100 Thieves vs FlyQuest
FlyQuest have been flying under the radar for a while and even though they have had a few iffy performances this split, this team has been fairly consistent with what they have shown. As of late, their performances have improved and even though they have lost to Cloud9 during Week 6,
it’s hard to be overly critical about their overall showings, especially across the last two weeks, where FlyQuest have managed a 3-1 record.
Last week, FlyQuest took down Team Liquid and Golden Guardians in most part thanks to strong performances from their ADC WildTurtle, who has just recently returned to the roster. What’s more, we can’t ignore the impact jungler Santorin has had for his team.
100 Thieves, on the other side, are digging their hole deeper and deeper as we enter the final stages of the regular season. They have lost three out of their last four games played and while they managed to edge past CLG last week, their loss to Golden Guardians was worrying, to say the least.
Sunday, who was the shining start in this team has cooled down significantly across the last couple of weeks and his 0/2/1 performance against Golden Guardians is worrying. Ryoma in the mid lane is still widely inconsistent and while he can have his moments, those are rare.
Cody Sun is still a player I have high hopes for but his combined 5/5/11 across the last two games is not inspiring, especially considering 100T faced weaker teams compared to FlyQuest and he faced weaker ADCs compared to Wild Turtle.
FlyQuest have overall looked far more stable as of late and even though 100T won the last bout against FlyQuest at the start if July, this one seems like it can only end one way.
Prediction: FlyQuest -5.5 kills – 1.934
Cloud9 vs Golden Guardians
With all due respect, the quality gap between GG and Cloud9 is so massive it’s hard to imagine Golden Guardians keeping it close, let alone willing the game. While it’s true Cloud9 have cooled down a bit overall, but they are still a level above Golden Guardians in terms of individual quality and macro play. Last week CLoud9 lost to Team Liquid, albeit that does no mean Cloud9 are now instantly a bad team.
The kill handicap line is set at -8.5 which may seem a bit high given that Golden Guardians took down 100T last week and held on relatively well against FlyQuest, however, C9 are a completely different beast that is now desperate for wins after their loss to Team Liquid.
Prediction: Cloud 9 – 8.5 kills – 1.952
Team Liquid vs CLG
Even though I’m still not convinced with Team Liquid and their inconsistencies, they are still a much stronger team than CLG, who somehow manage to look worse and worse as the season goes on. Last week CLG lost to 100T and TSM, both in a very convincing fashion and to be fair, this team seems like won’t win a single match until the end of the split.
Ruin is just not cutting it in the top lane and the same can be said for Wiggly. Pobelter can have occasional solid performance, but overall, he is mediocre at most, whereas Stixxay is no longer the main carry this team could count on a few weeks back.
I have talked about Liquid and their struggles in the previous preview and while I still believe in most that has been said, we can at least give Broxah some praise for his performance against Dignitas where he had 11 assists out of 13 kills. Additionally, Liquid seemingly figured out Impact can be decent on Shen and as long as they can play around that draft, Liquid should do fine, especially against bottom-of-the-table teams.The kill handicap is set at 7.5, which looks reachable by Team Liquid, despite their less than inspiring performances in previous weeks. The problem with CLG is that they are so out of sync even Liquid should overrun them and as long as we can continue seeing the same level of contribution from Broxah-
Prediction: Team Liquid -7.5 kills – 1.787
Immortals vs Dignitas
Dignitas got decimated by Team Liquid on Friday but there is no reason to give up on this team just yet. Johnson and Aphromoo had a decent performance given the circumstances and would FeniX not be so heavily targeted, Dignitas would have stood a chance or at least lose the match in question in a less humiliating way. Another thing to note about that loss is that it came against one of the strongest teams in the league, so they deserve some slack for it.
Immortals, on the other hand lost both of their matches last week against Evil Genuises and Cloud9 and are now sitting in last place with 3-11 record. Like it’s the case with Dignitas, Immortals had to face two strong teams so perhaps they also deserve some slack for their humiliating losses even though they combined five kills and gave up 28 deaths across the two games.
Considering both teams are struggling this game can easily go both ways, but if we had to pick a winner, it’s definitely Dignitas. Yes, they struggled against Liquid, but this team tends to perform well against other squads of similar quality. They have already defeated Immortals before, convincingly disposed of CLG and even defeated FlyQuest at the start of July.
Prediction: Dignitas to win – 1.700
