Betting-Previews.com brings you betting predictions and tips for the opening round of the third week of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2021 Summer. Today’s schedule will feature a few interesting bouts, starting with the always unpredictable Evil Geniuses taking on the reigning champions Cloud9.
LCS Summer Week 3 – Day 1
When: Friday, June 18 – 15:00 – 19:00 PDT
Number of Games: 5
We dodged a few bullets last week. Not betting on a single match was the right call in the end, as there weren’t many upsets outside of Golden Guardians’ win against FlyQuest. One thing we can take from last week’s matches is that the league is still as volatile as ever. And it doesn’t help that the meta isn’t too stable either.
There seem to be way too many strong picks in the game (Gwen, Akali) that can easily turn the games upside down, depending on which team get their hands on them. We can expect that the LCS teams will learn to either pick or ban the power picks and introduce a bit more stability, but it might take a while longer.
Cloud9 vs Evil Geniuses
Friday, June 18 – 15:00 PDT
If there is two teams Evil Geniuses are known for is – losing against underdogs and upsetting the favorites. Perhaps that wasn’t the case last week when they lost against 100 Thieves as a 2.48 underdog, but I wouldn’t take much from that loss.
100 Thieves are currently playing like the best LCS team, and while I still believe C9 will end up the season in a better position, I don’t feel confident backing the reigning LCS champions before they show me that they have learned to play with their new ADC.
EG are priced as high as 3.58 for this match which is way too high. They might be an extremely volatile team, but that trait has earned them more than a few upset wins against heavy favourites before. And I don’t see why that couldn’t be the case here.
Prediction: Evil Geniuses to win – 3.58 Pinnacle (0.5 units)
Prediction: Evil Geniuses +6.5 kills – 1.833 Pinnacle
FlyQuest vs Team Liquid
Friday, June 18 – 16:00 PDT
There are some talks about internal struggles in Team Liquid, which doesn’t surprise me one bit. That might also explain why the LEC 2021 Spring finalists have been struggling with their performances this split.
Still, an extremely stacked roster that should compete for the title, but I won’t be betting on Liquid until I see some improvement. This leaves us with just one more option, and that is to bet on FlyQuest, which I am even less likely to do.
I would have a hard time finding a solid argument to bet on FlyQuest over Team Liquid, despite how iffy Liquid have been so far. I will much rather stand by and watch this game rather than risk my money picking between a bad and a struggling side.
No Prediction
Immortals vs TSM
Friday, June 18 – 17:00 PDT
You can’t deny that TSM field better players than Immortals. On top of that, they’re also in great form. However, it’s hard to look past Immortals and their improvement this split.
They have been much better than anticipated, which leaves me excited to see how far this team will go – even though they went 0-3 last week.
As mentioned above, the current meta is volatile, and while the teams will slowly start to realise just how strong Akali, Gwen and other picks are, I don’t believe they fully understand that yet. This leaves us in a position where backing the underdogs (still) makes a lot of sense, especially if the underdogs are playing as well as Immortals.
I feel like the price is way too generous to pass on.
Prediction: Immortals to win – 2.79 Pinnacle
Dignitas vs Golden Guardians
Friday, June 18 – 18:00 PDT
Golden Guardians have already won two games this split, which is 40% of their total wins in the season. For those who haven’t been following the LCS last split, Golden Guardians managed only three wins from 18 games.
Results like that would imply that Golden Guardians are a good team, right? Well, they’re better, but they’re far from good. As mentioned before, I expected some improvement, but I don’t believe GG can avoid another bottom-two finish this split.
All that rambling would suggest Dignitas are the right play, and they would have been at a better price. I fully expect Dignitas to secure the win today, but I won’t be backing them at 1.448, nor am I excited about kill handicap (-6.5 at 1.925).
Dignitas are 3-3 on the split with an average +13.3 kill differential in wins and -10.3 in losses. Numbers like that show that Dignitas will either dominate their games or fall apart, and you don’t want to bet on a team that is as volatile as they are at the offered odds.
No Prediction
100 Thieves vs Counter Logic Gaming
Friday, June 19 – 17:00 PDT
It’s painful to see Counter Logic Gaming struggle as much as they do, and not only because I predicted them to be a very competitive mid-table team. They have had some good showings over the split and looked solid on Sunday against TSM, but CLG still found a way to lose.
I’m not as interested in the final result of that game as I am in CLG’s overall performance, which showcased some improvement, but still not enough for me to start believing in them.
As noted above, 100T are playing exceptionally well, and it seems like everything has fallen into place for them. With Felix “Abbedagge” Braun, 100 Thieves gained everything they needed to shine, and if they can keep playing this way, 100T might even compete for the title.
It should be very clear that I like 100 Thieves better for this match, but I don’t like them well enough to be satisfied with 1.273. A kill handicap would be a suitable alternative, but I’ll pass on this one.
No Prediction
