Legends Championship Series (LCS) is set to make a return this Friday, March 20, following a six-day hiatus amid COVID-19 outbreak which put the league as well as its Academy league to a halt. However in a bid to keep the health and wellbeing of their players and others involved, LCS will continue its Spring Split with an online format, meaning all North American LoL teams will be playing the remainder of the split from their headquarters.
Although the online format might affect the performance of the teams, given that there are bound to be some latency issues, it does not take away from the excitement Week 8 of LCS Spring Split will bring, as top NA LoL teams battle it out for one of five remaining tickets leading to the playoffs.
Golden Guardians vs Team SoloMid
Friday, March 20 - 14:00 PST
Golden Guardians and Team SoloMid will kick-off Week 8 of LCS Spring Split with their second meeting of the season. The first clash between Golden Guardians and TSM took place at the start of February, during Week 3 of the split, where TSM edged past their adversaries in a convincing fashion.
Although TSM held the rains of the match in their hands for most of the fixture, Golden Guardians came close to turning the game around, yet fell completely flat in the late game, where they were no match for the Xayah-Rakan tandem and the unorthodox Qiyana top lane pick.
A lot has changed since then, however, the balance of power remained mostly the same. Both teams went through some tough periods this season, however, Golden Guardians have yet to fix their mid-late game struggles, while TSM made massive improvements in their overall gameplay and overall team synergy.
This will be a crucial match for TSM, who can guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs with a win, so it's safe to say Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and co. won't be holding back. Australian eSports betting company Picklebet has TSM priced as heavy favourites and it's hard to argue against that, given that TSM have shown a lot of progress and their win over Cloud9 and FlyQuest in Week 7 indicates they have emerged as serious contenders for the Spring title.
Siding with TSM here is a no-brainer pick in our books, however, they are capable of much more than just defeating Golden Guardians. Kills handicap of -6.5 kills on TSM provides us with generous odds of $1.90 and considering how strong TSM looked like recently, they should have no difficulties closing out this match with at least seven kills to spare.
Team SoloMid to win
$1.28
100 Thieves vs Cloud9
Friday, March 20 - 15:00 PST
Billed as one of the most one-sided fixtures of the week will see Cloud9 take on 100 Thieves in what will be an important match to win for 100T, and more of a practice match for Cloud9, who have secured their ticket for the playoffs long ago.
The motivation behind this match is also a crucial factor in our betting prediction. Cloud9 are understandably heavy favourites to win, and while it's easy to expect Eric "Licorice" Ritchie and his crew will end up claiming the spoils, 100 Thieves are not as bad of a team as the odds would suggest.
Last week, 100 Thieves decimated Dignitas and Immortals, while they impressed with their win over Evil Genuises back at the end of February. In Week 7, we saw massive improvement from key players at 100 Thieves, namely the veteran jungler William "Meteos" Hartman, who showed up and made some big plays, which helped his team secure a perfect week. That is not to say, other members of the team failed to deliver, however, Meteos' improvement alone will play a pivotal role in 100 Thieves' race to the playoffs.
Putting the teams side-by-side, 100 Thieves still field less individual quality, however, their improvement in recent weeks and solid performances from all of their members leads us to believe they can cause some serious damage to Cloud9. The total kills line is set at 21.5, which seems a bit too low for this bout. What's more, odds of $1.87 on +8.5 kills handicap on 100 Thieves seems a bit too generous.
It won't be an easy game for 100 Thieves by any means, but if they can enter Week 8 with the same fire they have shown in Week 7, Meteos and co. should be able to keep Cloud9 on their toes and keep this match close.
Team Liquid vs Evil Geniuses
Friday, March 20 - 16:00 PST
Team Liquid looked fairly solid in Week 6, when they defeated both Team SoloMid and 100 Thieves, but fell flat in Week 7 with two defeats against Immortals and Counter Logic Gaming. Based on that performance, it's clear that inconsistency is still a massive problem for Team Liquid, who just might miss out on playoffs for the first time in two years.
What exactly is wrong with this team is anyone's guess, as there are no clear issues that needs to be solved, meaning Liquid's problems are deeply rooted in the team itself. What we can say for sure, however, is that Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng's performances this season have been rather lacklustre and until he doesn't improve, Liquid will struggle.
Evil Genuises on the other side have drastically improved since the start of the split. Colin "Kumo" Zhao and Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro have finally found some consistency while Bae "Bang" Jun-sik started putting up some impressive performances. Although EG needed some time to find the needed synergy, they are entering Week 8 as one of the hottest teams in the league.
Despite the obvious difference in teams' form, Team Liquid are still priced as heavy favourites to win. There is no doubt they field some of the best individuals in the LCS, but their overall performance leaves a lot to be desired. If Evil Geniuses can continue playing at the same tempo as they did in recent weeks, they have a legitimate chance to win.
Evil Geniuses to win
$2.26
Counter Logic Gaming vs Dignitas
Friday, March 20 - 17:00 PST
Despite their disastrous start of the season and a 3-11 record, Counter Logic Gaming have drastically improved throughout the recent weeks and are now finally playing competitive LoL. Much of their improvement is due to the arrival of Eugene "Pobelter" Park, who looks great and it seems like his experience and leadership is exactly what CLG needed.
While CLG started slow and improved, Dignitas took the opposite road - they looked very strong in the first couple of weeks in the LCS Spring Split and are now arguably playing one of the worst LoL out of all teams.
Entering Week 8, Dignitas are on a five-game losing streak, which includes defeats against FlyQuest, C9, 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians. The biggest issue we have with Dignitas is their poor decision making, while Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, who is known as one of the most consistent players was anything but consistent in recent weeks.
Despite all their struggles and iffy displays, Dignitas are still entering this bout priced as favourites, which we simply can't agree with. While they have some of the most experienced players on the roster, their inconsistency and outright poor decision makes it hard to side with them over CLG, who have vastly improved. Picklebet has CLG priced at 2.13 which is way too generous and makes our prediction for this match very easy to make. Siding with CLG at +3.5 kills is also very tempting, as we have no reason to believe Dignitas are capable of coming out ahead.
