League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) returns this week with the first round of LCS 2023 Summer, and so does our esports tipster Michael Lee, who prepared his top picks for the opening round of the summer split. Today he looks at Golden Guardians vs Cloud9, Team Liquid vs TSM, and Immortals vs Dignitas, who will meet on Wednesday, June 14.
Esports Betting Tips: Wednesday, June 14th 2023
Cloud9 vs Golden Guardians
LCS 2023 Summer
Cloud9 and Golden Guardians will meet on Wednesday, June 14, in the first match of LCS 2023 Summer. The LCS 2023 Spring finalists last met during Mid-Season Invitational, when Cloud9 won 3-1, and they’re expected to win again, which I don’t find too surprising.
Cloud9 were the best LCS team last split and will likely retain that status for LCS 2023 Summer, granted they’ll face pressure from FlyQuest. Golden Guardians can’t be excluded from the conversation of potential LCS 2023 Summer champions as they’ve shown immense growth last split and that they can compete with anyone.
But I could easily say that GG are the fourth-best team, behind 100 Thieves, FlyQuest, and Cloud9; it all depends on whether Golden Guardians will keep playing at the same level they’ve shown in the first half of the season.
Esports bookies have Cloud9 as favourites, which while not wrong, creates an exciting chance to back Golden Guardians, who have shown before that they can compete with Cloud9. This is also a BO1 match and the first fixture of the season, which only adds to the variance and improves GG’s chance to upset.
Golden Guardians to win
$2.70 (1 Unit)
Team Liquid vs TSM
LCS 2023 Summer
Team Liquid and TSM enter LCS 2023 Summer as two outsiders to win the league. But when we talk about the wooden spoon favourites, TSM are the leading team to point at. They’ve not upgraded their roster since LCS 2023 Spring, and even then, they looked bad, so things likely won’t improve in LCS 2023 Summer.
Team Liquid have also failed to achieve much in spring, but they field a few excellent players. The public perception of Liquid is very low, and rightly so, considering how badly TL performed in spring, but I wouldn’t ignore the individual talent on this squad. The only concern with Liquid is whether they’ll manage to create the needed synergy to put their quality on full display. It hasn’t happened last split, so it’s fair to feel slightly pessimistic about that happening.
Nevertheless, Liquid have a much better roster than TSM, which makes them an inviting bet. I typically like to avoid any kill handicaps early into the split, but Team Liquid should win, and unless they stumble, they should do it with eight kills to spare.
Team Liquid -7.5 kills
$1.83 (1 Unit)
Immortals vs Dignitas
LCS 2023 Summer
According to the outright betting markets, Dignitas and Immortals are eighth and ninth favourites to win the LCS. So when we talk about a match between two of the weakest LCS teams, this is it. However, while the betting odds suggest that Dignitas are the favourites, I would prefer to be on the side of Immortals.
Immortals and Dignitas finished last split in ninth and 10th place, respectively, with four and three wins, which is far from great. Dignitas have since signed a new top laner (Rich) and support (Diamond), while Immortals acquired Solo as a new top laner and Treatz as a support.
None of those signings will make either of the two teams substantially stronger, but I like what Immortals decided to do with their rosters for the summer split. Treatz is a big reason Immortals might be much better, mainly due to his ability to lead the team, and this was one of the most significant issues Immortals were dealing with during the last split.
This could easily be a competitive match, but I like Immortals better, and we’re getting solid odds on them.
Immortals to win
$2.15 (1 Unit)
