Another lucrative four-fold payout was snatched out of our reach last week after H2K spectacularly choked to Unicorns of Love, the worst team in the League. Thankfully, our favourites – Giants, Misfits and Vitality soldiered on with solid form.
Here are our top picks for Week 4 of the EU LCS Spring Split.
EU LCS Spring Split, Week 4 Accumulator of the Week with Betway Esports
- Splyce to beat H2K – 1.30
- Team Vitality to beat ROCCAT – 1.55
- Giants to beat Misfits – 2.30
- Schalke 04 to beat G2 – 2.05
Betway.com fourfold accumulator pays 9.50
H2K Gaming vs. Splyce
Game 1, Friday, February 2, 5pm GMT / 6pm CET
H2K played some terrible LoL last weekend, steamrolled by the previously winless Unicorns of Love and humiliated by G2 the following afternoon with only one kill to their team’s name.
The group need to rethink their ability to properly use game-scaling to their advantage, given the fast and decisive manner in which both of their previous opponents swept them to prevent any chance of a late-game rush.
Meanwhile, Splyce upset the superior Team Vitality with smarter positioning but wasted their farming and hypercarry advantages against G2.
So long as mid-laner Yasin ‘Nisqy’ Dincer Kasper and top-laner Andrei ‘Odoamme’ Pascu are less conservative in the opening minutes, we think Splyce can learn their lesson in time for a bounce back against the new bottom-of-the-barrel team.
Splyce to beat H2K Gaming – 1.30 at Betway.com
ROCCAT vs. Team Vitality
Game 2, Friday, February 2, 6pm GMT / 7pm CET
Team Vitality continue to destroy the competition with better macro play, unwavering defense and smart teamfight baiting to catch cocky opponents off-guard and remain on top of the standings at 5 -1. An easy pick, then.
Jungler Erberk ‘Gilius’ Demir was the star of last week, using smartly timed ults with Sejuani to bring back the match against Schalke 04 under their control while the rest of the squad picked off objectives and built up their gold lead for a final, decisive push.
As we predicted, ROCCAT show no signs of adjusting their overly aggressive plays for higher-ranked opponents like Vitality, and suffered snowball losses to Fnactic and Giants as a result – and we’re not too confident they won’t repeat the same mistakes here in their desperation for a win.
Team Vitality to beat ROCCAT – 1.55 at Betway.com
Giants vs. Misfits
Game 3, Friday, February 2, 7pm GMT / 8pm CET
The Giants continue to focus on objective play and the long-game to great effect, as demonstrated with their comeback win over ROCCAT last weekend.
Mid laner Felix ‘Betsy’ Edling led the Giants with his dominant Azir and an overwhelming hyper carry, while AD carry Pierre ‘Steeelback’ Medjaldi’s smart positioning was crucial in shutting out ROCCAT from a late-game Baron secure.
Misfits leaned a little too hard on AD carry Steven ‘Hans sama’ Liv last week, who carried the overly passive team to victory over Fnatic with his ridiculously high damage output.
However, they arguably only got the lead after Fnatic fumbled on a critical teamfight push, and displayed a lack of coordination in where to press their opponent even with a 6,000 gold lead.
Expect a back-and-forth struggle given the way these two have been fighting the past few weekends, but the Giants will know how to close.
Giants to beat Misfits – 2.30 at Betway.com
G2 vs. Schalke 04
Game 5, Friday, February 2, 9pm GMT / 10pm CET
Both G2 and Schalke have struggled to find their place in the EU LCS Spring Split – this match will determine who ascends from the middle of the pack and gets a real chance at top 3.
G2 returned to form with their dismantling of Splyce last weekend, smartly calling their Elder Dragon bluff while mid laner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovi? performed some crucial clutch sleeps for easy teamfights and a slow and steady close.
Schalke have significantly improved on the teamfighting front and in securing the right picks throughout the game, with mid-laner Erlend ‘Nukeduck’ Holm continuing to deal out consistent damage as Galio and top-laner Milo ‘Pride’ Wehnes exerting constant pressure as Kha’Zix.
We’re backing Schalke 04 for another bounce back given their better team composition, especially if Nukeduck can continue to keep the mid-lane down on lock.
]]>Another glorious four-leg multi payout was just out of our reach last week after Splyce disappointingly rolled over to ROCCAT, though Fnatic, Misfits and Schalke continued to pull the rug from under the EU LCS’s favourites as we predicted.
Here are our top picks for Week 3 of the EU LCS Spring Split.
