NA LCS Playoff Preview

Quarterfinals: Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Coast

Friday, 4/18, 21:00 CEST / 12:00 PM PDT CLG has been a team on fire, and is coming into the playoffs with something to prove. Coast, on the other hand, is trying to avoid relegation, and is running out of chances. CLG is the clear favorite in this matchup, but there are a few holes Coast can look to abuse. Coast has done best when ZionSpartan goes even or pulls ahead, drawing one or more members top. They even almost snuck a win off of Cloud 9 in the last week of the season by doing that. If they can get him on Jax and get him ahead, CLG is going to have trouble dealing with him. Most teams know this, and Coast has had Jax banned against them in most games. Shiphtur is a god, and can definitely be expected to go toe-to-toe with Link. If he manages to get ahead, he has been extremely dominant this season. Look to see Lulu bans from Coast, and bans or first-picks of LeBlanc. Shiphtur is really going to be the scary threat for the team, as he is basically the most dominant mid – at least statistically speaking – when he gets ahead.

Quarterfinals: Dignitas vs Team Curse

Friday, 4/18, 23:00 CEST / 2:00 PM PDT Dignitas started the split 6-2, but fell off hard after that, with five straight losses followed by a 6-9 skid to the end of the season. They haven't really shown signs of stabilizing, with four of their wins vs XDG or EG, and the remaining two over Curse and Coast. Aside from their first 8 games, they are 6-14, putting them just one game ahead of XDG and EG, and behind every other team. Goldenglue has managed to breathe a little bit of life into the team, pushing them to a 3-3 finish, and their first win vs Curse of the season. Curse will likely devote some bans to Orianna, Evelynn, and Jayce, while Dignitas targets Lulu and LeBlanc. We should see some unorthodox top picks out of Quas and Cruzerthebruzer, like Lee Sin, Ryze or Aatrox. But with Renekton making it through, he's also a likely pick! Curse tends to run full poke or full engage, so Dignitas' success depends on figuring Curse's plan out and countering it. The key matchup will be between the ADCs. Cop and Imaqtpie are both very high-performing ADCs, but with very different styles. Imaqtpie is highly aggressive, picking up a number of kills and early advantages on aggressive champions like Sivir, Jinx, and Draven. Especially on Draven, he has managed to get early advantages and never give them up. Cop, on the other hand, is a more team-fight oriented ADC, preferring long-ranged mobile ADCs like Lucian or Caitlyn. Whoever is best able to support their team in teamfights could very well sway the game in their team's favor.

Semifinals: Cloud 9 vs Dignitas/Curse

Saturday, 4/19, 21:00 CEST / 12:00 PM PDT Cloud 9 is not only 24-4, but 3-1 against Dignitas and 4-0 against Curse. They may take a game off of them in this series, but it's unlikely that Cloud 9 doesn't progress to the finals, and they are the definite favorite coming into these games. Then again, Dignitas is one of only 5 NA LCS teams to ever take a game off of Cloud 9, so if anybody has a shot, it's them. If they are going to win, it's probably going to have to be through Mid, and Hai is not the easy target he was at Worlds last season. The defending champions are ready to prove themselves again.

Semifinals: Team Solo Mid vs CLG/Coast

Saturday, 4/19, 23:00 CEST / 2:00 PM PDT TSM has looked a bit shaky at the end of the year. In the last 2 weeks, TSM is only 3-3, with one of their losses coming against – you guessed it – CLG, their likeliest semifinals matchup. If anybody needs to step up in this game for TSM, it's Dyrus. While he has been no way performing poorly, he has been consistently shut down by Balls. While his stats have been quite good vs almost every other team (as seen below), he has underperformed heavily vs Cloud 9, going 1-11-15 for a KDA ratio of 1.455, and has failed to secure a single kill or assist in his last games vs Cloud 9, going 0-5-0.

Predicted Winner

Cloud 9 Cloud 9 has dominated every team in North America for two seasons, and they've only improved while doing so. They are by no means a perfect team, but they have the definitive edge on every other team, and it'll be up to every other team to try to take advantage of their mistakes. If Cloud 9 is the team to beat, the player to beat is Meteos, as he has been nigh-unstoppable, with the highest KDA of any jungler, 11 deathless games, and 50% fewer deaths than average for a jungler. Be sure to tune in for the playoffs starting Friday April 18 at 12:00 PM Pacific Time on lolesports.com. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman is a League of Legends mathcrafter turned esports journalist who spends his spare time staring at mountains of League of Legends data. Follow him @GentlemanGustaf on Twitter.

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