With only two weeks remaining in the regular season, every team is still in the play-off hunt. There’s a real logjam in the middle of the standings at present but this week should bring some clarity to the League of Legends Championship Series’ Summer season with Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, OpTic Gaming and TSM all pushing to join Team Liquid as confirmed play-off participants.
Thieves out to nab play-off spot
100 Thieves are one of three sides currently on the cusp of the play-offs, all sitting in joint sixth place with a 6-8 record.
They have improved over the course of the year and, having beaten FlyQuest last week, are doing what fringe play-off teams typically do – falling to the top-seeded squads but taking down those around and below them.
This is another week with two very different opponents, first Golden Guardians and then Team SoloMid, but the Thieves are considered underdogs for both by Dafabet.
One of the players who has continued to evolve and improve throughout 100 Thieves’ steady climb is Aphromoo. He has shown a diversity in his champion pool, while his synergy with Bang is clearly increasing from week to week.
OpTic face tough schedule
OpTic Gaming were finally able to stabilise last week with victories over both Echo Fox and TSM, the latter being rather impressive.
OpTic now sit at 8-6 and in a tie for the fourth spot, albeit with a fairly brutal stretch run upcoming.
With Team Liquid and Golden Guardians up this week before Counter Logic Gaming and Cloud9 to finish out the season, this is a massive week for OpTic with the need for at least one win strong.
That seems unlikely to come against leaders Liquid – they are 3.500 for the upset – but OpTic are 1.714 favourites to defeat the Guardians.
The most surprising improvement shown this past week came out of top-laner Dhokla, who had been the most-criticised member of the team during the Summer split.
However, he starred on Aatrox and finally appeared to be comfortable taking over his lane and the match as a whole. That could be a potential ban from teams heading into this week, but the confidence and momentum he has could be the ultimate weapon moving forward.
CLG looking strong
Counter Logic Gaming are coming off a brilliant performance last week in which they dispatched both FlyQuest and Cloud9 to leave themselves in a tie for second with the latter.
This week is everything for CLG, with very workable matches against Clutch Gaming and Echo Fox – they are favourites for both – although Clutch have quietly amassed a 6-8 record thus far.
CLG will need to be prepared for some whacky compositions given Clutch have been willing, more than most, to try things out. Clutch can be backed at 2.350 for victory.
CLG completely blew Cloud9 out of the water with an absurd early game that let them accrue multiple dragons and cleanly close out their opponents.
Week to week, CLG continue to prove that they are a top team this split. There’s now a potential rematch with Cloud9 looming – in a tiebreaker for a bye in the first round of the play-offs.
However, keep in mind that Cloud9 have what would appear to be a tougher schedule in the closing fortnight.
Seeding the focus for Liquid
Team Liquid have already clinched a play-off spot but they are still fighting to secure the top seeding for that end-of-stage battle.
Liquid face some powerful opposition this week with OpTic Gaming and Cloud9 due up, but they have been able to sustain a five-game winning streak with players such as CoreJJ continuing to thrive.
The odds suggest that will stretch to seven with Liquid less than 1.500 for both of their matches this week.
With other players garnering MVP whispers, CoreJJ has been under the radar as the best support in the region and the primary shot-caller for the best team in the league.
Outside of his efforts, Impact has done a splendid job in absorbing pressure. Both he and Jensen will face their former side, Cloud9, this week.
