I didn’t expect TSM to fall into the Lower Bracket right off the bat, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Dignitas probably didn’t expect that, either. Now we’re going to see two of the oldest orgs in North American LoL fighting for a chance to reach the next stage of the Lower Bracket.
For TSM, this is a chance to redeem themselves for an incredibly disappointing showing against the Golden Guardians. For Dignitas, it’s a chance to embrace the underdog role and win back some respect from a community that has set such low expectations for them all year long, myself included.
I had very high hopes for Evil Geniuses coming into the summer split, after they outperformed most analysts’ expectations in Spring. I even power-ranked them second, because I believed they could hold onto their form and improve enough to survive the pushes I expected from TSM and Team Liquid. Meanwhile, I thought FlyQuest had overachieved in the Spring playoffs by reaching the Finals, and that their true form was closer to the middle of the pack.
I was wrong about EG, and while I’m not convinced I’m wrong about FlyQuest yet, I think this series is going to make FlyQuest look like a Finals contender again.
On paper, 100 Academy are the higher-seeded team for this match, finishing with an 11-7 record compared to EG Academy’s 9-9. Advanced gold metrics actually rate EGA higher, though, with +0.46 GPR and +2.8% GSPD to 100A’s +0.17 GPR and +1.3% GSPD.
But 100A’s addition of Kenvi for the final three weeks makes things a bit more complicated. In those six games, 100A put up +0.38 GPR and +6.8% GSPD, a very small improvement despite the team putting together a 5-1 record to close the season.
There is no clear favourite for this series; it’s going to come down to preparation and mental strength.
