NA LCS Week 6 Preview

At the half-way point of the season, North America’s race to the top is neck and neck. In Week 5, every single team went 1-1. The top five teams are still all within a single win of first place, and the rest are way, way behind them. With no clear leader, North America is teetering on the edge of a knife. For the top five—LMQ, Dignitas, Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud9, and Team SoloMid—the last six weeks are up for grabs. It’s time to find out which team has what it takes. Team SoloMid vs. Counter Logic Gaming When: Saturday, June 28, 12pm PDT / 9pm CEST With five teams at the top, there’s bound to be matchups that could upset the power balance - this is just the first. These two teams are currently playing the best in the region, with 3-1 records over the last two weeks. But nothing lasts forever. Team SoloMid have held on this season, despite a mediocre start. Now, they face off against the monstrous CLG, who have climbed their way into first place and refuse to let go. CLG have actually put up quite the season, and top laner Seraph has helped stabilize the team. Now, they stand a good shot at breaking back into the top of the region. They just need a few wins to separate themselves from the rest, and this is the game to start down that road. But will Bjergsen and company get in the way? Dignitas vs. LMQ When: Saturday, June 28, 3pm PDT / 12am CEST Another powerhouse matchup closes out Day 1, with Dignitas and LMQ going head to head. Both teams are 8-4, tied with CLG in first place, but both teams have grown substantially since their initial Week 2 matchup. Back then, LMQ only managed 3 kills, all on KiWiKiD. They’re going to have to do better, and a large portion of that falls on XiaoWeiXiao’s shoulders. He cannot have another 0/2/1/ outing. Dignitas are still going very strong, some bad games aside. Shiphtur, the key new player to the team, went 6/0/5 against TSM last week. If he plays like that for the rest of the season, Dignitas should take first place easily. The problem arises, then, when you take into account their other game last week, against CompLexity. CoL managed 14 kills to a single death, stomping all over their first place opponents. Dignitas had better hope that’s just a sign of CompLexity improving—because if it’s a sign that Dignitas is destabilizing, it could mean lights out for the revived team. LMQ vs. Team SoloMid When: Sunday, June 29, 1pm PDT / 10pm CEST See? I told you there were a lot of big matches this week. TSM and LMQ have no rest this week, as their other match is against each other. This match will be a face-off between MVPs, as Bjergsen (spring split MVP) goes head-to-head with XiaoWeiXiao, who has claimed this split’s weekly MVP title thrice. In their last matchup, XiaoWeiXiao managed a 10.0 KDA to Bjergsen’s 1.0. Bjerg will have to try not to fall behind, while the rest of the team takes aim at the other lanes in hopes to come out ahead. Keep an eye out for Amazing in the jungle, who has improved, and has a much higher chance at slowing down NoName, who went 3/0/10 against him back in Week 3. If TSM can put the brakes on LMQ, they have a serious chance of retaking first place. But if not, LMQ might steamroll their way back to first place. Counter Logic Gaming vs. Dignitas When: Sunday, June 29, 2pm PDT / 11pm CEST The last of the big matchups, CLG vs. Dignitas, has the potential of being the most exciting game of them all. Like Dignitas’ loss to CompLexity, CLG dropping a game to Curse last week shows that the team has some vulnerabilities just waiting to be taken advantage of. Cop and Xpecial absolutely dominated Rush Hour last week, and you can bet Imaqtpie and Kiwikid are aiming to do the exact same thing this week. These teams’ last matchup was an incredibly close one. CLG took the win, but only had 10 kills to Dignitas’ 11. With these teams now tied 8-4 in first place, nothing is more important than taking a win and securing first place.

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