, it’s their loss to FlyQuest last Sunday that worries me. Like it’s the case with Team Liquid, TSM’ jungler Spica is just not cutting it and is one of the main reasons why his team is struggling.
To be fair, the only solid player on this roster is Bjergsen, since Doublelift has yet to show anything. He is doing OK, but sadly nothing more than that. Across the last three games, he has averaged 5/3/8, which perfectly shows his much of an impact he has.
Even though I’m not convinced with TSM, CLG are in a far worse situation. I would not be surprised if this team fails to win a single match for the remainder of the season and I’ll need to see a massive resurgence on their part to start believing otherwise.
Ruin continues to disappoint in the top lane both with his weird build paths and poor performances, whereas Wiggly’s decision-making is just shockingly bad as of late. Even Stixxay who was the saving grace for this team has started to perform far worse and to be fair, there is nothing on this team that leads me to believe they are anything more than a bottom-two team in the LCS.
Across the last three games, CLG and TSM averaged fairly poor kill numbers. CLG managed 8.3 kills while TSM produced 7.0. On the other end, CLG gave up 16.6 kills on average per game, while TSM gave up 7.6.
This should turn out to be a very scrappy match with neither team showing any real aggression. CLG are often caught out of the position, but TSM are just not cohesive enough to take advantage of those mistakes consistently. Expect a match with a low kill count.
Prediction: Under 22.5 kills – 1.819
100 Thieves vs Golden Guardians
100 Thieves have been looking much better as of late and managed to produce a 1-2 record across the last three games, however, it’s worth noting that they should have won against Team Liquid and I can’t say I’m not impressed with their performance against TSM.
Contractz is doing god’s work in this team and it seems like his strong leadership skills helped the whole team improve. I’m still not too big on Ryoma, but when he performs well, 100T can be a very potent team that could easily compete for a top-four finish. Fortunately for 100T, Ryoma has been stepping up his game as of late.
Golden Guardians, on the other hand, had a solid performance against FlyQuest on Sunday, but I’m not sure how to feel about their shaky performances against Immortals and Dignitas in the previous week.
Comparing 100T to Golden Guardians, the former more or less cancel out all of GG’s strengths. Hauntzer, who had somewhat decent performances lately can’t compare to Ssumday and I would rank Contractz higher than Closer in terms of the impact he has on the map. The bottom lane could easily go both ways, whereas Ryoma should stack up with Damonte if he can repeat his performances from 100T’s last three fixtures.
100T have looked far more consistent as of late and with the momentum they have gained, they should win this one with relative ease.
Prediction: 100 Thieves to win – 1.909 – Best Bet
