Oh thank you for the NA LCS; the EU has been very unkind to my w/l record. This is a big week for Echo Fox as they are two wins outside of making it to the playoffs. As things sit if they win two and NRG/TL lose two the teams will be tied for sixth and have split season matches 1-1. If I'm not mistaken that then forces both team to play for the tiebreaker and final playoff spot. Here's the standings going into day one.
1) Immortals (15-1)
2) Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud 9 (11-5)
4) Team SoloMid (9-7)
5) NRG Esports, Team Liquid (8-8)
7) Echo Fox (6-10)
8) Team Impulse (5-11)
9) Team Dignitas (4-12)
10) Renegades (3-13)
It's crazy how Fox is in this position. They need the stars to align and to beat both Cloud 9 and a new Renegades team. It's not easy by any means and has actually become harder. Unfortunately they don't have the luxury of facing the Renegades team of old. They get the new team that took down TSM last week and are rolling in with a ton of confidence. The standings up top are the teams you'll more than likely be seeing come playoff time. There may be some shuffling at the number two spot, but nothing too significant happening.
Here’s the schedule for day two with the predicted winners highlighted in bold (Overall pick record 38-12):
- Team Impulse vs Renegades
- Counter Logic Gaming vs NRG Esports
- Immortals vs Team SoloMid
- Team Dignitas vs Team Liquid
- Cloud 9 vs Echo Fox
Seraph said after their win against TSM that they were the second best team in NA. While that may be far from true it really doesn't matter at this point. What matters is the surge of confidence he and presumably his teammates have coming into the final week. Luckily for them they don't have a shot at making playoffs so they can just go all out without a care in the world. Impulse had a super outside shot of making it to the playoffs and after losing both games last week they don't have a chance at all. They needed to out perform both Liquid, NRG and Fox to have a shot. Regardless, Renegades looked good last week finally going 1-1 against two good teams. If they can keep it up they should win tomorrow.
The split push masters had a rough go against TL but rebounded nicely against Echo Fox to go 1-1 last week. The second game they played and achieved their five dragon win condition. NRG split last week taking on Immortals and TL, but won the more important match of the week. Now they hold a tiebreaker on TL and are in the drivers seat to make the playoffs. With their backs against the wall here's to hoping NRG can pull one out on the second place team. They used to be in that position themselves and if CLG go back to the split push they should have a chance.
Immortals haven't been looking as strong post break. While they had a good game against NRG they didn't jump out to the strong early lead we're used to. They actually only took a 5k gold lead in the 25 minute after killing four and securing baron. From then on they didn't look back, but it was a slow start. When they played Dignitas they actually never lead until the end of the game. It took them acing Dig in the 42 minute and securing baron to win. They were even down 10k gold at one point. Sadly, TSM is a team that you never what you're going to get from them. They're still very dependent upon ending the game around the 30 minute mark or things just get away from them. It's worse when they play against team with strong early games as they usually don't come back. So, even with IMT not looking so hot they are the best team in the LCS and may have caught a break to start off tomorrow.
Dig and Liquid has the makings of another really good game. Dig haven't won in their last four matches, but they've looked good. They gave Immortals a run for their money and played well against Echo Fox. Liquid is coming off of a 1-1 week and need two more wins to lock up a playoff spot. Liquid needs to 1) keep Kiwi off of Braum and 2) not allow Shiphtur to get his hands on Corki. If Dig were playing any other team last week they would have picked up a win, it's just unfortunate that one of their best looking games came against the best team in the league. Liquid have to get it in gear to lock up a spot. A loss here doesn't kill them, but they could really use a win to have no doubts.
This is a huge match for Fox as they have to win out and have NRG or Liquid lose to make it. If one of those teams drops their match that could Fox a lot of momentum heading into theirs. They've played super late game strategies since getting their full lineup back. They usually don't pull the trigger on things until post 30 minutes when their lanes are fully farmed and dealing damage. The problem for them is they are playing C9 today. C9 doesn't know what give up means and have eeked out wins in late games from behind that they never should have. They just have great team fights and shot calling. With those two combos things are going to be really hard for Fox and I don't think they can overcome it. The last time these two teams met was week one and both teams had they're full lineups, and C9 won in convincing fashion. The meta has changed considerably, but I don't think much will change.
Game(s) to watch: Once again all of them will be good matches. You have a confident Renegades taking the rift, NRG vs CLG in a huge game for NRG, IMT vs TSM is the highest profile match, Liquid desperately need a win against Dig, and Echo have to win and need NRG or TL to lose to have a shot at playoffs and they're facing second place C9. It's going to be a good day.