Cloud9 vs Dignitas – LCS 2020 Summer
Could9 have found themselves in a slump and even though they will still make it to the postseason, their recent performances make it hard to believe they will emerge as the main title contenders. Licorice is no longer the strong top laner we knew him for, Zven is just there and the same can be said for Vulcan, while Blaber and Nisqy (still solid players) are no longer as dominant as they were.
Last week, Cloud9 lost to Golden Guardians and TSM in quite a humiliating fashion. Nisqy did nothing across the two series with a 1/8/11 record, while Zven managed only 3/5/2. And it’s not only the individual performances that are lacking in this team. Cloud9 don’t play with the same organized approach they did and make way too many mistakes in their decision making. Don’t get me wrong, this team is still individually sound, but looking at their form, they seem like they can lose to any team, including Dignitas.
Dignitas are not exactly a strong team and their 0-2 record last week is not too promising either, however, it’s worth noting Dignitas held on well in both games, There are arguments to be made they should have defeated Immortals and while they got completely stomped by Liquid, it’s hard to criticize them too much for that loss, since Liquid look very solid as of late.
Dignitas get most of their strength from mid lane (FeniX) and jungle (Dardoch), however, its also hard to ignore the improved performances from Johnsun and Aphromoo. It’s true that we rarely see pop-off games from Johnsun, but when those happen, Dignitas are in a good spot.
The biggest issue with Dignitas is their poor macro play and decision making in late game, but looking at Cloud9, they are not in a much better position in that regard. In their last two fixtures, C9 completely fell apart in the late game and even though they will be facing a weaker opponent that does not help with the fact that they lack the cohesion they once had. Dignitas will likely still lose, but we can trust them to keep it at least relatively close.
Prediction: Dignitas +9.5 kills – 1.934
Golden Guardians vs Team SoloMid
Both Golden Guardians and Team SoloMid have been performing admirably well as of late and produced a three and four-game winning streak respectively. Golden Guardians took down C9, CLG and 100T, while TSM defeated Dignitas, CLG, Evil Geniuses and C9.
Comparing the two runs, we would rank them at an equal level, so performance-wise, there is not a lot to set those two teams apart on paper. Having said that, the odds are way too low on the side of TSM. They might have looked better individually as of late, but with 2.5 offered on GG, it seems like the latter are a bit underrated.
ADC FBI has been performing admirably well in recent weeks and we can’t praise Hauntzer enough for his improvement in the top lane. Same goes for Damonte, who is playing a crucial role in his team’s success and is one way or another involved in enabling FBI to carry.
It’s very difficult to set those two teams apart however, the gap is certainly not as high as the odds suggest. Golden Guardians are far more efficient in gaining gold lead, are more aggressive and tend to have better vision score. In the objective control, the teams are equally matched, but since Closer has definitely been more active around the map compare to Spica, who has just recently looked somewhat decent, we have had to give an edge to GG in the jungle as well.
The biggest problem with TSM is that they are still a bit inconsistent. Yes, they have won four in a row, but how long will they manage to play at this pace? Golden Guardians, on the other side, looked far more stable. Their record across the last four is slightly worse than that of TSM, but you know what? They are 6-2 in their last eight, with their only two losses coming against TL and FlyQuest, who are looking like two of the strongest teams in the league now that C9 has hit a slump.
This is an important match to win for Golden Guardians and as long as they can perform as well as they did across the last few weeks, they should have a good chance to come out ahead.
Prediction: Golden Guardians to win – 2.5
Prediction: Golden Guardians over 8.5 kills – 1.909
