Team Liquid vs Dignitas
Team Liquid will take on Dignitas this Saturday on the opening day of LCS Week 8. The former LCS champions have had quite a successful split so far since they are tied for first with Cloud9 with an 11-3 record. Having said that, the result on its own does not show the true picture here.
Yes, Liquid hold a 79% win rate, but to be fair, their performances were a level below that of Cloud9 and while they are arguably better than the remaining eight teams in the LCS, Liquid still have a lot of clear weaknesses. First, one being Impact, who has the lowest KDA (2.2) in his team and on top of that has only 52% kill participation. He is effectively amongst the worst top laners in the league in average deaths, KP%, KDA and is even fourth-worst rated player in CSPM.
The second issue with Liquid is their junger Broxah who is by far the worst jungler in the league. He has little to no impact in his games and while many people hype him up for his baron and drake steals, Broxah is still playing well below the level Liquid need him to. On a more positive note, Jensen is doing well in the mid lane, and the same can be said for Tactical, however, when it comes to the shining star in this team, we have to mention CoreJJ, who is not only the best support in the league but also a player who singlehandedly won Liquid more than a few games.
On the side of Dignitas, the story is completely different. Their jungler Dardoch is doing gods work and has as of late emerged as one of the best junglers in the league. Additionally, we can’t ignore the impact FeniX has had in the mid lane. He is averaging 4.3 KDA across the split and has managed an outstanding 8/1/13 (21 KDA) against EG last Sunday. Another thing to note is Johnsun’s solid performances, and it’s hard not to be excited with Aphromoo’s resurgence which reminds many of how good he once was, and seemingly still is.
Overall, Liquid are a better team, but they have so many weaknesses, it’s hard to be overly optimistic about them. Most of their wins this split came either due to opponent’s crucial mistakes or CoreJJ’s game wining play in the late game which does not convince us this team is really as strong as they seem to be.
Dignitas, on the other side may be one of the worst-ranked teams in the LCS, but they are also a team that often exposes their opponents’ mistakes. Lane-by-lane Dignitas can match up with Liquid, especially in the mid and top lane, whereas bottom lane seems to be in favour of Liquid stat-wise. When it comes to the jungle, however, we have to give it to Dignitas.
Dignitas are often a hit-or-miss team, but looking at Liquid’s shaky performances, we have to trust the underdogs to make Liquid bleed, especially if they get ahead in the jungle and carry over the pressure to mid/bottom lanes.
Prediction: Dignitas over 5.5 kills – 1.757
Longshot bet: Dignitas to win – 4.13
Team SoloMid vs Evil Geniuses
Both teams have had an up and down performance last week and while TSM won both of their games against Dignitas and Counter Logic Gaming, it’s hard to be too optimistic about TSM going forward. This team is still struggling with their consistency and by the way they are playing it seems there is no communication or at least not a good one.
Bjergsen and Doublelift are the only two players on TSM who are having any sort of impact whereas the same can’t be said for Broken Blade, Treatz and most of all Spica, who is just not playing well and can easily be compared to Broxah in Team Liquid.
Evil Geniuses have looked strong after they have added Huni and Goldenglue, but have since cooled down and lost against Dignitas, who exposed them for their biggest weaknesses which are Huni’s overly-aggressive playstyle, Svenskeren shaky performances and Goldenglue’s inconsistency.
Huni’s aggressive playstyle does harm EG in a way, but at the same time, it also forces the opponents to play around the top lane, since Huni tends to draw a lot of attention his way. This is a strong weapon against any team that lacks synergy and unfortunately, TSM seems like one of those teams.
This game can go down to the wire and while EG have a few win conditions, it’s hard to be too optimistic about a team that has jungler, mid and top laner who are all very inconsistent. Bang is their biggest weapon and seems like their only proper win condition for this match, whereas TSM can always count on Bjergsen and Doublelift. What’s more, TSM defeated EG three times already and until we see some more stability from EG, betting on TSM to win is the safest bet to take.
Prediction: Team SoloMid to win – 1.877
