ROUND ONE CLOUD 9 DEF TEAM ENVY 3-1 COUNTER LOGIC GAMING DEF TEAM LIQUID 3-1 UNICORNS OF LOVE DEF GIANTS GAMING 3-1 H2K DEF FNATIC 3-2
ROUND TWO CLOUD 9 DEF IMMORTALS 3-2 TEAM SOLOMID DEF COUNTER LOGIC GAMING 3-1 G2 ESPORTS DEF UNICORNS OF LOVE 3-0 H2K DEF SPLYCE 3-1
NA/EU FINALS TEAM SOLOMID DEF CLOUD 9 3-1 G2 ESPORTS DEF H2K 3-1
TheSequelsRBad1 votesI could see that happening, but even as a C9 fan I am not sure they can take Immortals. It will be close, and I honestly don't know who will take the win.
Shadowatom1 votesIt depends on how IMT handles themselves imo. If they're looking forward to the finals to face TSM before beating C9 (because they've somewhat become obsessed over TSM in a way), then C9 will probably win by catching IMT with their pants down. If IMT take it a game at a time and keep their heads on straight, I think they'll be able to win.
III BAKURYU III 1 votes"C9 will probably win by catching IMT with their pants down"
Indeed I think Immortals how been entirely focused on TSM and as a 1-2 Seed it's harder to practice for the next team as you potentially have to study for 4 teams.
In the playoffs It's much easier to be in the first round as you know who you will be facing each week and build up momentum.
Shadowatom1 votesTechnically speaking, 1-2 seeds only need to prep for 3 teams since TSM will never face C9 and IMT will never face NV (think about it, if NV makes it through, they HAVE to face TSM and likewise for C9 with IMT), but yeah, more than likely they prep for the more likely team to make it through with some minor practice for the other teams they could face, or just do an all around general practice.
Miror B1 votesWould've been nice if you had posted the matchups (with records), and then your predictions after that. Either way, I disagree entirely with a bunch of your things.
-NA, Round 1-
CLG vs TL, TL wins 3-2- I see this series being closer than most people expect. While team liquid didn't exactly "light it up" during the latter half of the split, let's not forget that CLG was a hot mess for a decent chunk of the season with many people (including myself) thinking that Huhi was one of those challenger-level mid laners pretending to be an LCS-level one (someone comparable to the likes of Alex Ich or Keane). While I don't see either of these teams advancing out of the semis, I trust the combination of Dardoch/Fenix/Fabby more than I do the combo of Xmithie/Huhi/Stix
C9 vs NV, C9 wins 3-0- Not exactly much to say here, C9 is a middle of the pack team whilst NV realistically shouldn't even be in playoff contention due to their final game being against the soon to be relegated echo fox. C9 should very easily win this series, but much like the other I am highly skeptical they'll make it out of the semis.
-EU, Round 1-
UOL vs GIA, GIA wins 3-0- Not exactly a hard pick here, with UOL being outclassed in pretty much every position barring support (bit of a hylli fan). I entirely expect this series to be mid-lane focused, as Exileh and Night have been two of the most talked about players at this position all season. While Night has enjoyed a pretty decent rookie split (posting stats similar to the likes of Ryu and Fox), Exileh's has been rather "grey" so to speak. If UOL wants to win, then they'll have to camp mid-lane and try to push their weak link ahead. That being said, Exileh has the 5th most deaths in the league (with the 4 other players with more being in the promo tournament), so even with that happening it may not be enough
H2K vs FNC, FNC wins 3-1- Arguably the only reason to even watch LCS over the next two weeks aside from the promo tournament (which I'd advise everyone to watch, if only because Misfits/C9C have realistic shots of winning an LCS spot this split), both teams are coming in with "makeovers" so to speak. After having wrist issues for most of 2016, Freeze is finally forced to step down in favor of the Greek Menace (to his own teammates) forgiven, while FNC weirdly decided to sub in Werlyb after acquiring Kikis halfway through the split. While I am highly doubtful either of these teams will make it past splyce, history and meta are heavily favoring fnatic to win, something I have to agree with.
