Oh does it feel great to #LiveEvil. EG started off the split in the worst way possible, going 0-3. But EG aren’t a team that anyone should count out and they proved that. The next five weeks of the LCS were a tear of EG wins leading to their 8 game win streak. The current standing have EG in a 3 way tie for third, something that has been weeks in the making. They are currently tied with C9 and TL who are both slumping. Despite this, for some reason, people are not talking about EG possibly being the best team in the LCS. Here are some takeaways from this week.
The title says it and the fans aren’t. What is going on here? EG are on an eight-game win streak beating every single team but TL. The community is bullish on 100T for doing the exact same thing earlier in the split, but now when EG did it no one is taking it seriously.
And sure, an argument can be made for 100T being better. That’s fine, but when the narrative is more or less can C9, TSM and TL make a resurgence rather than EG pretty much sweeping the LCS, something is wrong. Whether it’s on Reddit or Player of the Week, EG aren’t getting the treatment that other teams do. Did Licorice REALLY perform better than Danny or IgNar this week? Of course, Licorice played great, but the last two weeks EG deserved to have a POTW and were denied.
Courtesy of Riot Games and Espat
Bias aside, this roster is truly special. Danny has shown the potential of NA talent at an Amateur level when given a chance. EG as an organization have proven that fostering talent is the way to go. EGP and EGA are truly special rosters with numerous players who one day may get a starting spot in the LCS. Svenskeren and Contractz are showing that a two JG system CAN work, which is quite surprising. In traditional sports, usually, these systems don’t work, but for Svenskeren swapping seems to be in his DNA.
Impact, while not carrying the team as hard as the Spring Split, is still doing an amazing job providing solid weak side laning with a much larger champ pool. IgNar is honestly a Top 3 support in NA right now and proved it with a monstrous Thresh game. And finally, Jiizuke is still the best laner in the LCS and his stats are frankly insane.
The only team that feels close in terms of synergy, confidence and playstyle is 100T, but EG beat them this weekend. For that reason, EG are the best team.
There are only nine games left in the LCS season with the second Round Robin being completed on Sunday. As they are tied for third, these next few weeks are critical for rankings for the LCS playoffs. Thankfully, EG seem to have a very easy start next weekend. They play Golden Guardians on Friday, Flyquest on Saturday and Dignitas on Sunday.
Courtesy of Riot Games and Espat
And while GGs and Flyquest are surging, there is a good chance their streak will end. FLY in particular are a great roster of players and deserve a lot of the props they got this week. For an Academy team to do what they did is REALLY impressive. But what a lot of people are not talking about is how most LCS teams seemed to have been caught off guard. If CLG can have a 3-0 weekend and beat everyone and then go 1-8 in their next games, there is no reason to say that can’t happen here. FLY are good, but they are not THAT good. Definitely a great foundation for next year though, especially Kumo and NXI.
GGs are also surging with the Licorice trade. Frankly, this is the same situation. GGs had a great week, but history shows that teams like that fall off, see IMT as well from the start of Summer. Heck, even Solo Week 1 helped GGs beat C9. These two teams have good players, but they haven’t yet proved they are teams able to keep up this level of play.
And finally, Dignitas are still a really eh team that EG should just beat. No games are for certain, but EG are certainly favored heavily in all three of these games.
If EG go 3-0, they will have a huge surge in the standings thanks to a few key games this weekend. TSM and TL on Sunday is one of these. Only one can win, and either way, it’s beneficial. TL winning would probably be better, but most would say TSM has the edge. Another big game is a Team Liquid match, TL versus 100T on Saturday. Most likely, TL will lose one of these dropping them out of the three-way tie. C9 though has an easy weekend as well with CLG, IMT and GGs.
Bracket Courtesy of Leaguepedia
So in the worst-case scenario, the three-way record tie with EG, TL and C9 continues, but both 100T and TSM drop a game making it so they are only 1 game off of TSM and 2 off of 100T.
This ending of the split is looking quite spicy. While the majority of this article is just talking about the standing, they really do matter. If EG secures Top 2, they get a bye. If they then win their first game, they secure a spot at Worlds. Let’s say though that they lose. They only need to win two games to go to Worlds. Now if EG get top 3 or less, they need to win two games in a row in the top side of the bracket to make Worlds. Still not bad, but if they drop the first series, they need to win three BO5. If they win the first and lose the second, they need to win two in a row again. In all the cases, it is day and night the edge the team get being Top 2 and getting the bye.
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