Three Things Dignitas Need to do to Win Their Series Against Immortals

After suffering a 3-1 loss to Evil Geniuses in their Upper Bracket series, sixth seed Dignitas now look to stay alive as they take on seventh seed Immortals in the Lower Bracket. 

Last week, it came to no surprise to see Evil Geniuses knock off Dignitas 3-1. EG is currently the hottest team in the league as they finish the split on a 14-3 run while DIG has struggled to find its rhythm since quite literally week two. Many individuals predicted a 3-0 but DIG managed to perform well and take a game from EG in game two. Now up against Immortals, the black and yellow get another chance to secure a first playoff series win for their young core of Top Laner Aaron “FakeGod” Lee, Mid Laner David “Yusui” Bloomquist and AD Carry Toàn “Neo” Trần. Here are three things Dignitas need to do to win their series against Immortals:

1. Solo Lane Help

Going into the Evil Geniuses series, the only thing Dignitas had going for them was their Bot Lane. If they were to pull up the upset against EG it would be through them. This point of having to win through Bot is made even more evident after the EG series as both solo lanes of FakeGod and Yusui just simply couldn’t hold their own.

Luckily for the two DIG solo laners, they’ll have much easier matchups against Immortals. Instead of verusing 2nd LCS All-Pro Team Top Laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-young and 1st LCS All-Pro Team Mid Laner Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro the solo laners will face Top Laner Mohamed “Revenge” Kaddoura and Mid Laner David “Insanity” Challe, both who are making their playoffs debut. FakeGod and Yusui don’t have to dominate their lane in their games, they don’t even have to win their lanes. As long as they can hold their own and not let their enemy laner snowball, they will give DIG a much better chance to win than they did last series. 

2. Put Aphromoo on a Playmaking Support

If it weren’t for the strong Rakan play by Support Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black in game two against Evil Geniuses, Dignitas might have very well gotten swept in their first playoff series. The LCS legend showed no signs of hesitation in the game as he constantly chose the perfect engage angle when it was time for a fight. The most notable one being his three man knock up to start the fight when EG were doing Baron.

In two of DIG’s losses to EG, Aphromoo played Braum and he just didn’t have the same ability to make plays on a support who is more so focused on protecting his teammates. If DIG wants to beat Immortals, getting Aphromoo on a support which he can make crucial and critical plays on is one of the first steps.

3. Ensure that Bot Lane Gets Ahead

Along with Aphromoo, Jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham also had a good performance in game two and remained consistent throughout the whole playoff series against Evil Geniuses. At times he tried to force fights but a large part of that came from knowing that his solo lanes are going to lose and having increased pressure to make a play. He also spent a lot of his time in the early game trying to gank Top while also make plays in the upper river.

Instead of doing this, Akaadian should try and be proactive in the bottom river and specifically Bot Lane. DIG know that their Bot Lane is one of the strongest in the league. They know they need their Bot Lane to be ahead if they want to win the game. The team should try and attempt to secure this lead instead of helping solo lanes in situations where they might still not get ahead despite ganks or objectives. Put simply, a DIG Bot Lane that is ahead is a much better scenario for the team than a DIG solo laner ahead. Against an Immortals team which has weaker solo laners, ensuring that Neo and Aphromoo are ahead will put the team in great positions to win games and ultimately win the series.