League of Legends – LCS Summer Week 1 – Day 3

Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves

100 Thieves did not look too sharp in their loss to Evil Geniuses, where Ssumday and co. got completely stomped. Cody Sun was the only member of 100T who looked at least half-decent, but that alone won’t cut it against the reigning LCS champions C9.

Cloud9, on the other side, picked up a win against FlyQuest in their opening game of the split and while the game was fairly one-sided, C9 did not look as dominant as we had expected. They died way too frequently and gave up 11 kills, however, their superior macro play eventually saw C9 finish the game with 15k gold lead.

It’s hard to imagine this game will end in 100T’s favour, as they would need to play their best game of the season to achieve that feat, however, I don’t believe this will be a complete stomp. C9’s aggressive playstyle and overconfidence will likely see them give up a few unnecessary kills as they did against FlyQuest, which makes Over 23.5 kills bet the safest option for this match.

Prediction: Over 23.5 kills – 1.894 – Best Bet

 

Dignitas vs TSM

We had high hopes for TSM heading into their match against Liquid, but what we received a humiliating performance from Doubleilft and his new team. This team seems to still struggle with the same problems they have shown the last split, as they seemingly have no idea what they are doing on the Rift. Doublelift should have improved that as the team’s new shot-caller, but evidently, the issue persists.

Dignitas, on the other side, lost their game against Golden Guardians namely due to Damonte’s and FBI’s strong performances. The main issue with Dignitas is that they don’t have the go-to carry player. Froggen is a consistent mid laner, but he is just not the player who will carry his team to victory. Johnsun had his flashes of greatness last split but he is not yet at the level Dignitas need him to be.

Overall, I like TSM better here and they should in theory win, but looking at how disorganized they looked in game one, I don’t expect this to be a clean win. TSM’s poor decision making is worrying me and makes me believe they will give up at least eight kills against DIG.

Prediction: Dignitas – Over 7.5 kills – 1.78

 

Team Liquid vs Golden Guardians

Both Team Liquid and Golden Guardians picked up commanding wins in their opening matches of the split and will now look to extend their run and enter Week 2 with a perfect 2-0 record.

Both sides have shown a lot of quality and I can’t say I wasn’t impressed with the performances of Impact and FBI, which makes me believe this game will likely be decided in the bottom lane. As for the mid lane, the Jensen vs Dardoch will be another exciting clash that has no obvious winner. Although Liquid arguably have better individual quality, this match will be much closer than what the odds suggest.

GG are still very underrated due to their performances in Spring, but it’s very obvious Dardoch has brought a lot of quality to this team and his roam-heavy playstyle enables FBI to carry games. Golden Guardians have a legitimate chance to win here, and at these odds, they’re just severely underrated.

Prediction: Golden Guardians to win – 2.65

 

Counter Logic Gaming vs Immortals

A clash between two of the worst teams in the league will see CLG take on Immortals in hopes to bounce back from their humiliating defeat against Evil Geniuses and show they’re not as bad as some may believe.

I really don’t have anything positive to say about CLG looking at their performance against EG and considering they let EG win without picking up a single win only goes to show how bad this team really is, albeit they do deserve some slack as they faced one of the strongest NA teams. As for Immortals, they did not impress either, but at least showed something against FlyQuest.

Eika had a very good game against FlyQuest and I expect to see much of the same from him heading into this match. As for sOAZ, he will have to show a bit more and he likely will, if his team puts him on a proper top laner instead of Karma. Both teams struggled to win their opening games, making this a 50/50 bout. Would Immortals have Xmithie in the jungle I would have no issues siding with them, but with Potluck going against Wiggly, I’m not too confident.

What’s more, I like CLG’s bot lane much better. Smootihie and Stixxay are in my book better than Altec and Gate and as long as Wiggly can focus on helping Stixxay get ahead, CLG just might have a chance to edge out a win.

Prediction. CLG to win – 2.13