You'll get my round 2 predictions once those begin...
Shadowatom1 votesFnatic is coming into playoffs shaky imo. They can win, but considering they've decided to play around with their top lane, I think H2k has a better shot since Fnatic seems more like they're looking for a quick fix player for their top lane since they can't actually fix the problem before playoffs.
I think TL and CLG can go either way tbh, TL has better synergy imo, but I think CLG has better knowledge of what they're doing and how they want to do it. Will be pretty interesting to see who moves on to take on TSM though (NV is not beating C9, if they were playing like they did earlier in the split, then maybe, but I think once they lost to a couple of high tier teams, they just deflated).
III BAKURYU III 1 votes100% What I said so Far
UOL DEF GIA 3-1
C9 DEF NV 3-1
CLG DEF TL 3-1
anonymous1191 votesTeam envy is by far the weakest of the teams that qualified for playoffs. I think c9 will stomp them 3-0.
Clg vs liquid will be a match of who ever throws the least. Looking at week 9 of the lcs it could easily go either way. I think the biggest part of the play offs is that it will be played on the patch that kills lane swapping. I don't think liquid's bot lane will win in a straight up 2vs2 lane. Clg will take it 3-2. Expect lots of throws which are countered by the other team throwing harder.
TSM just completely rofl stomped clg every time they played in the regular season. I think clg will have one game of darshann successfully split pushing to give them a win, but otherwise it will be tsm 3-1.
Imt will be interesting because they can't use laneswaps to make up for turtle losing lane nearly every match. It doesn't help that he is going against one of the most consistently good adcs in the league in sneaky. C9 is a fairly consistent team outside of jensen. In all of their losses when jensen got shut down they looked terrible as a team. I think IMT takes it 3-1.
I think tsm on the next patch will be an even stronger team and imt will be far worse off. I think tsm will 3-0 imt. TSM made it clear just how badly they dominate a straight 2vs2 bot lane match up during their clean sweep over imt in week 9.
III BAKURYU III 1 votesIn my opinion not only starting in the first round better as you have your back against the wall and you HAVE to win it will also build momentum for that team that starts off in the first round. Teams that have been in the first round and at least made it to the finals were
Team Coast 2013 Spring lost in Finals to TSM TSM 2013 Summer lost in Finals to C9 TSM 2014 Summer Won in Finals against C9 TSM 2015 Summer Lost in Finals to CLG TSM 2016 Spring lost in Finals to CLG
5 out of the potential 7 Splits between two teams have been teams from the first round.
CLG vs TL Series will be interesting because in each role between both teams are HUGE mismatches.
Top Lourlo is getting better each week, while Darshan is falling off hard
JNG Depends on what Xmithie CLG will get and same can be said about Dardoch this match up is really the closest.
MID Huhi is getting worse and worse each week and it's obvious that he is out of his element.
BOTLANE CLG has the advantage, TL botlane is pretty much left out to die each game and Fabbyy has yet to make outplays or any for that matter.
crabface51 votesFor me, yeah CLG vs TL could go either way. I can't call it. It will probably come down to Lourlo vs. Darshan. CLG has an advantage bot lane, TL has the advantage midlane, JG's relatively even in different categories, and their playstyles are similar. Probably either going to be 3-2 or 3-0, b/c it will either be really close, or one team will tilt really hard. 3-1 isn't going to happen
TBakes1 votesAre you taking into account that Piglet will probably be back if teams cannot lane swap? He is a more dominant 2v2 ADC and I bet they put fabbyyy back on the bench for playoffs. It would give Liquid a better chance, I think. It could also help CLG a bit because Stixxay-Aphro are decent 2v2 too.
III BAKURYU III 1 votesActually I didn't think about the Piglet and Fabbyy swap. Either way I still see CLG eliminating TL easily. The team as a whole just isn't as good as they were last split. I still see a 3-1 CLG victory.