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Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9 Picks

Evil Geniuses

The spring season playoff winners Evil Geniuses kick off their summer season against Cloud9 hoping to continue the fine form that led them to a $100,000 prize pool two months ago. They had a 9-9 win-loss record in the league before winning it all in the playoffs by comfortably seeing off 100 Thieves 3-0 in the final. They face Cloud9 team in a rematch of the round 2 spring playoffs game in which the Evil Geniuses prevailed 3-0. The title win last season was inspired by performances across the team with bot laner Danny winning the player of the game award four times.

Support player Vulcan also made the 3rd All Pro Team while their jungler Inspired 3.04 kills, 1.79 deaths, 6.97 assists for a KDA of 5.61. The mood in the camp is buoyant after the win in the spring playoffs and the roster looks fairly settled ahead of their title defence, with no changes made. They are slim favorites to start off with a win in their first league match.

Cloud9 have to cope without Summit and two other support players Isles and Winsome after a turnover in their roster and it is hard to know how ready they are to face opposition like Evil Geniuses. Summit along with jungler Blaber were part of the All Pro team last season.

Cloud9 faltered in the knockout game despite qualifying two positions ahead of Evil Geniuses in the league. They had a 13-5 record in the league led by their top laner Summit who was top of the Player of the Game standings winning the award seven times. Cloud9 will be boosted by the return of Jensen who rejoined the side after over three years. He previously played and lost three LCS finals before joining Team Liquid and winning his first title.

Cloud9 will hope he can continue his form alongside Fudge who has impressed while averaging 3.54 kills, 1.81 deaths, 5.73 assists with a KDA of 5.12. They will need him to keep that up to have any chance of beating Evil Geniuses and build momentum for the early part of the season.

Golden Guardians

Golden Guardians head into the new season with renewed optimism after a solid 6th place finish in the spring standings. Like the eventual winners Evil Geniuses, they got 9 wins and 9 losses last season and even rose up to 3rd in the standings at one point before flatering in the first playoff round losing to Cloud9.

They now have to cope without their bot laner Lost who averaged 3.45 kills, 2.14 deaths, 4.18 assists and a KDA of 3.57. Replacing him is Stixxay who changes position from positional coach to bot laner. As long as they can manage the loss of Lost, Golden Guardians should be able to pick up the win and get off to a comfortable start. They will be looking to build on their 6th place finish in the spring season and become one of the top tier teams in the league.

FlyQuest also got 9 wins and 9 losses last season and qualified for the playoffs in 5th place even though the team looked to be heading for a top 3 finish throughout the season. They lost to the eventual winners Evil Geniuses in the playoff round. But this season, they have bolstered their squad by adding top laner Philip from their academy.

They will bank on their mid laner Toucouille who was named in the 2nd All Pro Team last season to continue making an impact. Both teams are trying to move up the standings but we think Golden Guardians have enough to win this game and potentially get their season off to a good start while FlyQuest will need their new additions to fire in order to make a game of this and start the season with a win.

100 Thieves

100 Thieves enjoyed a fine spring season finishing 3rd in the standings with a 12-6 win-loss record before going all the way to the finals in the playoffs. They led the table for much of the league season before eventually finishing 3rd. Theyll start as heavy favorites to win against TSM in their first contest of the new season. They will once again bank on the talented top laner Ssumday who had a stirring season winning player of the game five times.

His record of 2.71 kills, 1.47 deaths, 4.91 assists for a KDA of 5.18 is the highest in the team. They go into the new season unchanged aiming to take the next step and win the title this time.With a settled squad and on the back of a solid season, momentum is on the side of 100 Thieves and they will be the favorites in their first match of the summer season and for the rest of the campaign.

TSM endured a dismal spring season finishing 9th in the standings with a 5-13 win-loss record. They failed to make the playoffs and only managed to get themselves off the bottom of the table in the penultimate week after being bottom for most of the season. Mid laner Maple and support player Shenyi were added to the roster to help improve the team.

Though the changes will definitely improve TSMs chances this season, the first match against 100 Thieves may have come too early for them and it will need to be a real team effort to be competitive. 100 Thieves is the favorite in their first match of the summer season and they will be expected to push on and have another fine season this summer.

Team Liquid

After finishing bottom of the table in the spring season, Immortals will be hoping to turn their fortunes around this time. The grim form last season prompted wholesale changes in the roster with bot laner Lost joining from Golden Guardians. He averaged 3.45 kills, 2.14 deaths, 4.18 assists and a KDA of 3.57 and Immortals will hope that he will be able to hit the ground running quickly along with other new faces jungler Kenvi and support player Ignar.

This is a new roster for Immortals and it is hard to know how ready they will be for opposition like Team Liquid with such a short turnaround time. It will take a miracle for the bottom team last year to do any real damage against the league-topping Team Liquid. The money is on a Team Liquid win in their first match of the summer season.

The powerhouse Team Liquid is no stranger to success having won 4 LCS titles in a row and taking the 1st seed for North America at Worlds 2019. In the spring season this year too,Team Liquid enjoyed a stellar campaign finishing top of the standings before being edged out by eventual winners Evil Geniuses in the third round of the playoffs.

Their league record of 14 wins and 4 losses with a 78% win record was unmatched and they go into the new season as one of the early favorites. Their team effort was led by their jungler Santorin who was awarded player of the game five times while mid laner Bjergsen, bot laner Hans sama and support player CoreJJ all made it to the All Pro team.

It is the same roster as last season with Team Liquid hoping to go further in the playoffs and win the title. They are an easy bet to place for the first match of the summer season and are heavily favored to kick on from their showing last season and be competitive in the playoffs again.

Dignitas

Dignitas narrowly missed out on making the playoffs in the spring season after finishing seventh with a 8-10 win loss record and a 44% win percentage. The team will be looking to go one better this time and make the playoffs and they will do so after bolstering their roster by re-signing top laner Gamsu who made the switch from 100 Thieves academy roster.

They will hope he combines well with the assists machine Biofrost who averages 7.25 assists with a KDA of 3.96. Their task will be to remain highly competitive in the league and hope to go further than they did in the spring season and make the playoffs this time around.

Time will tell if the decision to re-sign Gamsu will turn out to be the masterstroke they were looking for but they should have enough in the team to see off Counter Logic Gaming in the first match of the summer season.

Counter Logic Gaming also missed out on the playoffs in the spring season after finishing 8th with a 6-12 win loss record and a 33% win percentage. It was a league campaign where they were just unable to build any real momentum with their highest position only 7th during the whole season.

They have recruited top laner dhokla from the academy roster to replace the outgoing Jenkins but the change alone is not expected to be enough to fire them up the table. They will find it difficult against Dignitas in the first match of the summer season and it is likely they will have to regroup quickly to avoid a repeat of last season and move up the table.

They will aim to be competitive and the top laner dhokla will be key to their chances of having a better season this time.

Read more from the original source:
LCS Picks, Predictions and Odds for 17 June - World Sports Network