Another week, another preview. The power teams are well known now, and the shitty teams have proven themselves as well. Now we have three weeks to see if anything will change and… Oh man, I can’t keep it up. Just give me playoffs. There’s no drama to this. Like we said in our podcast earlier this week, there’s only one thing stopping a C9 – FOX finals, and that’s gonna be a terrifying TSM. I don’t wanna fight them. I think Cloud 9 likes having TSM on the 1 seed side of the bracket. (Well, maybe.)
Anyway, I hope my apathy doesn’t get to me this week…
HOw we did
- mandersxii – 21 – 0 – 6
- FlyameseCat 20 – 1 – 6
- TheStormSurge 19 – 0 – 7
If anything, our picks competition is more interesting than the NA LCS right now. Look at that, if FlyameseCat didn’t hedge that one time, we’d be tied! Thank god for his percentage based picking system. It really gave me an edge I hope to never lose.
saturday’s matches
TL (-175) vs. 100 (+120)
This is the closest thing to a fun match-up I could find this week. I would take the underdog in this one. There’s only one way to keep TL in fourth, and that’s keeping them from winning games they should win to destroy their confidence. Aphromoo probably has Doublelift on lockdown anyway. Give me that Thieves upset.
– mandersxii
TSM (-250) vs. FLY (+170)
Did I get the duds this week? I think I got the duds this week. Anyway, we’re on patch 8.4 now, let’s all rejoice as we see Riot attempt to make pro play not last for 60 minutes. Right when Riot decides to nerf Ryze, AP items got reworked to have more viable mana items. While this wasn’t a real buff to the items themselves as opposed to a “we don’t want morello’s first on every mid laner not named Ryze or Cass or Kass” to add more variety to the mid lane. Zoe also won’t be here since she was nerfed to the point of unusability. My point here is that we have one of the most dominant mid laners in LCS history, one of the most dominant Top Laners (by the numbers, I still miss Dyrone), and a jungler who is now seeing success on his preferable assassins. I think Team Solo mid will do their best impression of Echo Fox’s 23 minute victory last week especially with the vigor of coming off of that glorious 2-0 week. I’d rate this one 80-20 TSM.
– FlyameseCat
C9 (-350) vs. CLG (+220)
I think I really actually got the duds this week. What do you guys expect to happen here? Cloud 9 may have 3 losses, but two of them were to the number one team, Echo Fox and the other was to 100 Thieves, one of the teams in the running for third place. Let’s face it, CLG is in shambles and has no real identity right now and can barely keep themselves together. My real hope is that Cloud 9 takes this match with a high level of seriousness and walks all over them. They should also have their eyes on the 23 minute Echo Fox record. I’m rating this one 80-20, Cloud 9.
– FlyameseCat
FOX (-450) vs. GGS (+275)
As the split winds to a close we have the #1 team Vs. the last place team. Some might label this as a trap game but not me. The first time these two teams met Echo Fox messed around in a very sloppy win and almost threw the game. After the absolute manslaughter of TL last week though I can’t see Hai and company keeping this one close, at all, in any lane, Echo Fox rolls like they have and takes out the mid game frustration on GGS.
– TheStormSurge
OPT (+170) vs. CG (-250)
Yawn. Give me Clutch in this yawner of the two least interesting games of the split.
-mandersxii
Haiku of the week
If this week is good
Next week’s games will be better:
There will be drama!
Sunday’s matches
TL (-225) vs. CLG (+150)
Oh boy I get another CLG game. Liquid wins. It’s that simply, but they still remain in fourth. CLG is arguably the worst team in NA this split and it is because this team has absolutely no chemistry and all, there isn’t a defined shot caller, and their macro is garbage. No way Liquid comes out slow after the beat down they took from Fox last week. Doublelift and company roll to a big win.
– TheStormSurge
OPT (+180) vs. FOX (-275)
Snore. Is this even a game? FOX over OPT. Unless Arrow goes Draven… Nah. Even if he goes Draven.
– mandersxii
TSM (-180) vs. 100 (+125)
Oh boy, well my first two games were easy to call. This one however, flip a coin. 100T has shown flashes of absolute brilliance this split and at other times looked totally loss, and the same can be said about TSM. It is literally all dependent on these guys’ bot lanes. Aphromoo popped off last week and yes, support is so ez! Truth be told last week it was for him and they flat out dominated. Both these teams also knocked off a top two team last week and TSM would arguably be the scariest sixth seed in LCS. However! Something tells me Aphromoo is gonna keep the hot streak going and 100Thieves are going to escape with a very, very close W.
– TheStormSurge
C9 (-400) vs. GGS (+250)
Uh. This game has been banned from being watched in 94 countries. Cloud 9 with a hopefully easy win.
– mandersxii
FLY(+110) vs. CG (-160)
Okay, I got the duds, thanks guys. Anyway, I think this match actually has some pretty good implications on just how good Clutch Gaming actually is. Flyquest has been struggling this entire split and Clutch Gaming caught their stride and have barely faltered. I’ve been talking about Febiven a lot this split and for good reason. This is a game that he should absolutely dominate without fail. When i say Febiven is always carrying Clutch Gaming, he is and the numbers show it. He has the highest KDA of any NA mid laner and only has more assists than Fly and Keane, both of whom haven’t played the entire split. I won’t totally count Flyquest out but this match is worth watching for those assuming TSM won’t conjure a way into that 3rd place spot by the end of this split. I’m giving this one 65-35 Clutch Gaming.
– FlyameseCat
Invention That I Think Would be Great, but probably only useful to me
How about an invention that makes up new inventions every week? Or a Rube Goldberg machine that makes new inventions while utilizing the block chain and uhhh… uses machine learning? If nothing else, that last sentence got to be a lot of fun.
Shakespearean insult of the week
“I am sick when I do look on thee” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
It’s how this split is making me feel about the NA LCS. This makes me think of an important question, but has any team actually made any changes at all to their teams? I know FlyQuest made a couple of changes, which was the second most notable thing they’ve done this season after beating TSM in Week 1. I hope some of the lower placed teams don’t think they have the best players on their team right now. Like, LemonNation probably needs to be replaced. Oh, but they replaced zig. That actually makes a lot of sense. Goes to show how little I pay attention to Optic though, since I didn’t even notice him. Anyway, let’s generate some drama guys.
Have a great weekend! Enjoy all of these drama-less games, and pray for an exciting Week 8.