Just like that, it's playoff season in North America as the top six LCS teams are on the road to League of Legends glory. Team Liquid and Cloud9 were able to secure byes from the first round and will be eagerly waiting to see who awaits them in the semi-finals.
This weekend, Clutch Gaming will take on Team SoloMid in an interesting rematch from last year's Playoffs and Counter Logic Gaming will have to hold their own in a tough best of five with OpTic Gaming.
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Both best-of-five series should be exciting to watch so to get ready for the epic matches, here is a preview with predictions for Team SoloMid vs Clutch gaming and Optic vs CLG
Team SoloMid (1.28) vs Clutch Gaming (3.30)
First on Saturday we have Clutch vs TSM with the latter being the favourites considering their fourth-place finish and the pure pedigree of the organisation.
However, we wouldn't write off Clutch Gaming in this series. In fact, Clutch could quite easily come out on top as they are in much better form than their opponents.
Clutch managed to slowly but surely climb the rankings by consistently beating the lower half of the LCS, though they did struggle against the big teams. Top-laner Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon, jungler Nam "Lira" Tae-yoo and ADC Cody Sun have all been in inspired form over the last few weeks and look more than ready for the Playoffs.
Meanwhile, TSM have been in torrid form and took to drastic measures last week by subbing in their third jungler of the Summer Split in Mingyi "Spica" Lu. It was a move that paid off as on his debut, Spica was able to steal Baron and secure TSM's Playoff place though the opportunity was practically handed to him on a plate by FlyQuest.
Related: Boukev's LOL betting tips
Shockingly, TSM have decided to stick with the new jungler and won't be taking either of the other two into Playoffs as subs. Instead, ADC Edward "Tactical" Ra and support Erik "Treatz" Wessén will be providing back-up for the best of fives.
Considering that shocking decision, there is clearly something going on a TSM and that kind of unrest surely can't be healthly. Clutch surpirsingly eliminated TSM from the Playoffs last year and we think history will repeat itself.
Score prediction: Clutch Gaming win 3-2
Counter Logic Gaming (1.37) vs OpTic Gaming (2.80)
We were already given a preview to this bout just last week as CLG managed to take down OpTic despite not playing anywhere near to their potential.
In the second half of the Summer Split, CLG have impressed and look like one of if not the cleanest team North America has macro-wise. The team were able to control the game against OpTic, despite some sloppy mistakes and were eventually able to close out, just about.
Again, CLG were not at their best last week and did suffer defeat to 100 Thieves thanks to the heroics of Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook.
OpTic on the other hand showed a great deal of resilience to bounce back from defeat at the hands of CLG and Cloud9 to win tiebreaker games against 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians to secure sixth place.
Niship "Dhokla" Doshi was a monster in those last two games on his signature Aatrox pick but it's likely that CLG will be ready for that. OpTic themsleves though have also shown good macro play at times and their strong drafting will give them a boost in best of fives.
There's a lot of fun match-ups here too. OpTic's mid-laner Lee "Crown" Min-ho is the key man for the team and will surely get a lot of attention from CLG's jungler Raymond "Wiggily" Griffin who has been equally as crucial to CLG's success. Both teams bot-lanes are probably their weak points so the ADC and support battles could be the deciding factor in this series.
OpTic are a good side but CLG will likely be too good for them unless they have an uncharacteristic off day.
Score prediction: CLG win 3-1
Think you know better? Make your LCS precitions now.
Picture: LoL Esports / Flickr
