Ready for our picks for tomorrow? Well, let’s jump right in!
Detonation FocusMe faces off against Sengoku Gaming for the fourth time this split, but this time as a best-of-five playoff series. The regular season split went 2-1 in favor of SG, but if you saw the third meeting between these two, you know one of those SG wins comes with a large asterisk. The third meeting began as largely a wash out by DFM. They were dominating every aspect of the game and had a gigantic gold lead. It was all but over and only a matter of when DFM would win, not if. Then…a bug happened. And there was a roughly two hour pause (possibly even longer, we’ve tried to wipe the memory of it out of our minds). And when it was all said and done…there was a remake. A complete one, new draft and all. Surely you can guess what happened next. SG came out of the long pause better than DFM and won. They got the win, but it seemed like a hollow one at best.
We don’t expect another scenario like that to happen again (please don’t, we can’t take another pause of that length) and as far as we’re concerned, it’s a 2-2 regular season between these two teams. DFM is the better of the two teams in our eyes, and that’s why we’re backing them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean this will be easy for them. These two teams are the best in the LJL and it’s really not even close, so expect a tight one more likely than not.
Pick: DFM +1.5 (-525)
Gen.G has been practically unstoppable this entire split. In fact, only one team has beaten them so far, and that’s T1. That loss was avenged roughly a month ago when Gen.G 2-0’d T1 so emphatically that the trucks came out. T1 has been floundering ever since while Gen.G has seemed as strong as ever. If we get the good T1, this could be a great series. But if we get the wishy-washy T1 that got out to a 2-0 lead against DK before almost blowing it, this series could be over in a heartbeat. Look, T1 is perfectly capable of winning this series and while it would shock us if they did, it wouldn’t be THAT much of a shock. We know their pedigree and we know their greatness. The problem right now is that it’s too hard to trust them to live up to the standards they’ve set for themselves. And even if they did, that still doesn’t guarantee them the win against this juggernaut. So with seemingly so many variables having to go right with T1 for them to have a chance, whereas one only has to expect for Gen.G to continue being who they’ve been…it’s an easy choice for us to make. We’re riding with Gen.G.
Pick: Gen.G to win (-285)
We know what you’re thinking. ‘Top Esports just beat them 3-2 about a week ago!’ Yes, this is true, and they made us money doing it. However, Edward Gaming was the better team for large portions of that series, and they simply lacked the ability to close them out.
If they come out the same way again, and we believe they will, we think they get over the hump this time.
The reason we believe they will come back just as good if not better than last time is because of a few things. The first is the revenge factor. EDG had that series in the palm of their hand only for TES to snatch it away in front of the world. It was great theatre for us onlookers, but we’re sure it was a gut punch to EDG. We’re sure they haven’t forgotten it and will want to get back at them. Secondly, last we checked, EDG hadn’t qualified for worlds yet. As if revenge wasn’t enough motivation, they also have the goal of reaching worlds and defending their championship and beating TES would put them a step closer. Lastly, it’s Flandre’s birthday. The stars couldn’t have aligned themselves any better, don’t you agree?
Pick: EDG +1.5 (-260)
Evil Geniuses is the best team in the LCS.
That’s it. That’s all we have.
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Not enough? OK, fine. C9 is coming off a clutch win against CLG, but they’ll be facing an entirely different beast in EG. They lost to them about two weeks ago and lost both meetings against them this split. We expect the talent difference to just be too much and don’t really expect this one to be that close.
Pick: EG to win (-230)
EXCEL vs Fnatic is honestly a very intriguing series. EXCEL won both meetings this split and really should be the clear favorite, but nearly everyone seems to have an odd feeling about this one, even Vegas. They actually have the odds favoring Fnatic to advance right now. Both teams have identical records and on paper this should be a very close one despite the season split record between these two teams. If we absolutely had to choose a side, it would be EXCEL, but luckily we get to coward out of that choice and simply take the over 3.5 games.
Pick: Over 3.5 Total Games (-305)
5 Leg Parlay of all of the above (+324)
