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NA LCS Spring Week 5: League of upsets

How far can G2 go? (CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
16th February, 2018
0

We had some intense League of Legends in week four of the North American League Championship Series, with the first day particularly full of upsets. The two bottom teams both took wins as the weekend went on, while previously first place Team Liquid took double losses.

For the most part, we now have a fully tiered set of standings, with one notable exception; 100 Thieves, Clutch Gaming and Team SoloMid are locked in a three-way tie, as each of them have beaten one of the others. Here’s the breakdown.

1. Echo Fox: 7 wins – 1 loss
2. Cloud9: 7-1
3. Team Liquid: 5-3
4. 100 Thieves: 4-4
4. Clutch Gaming: 4-4
4. Team SoloMid: 4-4
7. Counter Logic Gaming: 3-5
8. FlyQuest: 3-5
9. OpTic Gaming: 2-6
10. Golden Guardians: 1-7

We’ve now seen each team in almost all of their matchups, as day one this weekend will be the final part of the first round robin, while the second day of games will feature our first rematches. So far, the standings have largely shaken out in the way week one might have indicated – it’s going to be very exciting to see what the second half of games hold!

Team Liquid (TL) vs Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) – 9am AEDT Sunday
Both of these teams had a rough week four, dropping their respective games. TL had an incredibly tough strength of schedule however, with matches against both C9 and FOX, while CLG’s losses included their game against OPT.

TL really should pick up this match. Although their lack of cohesion has cost them a lot, it sounds like they have identified where that might be coming from and have a plan to fix it. Beyond that, they simply don’t seem to have the same fundamental flaws as CLG have shown this week.

100 Thieves (100) vs Echo Fox (FOX) – 10am Sunday
100 had a similarly rough week last week, including giving GGS their first win of the split on Monday. This came the day after FOX beat GGS, meaning we’ve got a pretty direct comparison between the two very recently. GGS looked pretty strong against both opponents, maintaining routes back in until quite late in the game.

With that in mind, then, FOX are really likely to take this match. They probably were anyway – even in isolation, 100 have been on a clear downward trajectory recently – but given the recent results, it’s hard to imagine them taking down the highest ranked team in the league.

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Cloud9 (C9) vs Team SoloMid (TSM) – 11am Sunday
C9 are tied for FOX in results so far this split, only separated by FOX’s head-to-head victory. TSM were supposed to be somewhat of a superteam (plus MikeYeung) but started poorly and, although they’ve shown improvements, they’re simply not improving to the point they need to if they were going to catch up to the rest of the league.

C9 should absolutely take this game. TSM showed last week against CG that they still haven’t worked out how to close out matches. By comparison, scaling and playing late is one of C9’s great strengths. If TSM get ahead early it may take a little while, but even then C9 should be able to pull back to win.

Clutch Gaming (CG) vs FlyQuest (FLY) – 12pm Sunday
CG had some surprising success in their comeback win against TSM, and paired it with a win against OPT to have a great 2-0 week. FLY only won one of their games, but they looked so much stronger than they have while they debuted their original intended roster; they dismantled 100 convincingly, and were on course to take out C9 for quite a while.

Both of these teams are on the rise, but based on last weekend’s performances I have to think FLY will take this one. I expect them to make substantial improvements in the first couple of weeks playing with the full roster, and CG will be the next to fall victim to this.

OpTic Gaming (OPT) vs Golden Guardians (GGS) – 1pm Sunday
The last match of the first round will be between the bottom two teams in the league, both of whom have struggled through the season before picking up wins last week. OPT’s game against CLG was somewhat closer than GGS’ win over 100, but GGS looked invigorated by their first win.

I want to see GGS win, but their success last week was against a team that looked rather poor. OPT by comparison have won against teams that look a chunk stronger, and so I have to think they’ll take this matchup.

Clutch Gaming (CG) vs Team SoloMid (TSM) – 7am Monday
Head-to-head (H2H): CG, week 4 day 1

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It almost feels unfair to see this matchup again so soon after the first round – it’s just barely a week on. At the same time, though, TSM had control of the game for 45 minutes, with CG snowballing an incredible baron steal into a win. Most of the time though, that trick will not work. In this rematch, I expect TSM to even up the H2H record.

As mentioned in the opener, these two are tied for fourth along with 100 so, depending on Sunday’s games, this could be a tiebreaker. Also, it’s worth noting that Monday’s games now start two hours earlier than they did, so save up some of that mobile data to catch this on the morning commute!

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Team Liquid (TL) vs Golden Guardians (GGS) – 8am Monday
H2H: TL, W2D2
This is a rough one for GGS who are trying improve their split record; likewise, even if TL do stumble against CLG, they should be able to at least go even for the week with this game. Though TL are not in first, I still think they are close to it, and should be able to pick up a victory.

Echo Fox (FOX) vs Cloud9 (C9) – 9am Monday
H2H: FOX, W2D1
In all likelihood, this is going to be a battle for first place, with both these teams poised to take their day one games. While these teams are undoubtedly playing top-tier League of Legends, C9 seem to have been improving in small ways each week, and with their improvements, I’m hopeful they will pick up the win here to tie the h2h record. Either way, this will be a fantastic game to watch.

100 Thieves (100) vs Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) – 10am Monday
H2H: 100, W1D2
Both of these teams are in Struggletown after last week. I don’t want to say either are looking bad, but each for their own reasons they’ve underperformed. For CLG, this may be an opportunity to pull themselves into a playoff seed to kick off this half of the split, but although 100 have been looking weaker, I do think they will win this match.

FlyQuest (FLY) vs OpTic Gaming (OPT) – 11am Monday
H2H: OPT, W2D2
In stark comparison to the previous game, the final match for the weekend is between two teams who have made marked improvements in recent weeks (though, again, it’s for different reasons). Although OPT are looking more put together than they did, I expect FLY to have improved by more during the week as they practise more with Fly, and that they will win the match to close out the weekend.

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I can’t believe we’re already halfway through split one! Whose performance – positive or negative – has surprised you the most so far this season?

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