OG vs Schalke 04
OG have entered Week 7 oF LEC Summer following one of the worst weeks of the split and from the looks of it, they’re in for another disappointing week this time out. In their most recent bout with MAD Lions, OG disappointed with their overall performance. Despite drafting a much stronger early-game composition, they failed to take advantage of their strengths and lost in quite a convincing fashion.
The biggest concern, however, was OG’s failure to play at the same tempo as MAD Lions, or better said, they did not show the same level of cohesion as their opponents nor did they impress with their decision making, which eventually cost them a match they would have otherwise won.
Schalke 04, on the other side, are entering this bout with a 3-0 record and while the playoffs are still distant for the Germans, there is no denying Schalke are playing much better as of late. They ended Week 6 with the highest M-lead out of all teams, which is that more impressive if we consider they played against G2 and Misfits. Schalke continued with their strong form this Friday when they took down Excel without any real problems and the fact that they produced 4,650 Gold lead @15 (the highest of this split) only further proves Schalke are on the rise and are not to be underestimated.
The biggest issue in Origen seems to be their bottom lane who is underperforming as of late. That will work perfectly in favour of Schalke whose bottom lane tandem has had impressive performances across the last week.
While Origen are objectively a more stacked roster, their shaky displays fail to convince us they will manage a clean win here. Schalke have been stepping up their game and as long as they can play at the same pace, they should make Origen bleed.
Prediction: Schalke 04 over 8.5 kills – 1.862
Misfits vs Excel
Based on Excel’s and Misfits’ performances lately, this match can easily go both ways. Misfits have had one of the worst performances of the split last week (3.2% M-lead) and while Excel looked slightly better (5.8% M-lead), their overall showings were less than impressive.
On a more positive note, Misfits won their bout with SK Gaming on Friday, but it’s worth noting that that win was not exactly convincing. SK ended the game with 17-15 in kills and managed to keep Misfits at bay for the first half of the game, which again proves Misfits are nothing more than a mediocre team that struggles to close out their games.
Something similar can be said about Excel, who have lost tot the surging Schalke on Friday, yet managed to take down both Vitality and SK last week. The problem in this team is that they rely on Patrik to deliver while the remaining players tend to underperform most of the time. Special can have his moments, but those are extremely rare.
Given that Excel and Misfits have the same win conditions in their bottom lanes, we have to side with the team that has a stronger ADC, which is Misfits. Additionally, we have to note how solid Razork has been in Misfits’ win against SK and the same can be said for Dan Dan who had a standout performance on GP.
I’m not ready to believe Misfits are a playoffs worthy team, but we at least saw some improvement from them on Friday, which suggests Misfits should not struggle too much against the stressed Excel.
Prediction: Misfits to win – 1.746
Rogue vs SK Gaming
Even though Rogue struggled in Week 6 a bit, they have proven once more they are one of the strongest teams in the league this Friday with a solid performance against Fnatic. While there are arguments to be made Fnatic underperformed due to the lack of any coordination, we have to give Rogue some praise for taking advantage of Fnatic’s mistakes and closing out the game with a substantial lead.
SK, on the other side, lost to Misfits on Friday in a match they could have easily won, yet dropped the ball and lost, namely due to poor performance from Crownshot. As mentioned before, SK can shine if both ZaZee and Crownshot deliver, but often fall apart when they don’t.
Rogue and SK last met at the start of July, when Rogue won quite convincingly (20-9). It is true that at the time ZaZee and Crownshot weren’t playing at the same level as they do as of late, but there is more to this game than just the ADC-Mid matchups.
Rogue are looking incredibly sharp and even though SK are not a team to underestimate, Rogue have proven time and time again they can play at an elite level. We have seen SK play at the same level before, but the problem is that they’re not as consistent with their performances as Rogue. With that in mind, siding with Rogue is the safer bet to take, as you know what you get with them in addition to the fact that both Larsen and Hans Sama both look to be in the right form to face Zazee and Crownshot.
Prediction: Rogue -6.5 kills – 1.740
Vitality vs MAD Lions
There is really not a lot to be said here, since we are looking at a match between one of the strongest and one of the weakest team in the league. It is true that MAD Lions struggled a bit against Origen in the early game on Friday, but at the end of the day, it really came down to their team composition which was more late-game oriented. Having said that, MAD Lions even managed to turn their late-game composition in a strong early-game weapon, which only further proves how adaptable this teams is.
Vitality, on the other side, haven’t won a single match since they upset Origen last week. They are a team that clearly lacks quality and considering they have convincingly lost to G2 yesterday despite the fact that G2 are not in great shape makes it hard to believe they can deliver here.
All five players on Vitality underperformed and it seems like they’re coming to terms that this split is lost. The biggest concern, however, is the subpar performances from their best player Cabochard, who had two back-to-back mediocre performances and we can be sure MAD Lions will do their best to make sure he doesn’t get ahead here either.
Prediction: MAD Lions -7.5 kills – 1.819
