EU LCS SEMIFINALS : PREDICTIONS

BY Jeremy “Ne0 Jets” Heimann

1. COPENHAGEN WOLVES VS ALLIANCE

    Season series 3-1 in favor of ALLIANCE

COPENHAGEN WOLVES last beat Alliance January 14th, all the way back at the start of the spring split. During the split, the Wolves were led by Amazing in the jungle with a 4.1 KDA and their ADC, Forg1ven, with a 3.7 KDA ratio. While the two of them led the team by stats, they really need to get their Mid, Cowtard, and Top Lane, Youngbuck, off to better starts. Each of them averaged only around 2.5 KDA. Youngbuck has shown that his Heimerdinger Top is scary and I expect it to be banned out. I also expect him to fall back to Renekton whenever possible.

ALLIANCE, the “Superteam,” failed to live up to the media hype that surrounded their name early on. Lack of synergy, poor positioning, weak champion pools and individual egos all contributed to their inconsistency, but eventually they learned to work as a unit and managed to finish the spring split just short of First Place. Froggen has a 72.9% kill participation, probably because of his Karthus play. Even when he isn’t on Karthus, he is always around when the team fights break out, and he's not someone you can ban out easily. ADC Tabzz is third in average KDA, sitting at a solid 5.5 (higher then anyone on the Wolves.) Tabzz and Nyph have really grown as a Bot Lane team and should be feared. Shook and Wickd both averaged around 3.0 KDA and are the key reasons why Alliance finished 3rd this split. Shook likes early game Junglers while Wickd tries to counter the meta with Trundle or Irelia.

Prediction ALLIANCE 2-1 win. 

2. GAMBIT GAMING VS ROCCAT 

      Season series 3-1 in favor of ROCCAT

GAMBIT may have lost three games to ROCCAT but they won the most recent and they still have a chance to get the last laugh in this playoff series. Gambit is a playoff machine and they play better when they've had some boot camp time. They finished fourth at IEM Katowice when just before that they were looking shaky. You can’t base what Gambit will do on the regular season. This team comes ready to play and goes up a notch when it’s elimination time. Gambit’s Mid Laner, Alex Ich, is fourth in total kills with 116, and he loves to play high mobility champs with strong kill potential. Genja has an impressive 6.0 KDA, but he'll really need to have a good showing in the playoffs for Gambit to win. His lane mate, Edward, has a team low 2.1 KDA. Diamond in the jungle hasn’t had a great year, but he is still a very dangerous Jungler. I expect to see some bans thrown at him: Eve, Kha'Zix and Xin (yes, Xin) are all strong in patch 4.5. If one gets through, it will be banned the next game. Darien plays a solid Top. He just needs to just go tanky and stay away from the Ryze pick.

ROCCAT had some serious ups and downs (including moments of freefall) and they needed to stop the bleeding. They went an average 2-2 in Super Week right before playoffs and haven’t been so dominant since early in season when they were challenging the meta. Teams have caught grown accustomed to their play style, and they are facing a team that has toyed with the meta a few times themselves. Individually, their stats don’t really stand out but, as a team, they are solid across the board. Their Support, Vander, actually leads the team in KDA at 4.1, followed closely behind by Celavar with a 4.0 KDA. Overpower has a huge champion pool and can seemingly play whatever. Xaxus in the Top Lane is a solid, all-around player. Jankos has good synergy with Bot and works hard on getting them going.

Prediction GAMBIT 2-1 win.