Can the underdogs make miracle runs happen? – LCS Week 8 Breakdown

The LCS is closing in on Playoffs, which means several teams cannot slip up at this stage of the season.

Which are the teams that have impressed? And which are the teams that have not? – Here is a look at the upcoming weekend’s matches and how that might impact the regular season standings.

Easy weekend for Cloud9 and Team Liquid

Let’s start with league leaders Cloud9, who have been so impressive that they are at the top of the standings presently. This coming weekend will be quite crucial because there are several advantages in staying at the top of the standings. They will first face Dignitas on Friday before a match against 100 Thieves on Saturday. They start both of those matches as favorites. Considering their form and momentum, it might be erroneous to discount a team of their caliber.

Next on the standings is pre-split favorites in Team Liquid. They have a couple of easier fixtures. First, Liquid face Golden Guardians on Friday and then Dignitas on Saturday. The odds for both of those matches are quite similar (1.30 on Friday and 1.35 on Saturday). A double bet: on Liquid against Golden Guardians and Cloud9 against Dignitas, will fetch you odds of 1.75 on Betway. Not too bad for the top two teams of the LCS.

Center cannot hold

The mid-table of the LCS is extremely crowded already. In fourth place lie FlyQuest with an 8-7 record. Dignitas, Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians are all tied on the standings with a 7-8 record. This week could decide which of these teams make it to the top six and the one that falls out of contention for the postseason.

To that end, a key matchup will be between FlyQuest and Evil Geniuses on Friday. Evil Geniuses will start that as favorites (odds of 1.55 on Betway). Evil Geniuses will then face another top six contender on Saturday in a match against Golden Guardians on Saturday with the exact same odds of 1.55 on Betway. If EG win both of those matches, they should, more or less, guarantee themselves a place in the postseason because those wins would mean a fellow candidate falls out of the reckoning.

Evil Geniuses have been one of the teams that have surprised so far. They were quite solid during the lock-in phase but seem to have lost their rhythm in spring. Danny has been in terrific form in the bot lane with returns of 4.93 kills, 2.07 deaths and 3.47 assists per map at a KDA of 4.06 and a creep score of 367.6. Impact has produced solid returns in the top lane with numbers of 2.4 kills, 2.27 deaths and 4 assists at a KDA of 2.82. EG will be hoping that these two will pick themselves and the rest of the team up as the regular season draws to a close.

Counter Logic Gaming, Immortals and TSM, who occupy the bottom three positions of the LCS currently, are not out of it yet. CLG are presently eighth with a 5-10 record but lost their two games to fall well behind in the race for the playoffs. Immortals have fallen away by the wayside, with seven straight losses. They are now tied with TSM with a 4-11 record.