It’s Mardi Gras week here in New Orleans! Or, moreso, the week before Mardi Gras, where the parades are rolling every evening until Fat Tuesday. It’s basically the biggest street party around, and it’s great! Now, if you’re unfamiliar with Mardi Gras parades, they’re groups of bands, floats, dance groups, motorcycles, horses, all kinds of stuff. And then stuff gets thrown. Some parades are better than others, and there three parades in particularly that are considered the best.
It looks like the NA LCS is trending toward the same thing right now. Three teams stand at 5-1, and so now, I’ll give my power rankings of the top three parades in New Orleans and NA LCS.
3. Echo Fox – Orpheus
Orpheus has never been my favorite Big Three parade. It was always on Monday, and my parents worked, so I never got to go to it. Plus, it’s relatively young (created in the early 1990’s), just like this Echo Fox organization. Maybe one day, it’ll be the number one of the Big Three, but they gotta keep on performing.
2. Team Liquid – Bacchus
Bacchus runs on Sunday and has been around since the 70’s. My dad even rode one year. Team Liquid has been around forever, too, but my dad never played for them. I didn’t get to go to Bacchus often, but when I did it was great. Bacchus has creatively named super-floats like Baccha-suarus, just as Team Liquid has well-established stars. I trust them more than I trust Echo Fox, but I’m still convinced they’ll end up in fourth.
1. Cloud 9 – Endymion
Endymion has always been my favorite Mardi Gras parade. Not only was it the biggest, but I lived right on the route, so I always got to go. Cloud 9 is my team, too, so that means I’m biased, but I trust their pedigree to get them to be runner-ups to TSM at the end of the Spring Split.
HOW WE DID
Here are the standings:
- mandersxii 16-1
- FlyameseCat 14-1-2
- TheStormSurge 14-2
I went perfect last week. I wish I had bet on that shit. I love these ties though. I think I’m just gonna start doing ties. Just kidding, you can’t make money that way! As always, lines are from Bovada.
SATURDAY’S MATCHES
1 TSM vs CG
Clutch Gaming is definitely my vote for the wild card of this split. TSM can’t go into this one and take it easy. With a mere 3-3 record, they have to mash them. Outside of something going terribly wrong, like Mike Yeung playing Kha’Zix, this should be easy for TSM. I’m giving them 70-30 here.
-Flyamese Cat
2 C9 vs TL
The second game of week four looks to be a great matchup highlighted by some great ADC play. That’s right it’s Sneaky Vs. Doublelift in a battle for first place! Both teams went 2-0 as expected last week and I almost saw last week’s games for them as tune up games. I might even have a hot take and say this will be the game of the week honestly. Jensen Vs. Pobelter is always a fun matchup, and Svenskeren Vs. Xmithie will be fun to watch to see who establishes jungle dominance early. Top lane matchup here is just ehh in my opinion because it’s two just average top laners, but who knows they could surprise some people this game. To me, this game rolls through the bot lane of Sneaky and Smoothie, Vs. Doublelift and Olleh. Do we see any pocket picks from Sneaky? Does Doublelift talk shit before the game? These are all questions I want answers to. However, in terms of predictions, I have to side with C9, I think Sneaky and Jensen are going to become quite large and C9 wins possibly convincingly.
– TheStormSurge
3 OPT vs CLG
Just like TSM last week, CLG had a great bounceback week, taking wins over FOX and FLY. Obviously, the FOX win was bigger for them, probably giving them all the confidence they need to make a run for a bye. OPT, on the other hand, didn’t get jack last week. Tough matches against FOX and C9 will do that to you. They keep on having really long matches though. Maybe it’s a matter of time for OPT? I just, oh lawdy, I just don’t see it against a revitalized CLG. Gimme dat CLG win.
– mandersxii
4 100 vs FLY
100 Thieves = good team. FlyQuest = bad team. There really isn’t too much to say about this matchup because I believe there is such a wide gap between the top six teams in the LCS and the bottom six right now. Aside from the blowout loss to TSM last week 100 Thieves has been really solid and with Aphromoo calling the shots they should win this game by a landslide. I’m not saying Wildturtle and company couldn’t pull an upset… But let’s be real, they are not going to pull an upset. 100 Thieves wins every single lane and this one is over before it even begins.
