With Round 1 of playoffs now being us, we turn to the next round of elimination matches.
The weekend starts with Schalke v MAD Lions, with everything on the line. The loser is eliminated from playoffs and their seasons ends; for the winner, a spot at Worlds and a place in the third round of playoffs.
Schlake 04 v MAD Lions
The first elimination game of the weekend will see MAD Lions take on Schalke 04 and come face-to-face with their miracle run. Schalke has been literally unstoppable in the past five weeks and MAD will be all too aware of the fact. With elimination on the line, MAD could see the possibility of their Summer Split being over a lot sooner than they’d planned. The victor will move on to face Rogue on Sunday. With a place at Worlds already confirmed for Rogue, the winner of this series will also see their Worlds spot locked in. MAD are odds on favourites at 20/29*, though Schalke 04’s current run of form makes it tough to call.
Schalke will go into the series as the most in-form side in the LEC, and with all the hype it’s hard to see past them taking the series. MAD Lions will need to pull in all their knowledge from Summer Split to take down Schalke. Shad0w, who was recently selected in the All-Pro LEC team of the split, will need to work hard to shut down in-form man Gilius. Schalke 04 are slight underdogs at 11/10, however, with form on their side and a best of five victory against SK Gaming under their belt, confidence will be high.
Fnatic v G2 Esports
The replay of the Grand Final to almost every EU LoL split in recent memory. G2 and Fnatic looked like they’d passed on the torch to MAD and Rogue earlier in the split, but the old dogs still have some fight in them. G2 brushed aside MAD Lions in Round 1 in a 3-1 series, as Caps and Perkz, in particular, looked dominant. With all recent meetings being incredibly one-sided in G2’s favour, they are major favourites to do the same again at 20/57. If G2 can continue this current run of form, they should be worthy of their favourites moniker. Though, it will be worth taking into consideration how well Fnatic looked against Rogue last week.
Fnatic’s 3-0 victory against Rogue, however, was almost more impressive and will give fans the Upper Bracket final they desire. For Fnatic, it was mid laner Nemesis who finally started to look comfortable in the mid lane, and looked more than capable against Larssen, who also made it into the LEC All-pro team of the season. With a matchup against former Fnatic mid Caps awaiting him, Nemesis will need to step up this weekend to prove why he deserves to be on Fnatic. Another good sign for Fnatic fans, and those who like to bet on the underdog (21/10) Fnatic’s coaching staff laid on a near-flawless draft against Rogue. If they can repeat that feat against G2, Fnatic will book themselves a Grand Final appearance.
*All odds correct at time of writing.
(Main image: Flickr – LoL Esports photos)