Week 8: Predictions for the EU LCS

IEM told us that SK Gaming was not invincible--in fact, it went far to answer the ever present question: which region (EU or NA) is better?  Will we see more Lucian and Graves bans?  H2k has an easy schedule this week, while Fnatic has to stave off their winning streak against the unpredictable Unicorns of Love.

Games to Watch:

1.  Copenhagen Wolves vs Unicorns of Love.  This matchup will settle who moves up from the middle ground, and who will stay with the lower pack.  Both teams face difficult matches Friday (the Wolves face SK, the Unicorns of Love will face Fnatic), so their chance to at least stay even comes down to this game.

When: Thursday 12:00 PM PST.

2.  SK Gaming vs Copenhagen Wolves.  Now that IEM has laid out how to break down SK, can another team that relies heavily on a strong AD carry be able to take them down?  If nothing else, it'll be an interesting match just to watch for the AD carries.  I'd also expect a lane swap early game.

When: Friday 12:00 PM PST.

3.  Giants vs ROCCAT.  Both of these teams are close to the bottom of the totem pole--but if either takes off in these last few matches, there is a chance that they could jump into that sixth spot.  Let's see just how much they want to compete in the Mid Season Invitational.

When: Friday 1:00 PM PST.

Full Schedule and Predictions:

Thursday:

10:00 AM - Gambit Gaming (8 - 6) vs MeetYourMakers (3 - 11)
Last Match: Gambit.  11-3 towers, 15-6 kills.  Match time: 42:35.  Week 5.
Prediction: Gambit.  Gambit didn't look great at IEM Katowice, but when all is said and done, they qualified for a high level international tournament.  MeetYourMakers would need to be dealt quite a nice hand to win.

11:00 AM - ROCCAT (5 - 9) vs Fnatic (10 - 4)
Last Match: Fnatic.  6 - 9 towers, 14 - 17 kills.  Match time: 52:44.  Week 2.
Prediction: Fnatic.  Fnatic is looking better each week, with only a minor hiccup here and there.  ROCCAT, though, has seen some rough times recently and has a lot of ground to cover if they want to beat a team like Fnatic.

12:00 PM - Copenhagen Wolves (7 - 7) vs Unicorns of Love (7 - 7)
Last Match:  Copenhagen Wolves.  7 - 10 towers, 28 - 20 kills.  Match time: 42:29.  Week 3.
Prediction: Unicorns of Love.  This is a difficult match to call because both teams hover around the middle.  One week they'll have an explosive pair of games, and the next they'll lose to weaker teams.  This prediction comes down to the style of game play--Copenhagen Wolves prefer an extended encounter that relies heavily on Freeze, while the Unicorns of Love start the game off aggressive and try to wrap things up fairly quickly.

1:00 PM - Elements (5 - 9) vs H2k (10 - 4)
Last Match: H2k.  2 - 10 towers, 4 - 10 kills.  Match time: 30:16.  Week 4.
Prediction: H2k.  H2k looks better every game, and has a good chance at contending with Fnatic for the second place position (and perhaps even first, if all goes horribly for SK this week--unlikely, but possible).  This will also ensure that H2k has the longest winning streak in the EU LCS.

2:00 PM - Giants (4 - 10) vs SK Gaming (11 - 3)
Last Match:  SK Gaming.  3 - 11 towers, 10 - 15 kills.  Match time: 41:55.  Week 4.
Prediction: SK Gaming.  Odds are we'll see a lot of the ban strategies that Korean teams used at IEM to try to marginalize SK, but it will take a much stronger team than Giants to actually keep SK down.

Friday:

10:00 AM - MeetYourMakers (3 - 11) vs H2k (10 - 4)
Last Match:  H2k.  1 - 9 towers, 7 - 18 kills.  Match time: 29:51.  Week 2.
Prediction: H2k.  With their two wins this week, H2k will have a 10 game winning streak.  The only question is whether they'll be able to hold up against Fnatic next week.

11:00 AM - Unicorns of Love (7 - 7) vs Fnatic (10 - 4)
Last Match:  Unicorns of Love.  11 - 5 towers, 18 - 21 kills.  Match time: 44:54.  Week 3.
Prediction: Fnatic.  Although the Unicorns have pulled off a number of successful games against the top EU teams (including the last one against Fnatic), Fnatic is now in the home stretch and fighting for the 2nd place spot against H2k and will bring their best game play to this match.

12:00 PM - SK Gaming (11 - 3) vs Copenhagen Wolves (7 - 7)
Last Match: SK Gaming.  9 - 1 towers, 20 - 4 kills.  Match time: 36:04.  Week 4.
Prediction: SK Gaming.  Like SK, the Copenhagen Wolves rely heavily on an exceptional AD Carry--however, Freeze needs strong picks like FORG1VEN, and in a lane matchup FORG1VEN looks stronger overall.

1:00 PM - Giants (4 - 10) vs ROCCAT (5 - 9)
Last Match: ROCCAT.  4 - 8 towers, 5 - 21 kills.  Match time: 40:22.  Week 3.
Prediction: ROCCAT.  Unfortunately, Giants really hit their stride earlier in the Spring Split; even though ROCCAT hasn't had a positive record either, most European teams have learned: ban out Werlyb's Jax, shut down or zone out Peppinero, profit.  Although ROCCAT will not do it as well as most of the other European teams, they look better going into this match.

2:00 PM - Elements (5 - 9) vs Gambit Gaming (8 - 6)
Last Match: Gambit.  5 - 11 towers, 7 - 12 kills.  Match time: 46:32.  Week 4.
Prediction: Gambit.  Even with the addition of Krepo, Elements have sort of fizzled out this split--perhaps they will have more luck the next time around?  Gambit, on the other hand, have still looked good despite their loss to H2k.