– TheStormSurge
5 FOX vs GGS
FOX might’ve lost their perfect season, but they stayed at the top of the rankings. GGS didn’t match FOX though. They continued losing games. HOWEVER, I dasn’t trust these FOX guys yet, so I’m taking GGS to steal one with a classic Hai power call. I mean, GGS shouldn’t win this, but I like the underdog here.
– mandersxii
HAIKU OF THE WEEK
Mardi Gras is here
Yet LCS perseveres
I want to watch both
SUNDAY’S MATCHES
6 FLY vs C9
Yooo, FLY is a great candidate to finish seventh. They have a strong enough roster to keep on beating up on OPT and GGS, and take a win over CG and maybe someone stronger, like CLG or 100. I’m not seeing them take a match over C9 who just generally don’t lose to dregs and near dregs like FLY. Sorry esports Milwaukee Bucks, I’m taking the boys in sky blue this time.
– mandersxii
7 GGS vs 100
I’m going to start a petition to free Hai because this dude deserves so much better than what he has been given. The master of reverse sweeps and arguably the best shot caller possibly in NALCS history is trapped. Assuming that they lose to Echo Fox they will still be winless coming into this game and I don’t expect that to change at all. 100 Thieves wins, easily, and while mid lane will still be fun to watch elsewhere is going to be a shit show. There really just isn’t that much to say about this matchup until GGS shows a pulse other than Hai. #FreeHai2k18
– TheStormSurge
8 TSM vs CLG
This is my FLYAMESE KINGDOM GAME OF THE WEEK. The two heavy hitters are back in the swing of things with both of them nabbing some key convincing victories. I’ll let my fanboyism say everything here, 100 – 0 TSM and I don’t give a damn who disagrees. In all seriousness, this is going to be an amazing game that I won’t be able to see because I’ll be drinking at parades so watch it in my steed.
– Flyamese Cat
9 TL vs FOX
This was almost my vote for game of the week but I like TSM in case you haven’t figured it out. The mish mash 100% new non legacy Echo Fox has been on fire and TL is not a meme right now. I’m looking forward to some DoubleLift action though. I’m giving this one to Liquid, 55-45.
– Flyamese Cat
10 OPT vs CG
Rounding out the week we turn to the match that no one will watch because the last two games were TSM Vs. CLG, and TL Vs. Echo Fox. SO…. WHO IS PUMPED FOR THIS ONE! EH? EH? THAT’S RIGHT IT’S! Nooooobodyyyyy….. However, no one will be excited and rightfully so, because let’s be real no one gives a shit about a 1-5 team and a 2-4 team. I kinda got shafted on picking this game because, I couldn’t tell you who is gonna win this. Clutch has a whopping two wins, one over GGS and the other was a fluke over CLG, Optic has a whopping one which was over WildTurtleQuest. Febiven is a good mid laner and so is PowerOfEvil. However, I will not ever trust Lira in the jungle and certainly not Apollo. Lemonnation gets Arrow fed early and he will look like his MVP self. Optic gets their second win of the split. PS Akaadian, less time in the gym, more time in the jungle, because I will never trust you in the jungle.
– TheStormSurge
INVENTION I CAME UP WITH THAT I THINK WOULD BE USEFUL, BUT ONLY TO ME
White butter! Hear me out:
I don’t like cream cheese, but I like eating bagels. I feel like everytime I put butter on my bagel, I get judged for having butter. So, I want white butter, so I can avoid that judgement. People who also eat bagels will look at my white buttered bagel and think, “Wow, he’s just like me!” This is so useful.
SHAKESPEAREAN INSULT OF THE WEEK
“Come, come, you talk greasily; your lips grow foul.” – Love’s Labour’s Lost
I assume this written specifically about Doublelift when he talked shit about Elements.
That’s it for this week! Enjoy the matches, and if you’re in New Orleans, enjoy the parades!