H2K (1/3 with William Hill) vs. Unicorns of Love (13/5 with Betfair) – 20:00 CET Thursday
Unicorns of Love saw their EU LCS playoff seed take a severe hit last week after a 0 – 2 week, losing to a revitalised Origen and a weak Elements side. It will be a disappointing showing for a side that was previously looking to challenge for the top spots in the league, who are now looking to settle for one of the bottom seedings coming into playoffs. H2K on the other hand continue to tear apart the lower teams in the standings, taking both games last week in under 30 minutes.
The sheer power that H2K possess in every role is ploughing through teams currently, often entering the mid game with such huge gold differentials that the game is quick and simple to close out (they sit at almost +1300 gold differential at 15 minutes for the season). UoL have had their fair share of issues in the laning phase as of late, particularly Vizicsacsi’s underwhelming Rammus showing vs Elements in week 8. Current jungler Loulex isn’t really setting the world alight for UoL either, and they look in the weakest state they have all season. With H2K’s recent domination of less than stellar opposition, we can’t see a clear win condition for UoL heading into this game. We expect this game to be straightforward for H2K, snowballing 2 or possibly 3 lanes into an easy, 30 – 40 minute victory. The only light for UoL would be if Loulex can get some effective counter ganks going, but a big laning phase impact is not something we typically associate with Loulex. H2K are the safe money here.
Recommended Bet:
H2K to win at 1/3 with William Hill (1.33)
Origen (6/4 with Betfair) vs. Fnatic (8/13 with William Hill) – 20:00 CET Friday
This will be one of the most hotly anticipated matchups of the final week of the regular season, as we see the two IEM attendants go head to head with both sitting on a 9 – 7 record. Despite a finals appearance at IEM Fnatic still fell to Team Vitality last week, Klaj in particular struggled hugely with his positioning and so far hasn’t been enough of an upgrade over Noxiak. Origen on the other hand had a fantastic 2 – 0 week, Xpeke shining in their win over UoL and Soaz’s Fiora managed to drag them kicking and screaming to a win over Roccat in spectacular fashion.
Klaj will be the player we have eyes on in this matchup, as he looks to be the real weak point of a relatively improved Fnatic lineup. Febiven has been making more of the plays he needs to, Spirit has looked more controlled in the early game and Rekkles is consistent as ever. Whilst Gamsu isn’t going crazy, he isn’t feeding, and this is something that cannot be said of Klaj currently. If he continues to make the kind of positioning mistakes he made last week, Origen will be able to take advantage of it and give themselves opportunities to snowball the game. With Xpeke in the lineup Origen are looking a much more decisive team, and this confident front footed play should be enough to take advantage of Klaj and to a lesser extent Gamsu. Origen to win this one, and at good odds to boot.
Recommended Bet:
Origen to win at 6/4 with Betfair (2.5)
G2 Esports (4/11 with bet365 and William Hill) vs. Unicorns of Love (2/1 with bet365, Betfair and William Hill) 22:00 CET Friday
Earlier in the season, this game would have been a top of the table clash. As mentioned previously, UoL are not looking like the same team they were in the early season, and G2 Esports have stuck it out at the top to emerge in a pack of 3 top tier teams, along with Vitality and H2K. G2 rocked up another 2 – 0 week last week, and a particularly pleasing facet of their week for fans of the team will be Perkz impressive supportive performance on Lulu vs a strong Vitality side. If Perkz can continue opening up his game and diversifying his champion pool, G2 will only become stronger as a team.
G2 are looking like a team that can have 3 different players carry a game, the carry trio of Perkz, Trick and Emperor often going off at the same time. UoL are struggling for the same carry power, and rely on a more team oriented approach to win games. Simply put, G2 are the far better team right now, and shouldn’t have an issue taking out a stumbling UoL lineup.
Recommended Bet:
G2 to win at 4/11 with bet365 and William Hill (1.36)
By: Arron “King Dempz” Dempsey – @arrondempers