Rogue vs SK Gaming
SK Gaming are entering this bout following a disappointing loss against Fnatic, where they had their chances to come out ahead but fell short in the end. From what we have seen from SK Gaming, they can have their flashes of greatness, but just don’t have the needed quality or experience to compete against the top teams. We can expect them to pick up a few upset wins here or there, but in the end, we don’t count on SK to make it into the postseason.
Rogue, on the other side, extended their strong record to 6-2 with a strong performance against Origen yesterday, where Rogue have shown they mean business. Hans sama had a great performance on Syndra that day, while Larssen made sure he is noticed on Azir. What’s more, Rogue showcased their strong objective control by picking up four drakes and three barons while leaving Origen with only three drakes.
Looking at this match, there is no reason to believe SK can win. They will likely put up a strong resistance – as they did against Fnatic – but when push comes to shove, Rogue will come out ahead. The kill handicap on Rogue seems a bit high, however, since SK are solid enough to pick out a few kills here and there, so the only logical thing to do here is to side with SK to pick up at least seven kills by the end of the match.
Prediction: SK Gaming over 6.5 kills – 1.917
Vitality vs Origen
After a strong start of their LEC Summer campaign, Vitality have dropped fast and hard and are now entering the final match of Week 4 with a 3-5 record next to their name. In their last five, Vitality have lost to Rogue, MAD Lions, Misfits and Excel, and are now set to face another tough opponent in Origen.
Origen are objectively a much stronger team compared to Vitality, but they have failed to impress us in recent weeks. Last week they lost to MAD Lions in a rather humiliating fashion, while managed to pick up a win against Schalke, which we won’t rank as an achievement.
Even though we expect Origen to come out ahead here, their recent performances don’t inspire much optimism which makes me believe this one won’t be a straight-forward as they would hope. Vitality have shown they are a well-coached team that knows how to move around the map, which should be enough for them to at least leave a dent in Origen and pick up a few kills before the game ends.
Prediction: Team Vitality over 6.5 kills – 1.884
Fnatic vs Schalke
Fnatic have managed to break their four-game losing streak this Friday when they took down SK Gaming, but in all fairness, that match was much closer than what you might have expected. It’s clear that Fnatic are not in a great spot right now and seeing how all other LEC teams are improving, the boys in orange need to step up their game if they’re serious about making it to the grand finals and contest the title.
Bwipo is showing a lot of iffy performance lately, while Nemesis is just not playing at the level his team needs him to. On a bright side, Rekkles is still playing solid and something similar can be said for Selfmade, albeit both are capable of so much more than what we have seen in recent games.
Like Fnatic, Schalke 04 are not in a great spot, but their situation is far worse. They are entering this bout with a 0-8 record and it would be fair to say, a 0-9 record by the end of the week is far more likely than a 1-8. There are just too many issues with this team, with one of the main being their bottom lane. Neon and Dreams looked fairly solid in Week 2, but have since failed to impress.
To be fair, all five members of Schalke are underperforming and since they also have one of the worst objective control in the league, I have zero confidence they can cause any problems to Fnatic.
Fnatic might not have looked too solid recently, but they are still massive favorites heading into this match. This will be a perfect opportunity for them to bounce back and return to their winning ways so we can be sure they will grab the chance with both hands and come out ahead with significant gold and kills lead.
Prediction: Fnatic -8.5 – 1.775 – Best Bet
Misfits vs MAD Lions
MAD Lions are looking like the strongest team in the league and while that is in some part due to the poor performances of G2 and Fnatic, MAD Lions deserve all the praise they can get for what they have shown as of late.
On Friday, MAD Lions stomped Schalke 04, which is nothing too shocking, but if they can enter this bout with the same fire, we can be sure we are in for another exciting fixture. Misfits, on the other side, failed to show up against G2 and are now 4-4 in the league, which sits them at the edge of the playoffs line. Suffice to say, Misfits, need to improve fast if they want to make it to the playoffs, but it seems like they will need way too long to finally reach their ceiling.
Misfits seem to do their best to play around Kobbe, which appears like the optimal way of playing, but instead, they should perhaps try to focus more on Febiven, or at least establish a strong mid-jungle synergy.
Comparing these two sides, MAD Lions are in much better shape and not only that, but they have also shown far more synergy, stronger approach to teamfights and better macro play. MAD Lions are rightfully priced as favourites and, to be fair, Misfits will need a miracle to match up MAD Lions’ high tempo of play.
Prediction: MAD Lions -7.5 kills – 1.970
