Betting-Previews.com brings you League of Legends betting previews and predictions for the second day of the LEC 2021 Summer Super Week. Here are our selections for five games, played on Saturday, July 31.
LEC Summer Week 8 – Day 2
When: Saturday, July 31 – 17:00 – 21:00 CEST
Number of Games: 5
Three of five fixtures of LEC 2021 Summer Week 8 – Day 1 ended up covering the total kill spread, but only one underdog (Misfits Gaming) ended up causing an upset. It was a relatively normal day in the LEC, without any major surprises, besides Fnatic’s blunder against Misfits Gaming.
We also got to see a new, more aggressive version of G2 Esports, who tamed MAD Lions and proved that they still “got it”. Will they manage to keep their wheels spinning and go for the record-ninth LEC title, however, remains to be seen.
SK Gaming vs Misfits Gaming
Saturday, July 31 – 17:00 CEST
SK Gaming lost to Astralis yesterday in a match where they displayed little to no redeeming qualities. I didn’t expect SK Gaming to win, and I was even less hopeful about their chances to do so after seeing their draft.
Drafts alone don’t have a significant impact on the game as players qualify; however, seeing a team draft poorly makes you wonder about the quality of the coaching staff. On paper, SK Gaming’s draft was decent, but picking Tahm Kench is a trap many pro teams get caught in.
It may be a good champion in solo queue, but that’s mainly because this is an oppressive laner; however, this champion has little to no value when behind and is definitely not a good support pick. I won’t rant about SK’s poor draft anymore – they played poorly overall and deserved a loss.
Misfits Gaming demolished Fnatic yesterday in what was a very impressive performance from them. I was bullish on the team from the start of the season, and while they aren’t exactly LEC champion quality, this team is much better than many give them credit for.
Misfits’ laners are somewhat weak (still above average); however, this team plays the map well and looks very clean in teamfights. You could say that Misfits are definitely greater than the sum of their parts.
Misfits are much stronger than SK Gaming and should win this match with relative ease. They’re priced at 1.361 (Pinnacle), which is fair, and while you could say that SK Gaming seem a bit overpriced at 3.190 (Pinnacle), I wouldn’t side with a team that is as fundamentally flawed as SK.
What’s more, following their loss to Astralis, SK Gaming are eliminated from the playoffs race, so they can’t be very motivated to deliver here.
Excel Esports vs Astralis
Saturday, July 31 – 18:00 CEST
This is a crucial match for both teams, as they chase the sixth and final ticket leading into the LEC 2021 Summer playoffs. Astralis enter this match with a 7-9 record, whereas Excel Esports boast a 6-10 record.
If Astralis win, Excel will get eliminated from the playoffs race, and assuming Team Vitality crumble against Rogue, Astralis would become the sixth and final team to compete in the LEC 2021 Summer playoffs. On the other side, a win for Excel would mean that their fate would get decided on Sunday when they take on G2 Esports.
This is obviously a much more important match to win for Excel, who enter the game as 1.793 (Pinnacle) favourites. Astralis are priced as 2.04 (Pinnacle) underdogs.
Astralis have displayed some good qualities this season, but Excel look far cleaner in their games. Yesterday they lost to Rogue but held on relatively well, whereas Astralis won against SK Gaming, but they haven’t really shown anything that would make me excited about them.
I like Excel far better here. They shouldn’t be priced as high as they are. Bet365 offers 1.90 on Excel, which is an obvious bet.
Team Vitality vs Rogue
Saturday, July 31 – 19:00 CEST
Team Vitality need to win here to keep their playoffs dreams alive, whereas Rogue need to win to keep their spot atop the league. Both teams will want to win here; however, it’s fair to say that Vitality need the W much more than Rogue.
The current league frontrunners enter the match as 1.363 (Pinnacle) favourites, while Vitality are priced at 3.180 (Pinnacle) to cause an upset.
The Bees enter this match following a fairly solid victory against Schalke 04, having previously dropped four straight games against SK Gaming, G2 Esports, MAD Lions, Misfits, and Excel.
Despite their iffy showings, Vitality are a scary underdog to bet against. They might be inconsistent, but Vitality will have their moments where everything clicks and they show up – at the end of the day, they have fairly solid players.
The problem with approaching this match from that angle is that Vitality are facing Rogue, who are way too fundamentally sound. Unless they (very rarely) stumble, you need to be very good to beat them.
On the other side, Rogue have secured a top-two seed, which might see them not take this match too seriously. They might test out new strategies or new team compositions ahead of the playoffs, which makes me very sceptical about backing them.
The betting odds on Vitality seem high for a Bo1 match, but there are way too many “what ifs” for me to pick either side. If you have to bet here, just pick Vitality and hold your nose.
Schalke 04 Esports vs G2 Esports
Saturday, July 31 – 20:00 CEST
Schalke 04 are clearly the weakest team in the league and should have no business winning here. Having said that, S04 always find a way to beat G2 Esports, no matter how poorly they’re playing at the time of this meeting.
If you follow that narrative, backing Schalke 04 Esports at 3.69 (Pinnacle) might not seem like a bad bet, especially with how shaky G2 Esports have been over the season. Having said that, you would have to be very confident in Schalke 04 to pull the trigger on this match.
S04 have been playing very poorly of late, whereas G2 showed some life yesterday and produced an actually solid performance. There are still some iffy areas, but G2 are improving, and that’s a good enough reason not to take S04 regardless of the generous odds.
Instead, the kill handicap on G2 and unders appeal much more to me. G2 Esports played a very high scoring game against MAD Lions yesterday but knowing that S04 won’t put as much resistance, it’s not entirely unlikely for G2 to win this match very quickly, without giving up too much.
As talked about before, G2 Esports usually stomp weaker teams, which is why you could also make a case for a -7.5 kill handicap. Looking back, G2 won with at least eight kills to spare against SK (21-12), Vitality (25-15) and Rogue (18-1).
MAD Lions vs Fnatic
Saturday, July 31 – 21:00 CEST
Fnatic haven’t been playing too well of late and enter this match on a three-game losing streak. During that stretch, they have lost against Rogue, SK Gaming, and Misfits Gaming. On the other side, MAD Lions are 2-1 in their last three with wins against Astralis and Rogue and a heavy loss against G2 Esports.
I don’t quite understand why Fnatic are priced as the underdogs here. They might have looked iffy in their last three, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is still a solid team throughout. Besides their questionable loss to SK Gaming (which happens), Fnatic haven’t played particularly poorly and had to face two strong teams in Rogue and Misfits.
MAD Lions’ record, on the other side, seems but better than how it really is. They were a bit lucky to defeat Rogue, and you can’t really praise them too much for beating Astralis the way they did, considering they would have lost that match easily had Astralis been slightly more efficient in playing the map. What’s more, MAD Lions got stomped by G2 Esports yesterday.
Considering how aggressive these two sides are, we could be in for another high-scoring affair that can easily reach over 30 kills in total. Again, we’re talking about huge numbers, but unless Fnatic completely fall apart early, over 29.5 kills in total should be achievable.
Betting Odds are correct as of Saturday, July 31 at 14:15 CEST
