The sixth week of League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2021 Summer is coming to a close on Sunday, July 11. After today, the teams will enter the final three competitive weeks, with only four more spots left to be filled before the 2021 LCS Championship.
LCS Summer Week 6 – Day 3
When: Sunday, July 11 – 13:00 – 17:00 PDT
Number of Games: 5
We have quite a few exciting games to check out today. The surging Evil Geniuses will take on the reigning LCS champions Cloud9, while FlyQuest look to keep their wheels spinning against the slumping Immortals. Then there are the premenstrual underdogs. Golden Guardians will look to upset Team Liquid, while Counter Logic Gaming and 100 Thieves look for a “bounce back” following disastrous showings over the week.
Team Liquid vs Golden Guardians
Sunday, July 11 – 13:00 PDT
Team Liquid made easy work of Immortals yesterday to secure their second win of the week as they look to end LCS 2021 Summer Week 6 with a perfect 3-0. Liquid enter this match as favourites (1.265 Pinnacle), which isn’t too surprising.
They’re facing the weakest team in the league that is fresh from a loss against TSM. Still, we have to give Golden Guardians a pat on the back for their showings over the season.
While they might lack individual talent, Golden Guardians have been very effective in showing a high level of resilience. They scored 12 kills against TSM (12-17), which is definitely worth praise considering they were playing a catch-up game since minute 10.
Team Liquid are a more well-rounded team with better players, but betting on them to defeat Golden Guardians at 1.265 offers no value. We have seen how power picks can turn games upside down, and I wouldn’t exclude the possibility of Golden Guardians recreating what they have shown against 100T.
Still, expecting GG to overcome Team Liquid’s superior macro play and individual talent is more of wishful thinking and not a bet worth considering. Having said that, Team Liquid are generally not a very kill hungry team and close out their games with relatively low kill margins.
That makes Golden Guardians a great bet with an 8.5 kills advantage. However, the bet only makes sense if Liquid run it back from yesterday and field Thomas “Jenkins” Tran in the top lane instead of Barney “Alphari” Morris. The latter has been involved in at least 11 kills/game in his last two appearances, and his presence changes up Liquid playstyle.
Team Liquid’ coach Jonas “Kold” Andersen has confirmed that Alphari will start today, which makes this bet a far less appealing option.
FlyQuest vs Immortals
Sunday, July 11 – 14:00 PDT
FlyQuest beat Counter Logic Gaming yesterday, which didn’t shock me one bit after seeing CLG’s draft. I’m not exactly sure why would you pick Sett, Olaf, Lissandra, Varus and Leona and expect to deal any damage.
Regardless, FlyQuest played well and used all the advantages they were able to get their hands on, so props to them for that. I’m still not convinced with this academy roster, but they’re at least on the same page – something FLyQuest’s previous roster wasn’t.
Immortals continue to disappoint, and my fears of them starting to regress are coming true. They’re on a two-game losing streak, and while they had to face Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid, that doesn’t explain their poor performances.
Their mid-laner David “Insanity” Challe is the only player I can call good, while his teammates seem more like a liability rather than anything else. Something isn’t clicking in this team and hasn’t been for a while now.
This is a 50/50 match between surging FlyQuest and slumping Immortals. The latter have more experienced players on the roster, but I wouldn’t call them better players with the way they have been playing of late. FlyQuest seem up to par with Immortals, but that is largely because FlyQuest looked good yesterday (against a team that played terribly). The sample size of FlyQuest’s games is not high enough for us to come to any conclusion of how good/bad they are.
A fluke win against C9 followed by a “handed” W against CLG doesn’t prove anything.
100 Thieves vs TSM
Sunday, July 11 – 15:00 PDT
100 Thieves have been the better team over the season, but they seriously disappointed in their last two outings. After a humiliating loss to Golden Guardians, 100T added yet another underwhelming showing against Evil Geniuses, who stomped them into the dirt yesterday.
Something isn’t right in 100T, and their laning phase – that was considered good – isn’t as solid anymore. Their players consistently get punished, and while that might not be the case for 100T’s bottom lane, it’s their top side that looks extremely weak.
TSM won against Golden Guardians, but it wasn’t exactly a strong showing from them. Although it never seemed like TSM weren’t in the lead, they gave up way too many kills, which concerns me a bit for this bout.
100T work of momentum, and if they get ahead early, TSM will struggle to come back into the game. I would consider TSM’s macro play to be better than 100T, but that won’t help them much if they show the same performance they did yesterday.
Both teams have their flaws, and while I was far less impressed with 100T’s recent showings, it’s not like TSM should be considered as a better team. It was interesting to see TSM pick a more skirmish-heavy draft, which resulted in more high-scoring games.
I expect a bit bloodier match than what the line suggests. TSM have been generally a very slow team (0.69 CKPM), but they’re slowly moving away from this slow style of play (0.88 – in their last two outings)
Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9
Sunday, July 11 – 16:00 PDT
Cloud9 have shown some improvement, but the bookmakers continue to overvalue them. The eye test would prove that Cloud9 are not playing nearly as well as they did last split, yet they’re still priced as 1.609 (Pinnacle) favourites against Evil Geniuses.
Due to their history of volatility, it might be hard to be overly optimistic about Evil Geniuses, but they’re currently playing like the best team in the league. Their individual talent is finally showing, and stability is there as well.
Yesterday EG smacked 100 Thieves with a very dominant showing from Jeong “Impact” Eon-young, who went deathless (2/0/10) on Ornn and having Impact in form is exactly what EG will need to stop Cloud9.
Cloud9 might have an equally as talented roster, but none of their players outside of Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami is playing well. Luka “Perkz” Perkovic is having one of the worst splits of his career, and his subpar performances reflect in the team’s overall performances. After all, he is the in-game leader, and it’s hard to lead a team if you struggle to perform.
Cloud9 have a much higher upside than Evil Geniuses, but the recent performances make it very hard to favour Cloud9 here. A lot will come down to how well will Impact perform on the weak side and whether Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro can show his good side.
Jiizuke is the other key factor for Evil Geniuses. He is known for his coin-flippy playstyle that could quickly turn this game in favour of Cloud9 if it doesn’t go his way, but with the form he has been showing of late, I have no issues saying that he is a much better player than Perkz.
Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming
Sunday, July 11 – 17:00 PDT
I just don’t know what to think about Counter Logic Gaming anymore. They can look very promising one day, but then they go on to cook up a complete mess with both their drafts and performance. CLG seem like they only do well against stronger opponents but then play down to the level of their opponents when faced with a weaker side.
Yesterday, CLG lost to FlyQuest with an abysmal draft that prevented them from dealing any damage, but it wasn’t like draft was their only problem. They’re now 1-7 in their last eight outings, with their only win coming against TSM.
Dignitas enter this match following a loss to Cloud9. It marked their third loss in a row, having previously suffered defeats against Team Liquid and Immortals. Like CLG, Dignitas have been all over the place with their performances, but it wouldn’t be fair to criticise them too much for their last two outings.
I favour Dignitas for this match, largely because CLG looked terrible across the last few weeks. Having said that, CLG still have better individual players on the team and are now facing a team that is more than capable of losing to anyone.
This is a 50/50 match that can easily go either way.
Betting Odds are correct as of Sunday, July 11 at 19:30 CEST