EU LCS Spring Split, Week 3 Accumulator of the Week with Betway Esports
- H2K Gaming to beat Unicorns of Love – 1.80
- Giants Gaming to beat ROCCAT – 1.85
- Team Vitality to beat Schalke 04 – 1.70
- Misfits to beat Fnatic – 1.90
Betway.com fourfold accumulator pays 10.75
Unicorns of Love vs. H2K Gaming
Game 1, Friday, February 2, 5pm GMT / 6pm CET
Unicorns of Love remain the only winless team in the EU LCS heading into Week 3 and we’re not surprised one bit.
They’re prone to sudden collapse after any opponent gets a teamfight snowball rolling and without a strong shotcaller, their indecisiveness has led to predictable, albeit entertaining massacres.
H2K Gaming fared little better last week in match-wins, but they scored plenty of First Bloods and early skirmish victories that showed some significant improvement in their lane-control.
Both teams will be looking to bounce back from straight losses, but we reckon H2K are due for a proper comeback game this Friday.
H2K Gaming to beat Unicorns of Love – 1.80 at Betway.com
Giants Gaming vs. ROCCAT
Game 2, Friday, February 2, 6pm GMT / 7pm CET
Both the Giants and ROCCAT head into their clash on Friday in form, though we think the former are better equipped to deliver the upset.
The Giants have opted for the long-game over aggro plays to find great success this series, patiently gold farming and handing off a few battles here or there before overwhelming their overconfident foes around the half-hour mark.
Mid laner Felix ‘Betsy’ Edling is the Giants player to beat after his excellent performance as Veigar last week, smartly using his stack of AP to decimate G2 and secure his team’s logic-defying comeback victory. AD carry Pierre ‘Steeelback’ Medjaldi and his late-game Kog’Maw is another emergent threat ROCCAT will need to shut down early.
ROCCAT doubled down on its aggressive objective baiting last week which worked against both of its weaker, more impatient opponents. However, the Giants are a much more disciplined threat, and so long as they keep promising ROCCAT mid-laner Jin ‘Blanc’ Seong-min from dominanting as Azir, they can set the pace once more.
Giants Gaming to beat ROCCAT – 1.85 at Betway.com
Schalke 04 vs. Team Vitality
Game 3, Friday, February 2, 7pm GMT / 8pm CET
Mid-lane marvel Erlend ‘Nukeduck’ Holm continues to be instrumental in Schalke 04’s handful of surprise victories this EU LCS series.
With pinpoint precision as Malzahar, Nukeduck and company have shut out numerous enemy carries and turned around many early skirmishes with calm and coordinated counter-plays.
As much as we’ve rooted for Schalke since the preseason, however, Team Vitality have shown superior macro play in almost every single match to-date – and we’re expect another decisive victory here.
Whether it’s mid-laner Daniele ‘Jiizuke’ di Mauro assassinating foes left, right and center as Ryze or support Jakub ‘Jactroll’ Skurzyńsk making the most of the late-game, they show no signs of ceding their top position.
Team Vitality to beat Schalke 04 – 1.70 at Betway.com
Fnatic vs. Misfits
Game 5, Friday, February 2, 9pm GMT / 10pm CET
Fnatic are on the verge of a bottom placing and desperately need the win this Friday.
However, their performance last week shows they have yet to improve upon their terrible lane management habits, allowing several opponents to backdoor their Nexus with inefficient recall.
Fnatic’s midlaner Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther is the weak point the Misfits are more than capable of exploiting, particularly if Steven ‘Hans sama’ Liv can continue his teamfight domination while jungler Nubar ‘Maxlore’ Sarafian sows discord with more sneaky objective captures.
Misfits to beat Fnactic – 1.90 at Betway.com
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Every team got their nose bloodied, save for the rejuvenated roster of Vitality, while our favourites Misfits, Schalke 04 and Splyce had some rocky starts.
Some spectacular upsets, impressive split-pushing and aggressive zoning from all parties, then, and Week 2 looks to bring more amazing plays as the teams find their groove and settle in.
Here are our top picks for Week 2 of the EU LCS Spring Split.
EU LCS Spring Split, Week 2 Accumulator of the Week with Betway Esports
- Splyce to beat ROCCAT – 1.55
- Misfits to beat H2K – 1.35
- Vitality to beat Fnatic – 2.75
- Schalke 04 to beat Unicorns of Love – 1.40
Betway.com fourfold accumulator pays 8.05
Splyce vs. ROCCAT
Splyce’s crew suffered an early setback last week against Fnatic with poor coordination and map control, but their second match against UoL proved they know how to play the long-game.
Andrei ‘Odoamme’ Pascu will have to work on evading gankers a little better, but mid-laner Yasin ‘Nisqy’ Dincer Kasper and support Raymond ‘KaSing’ Tsang held the line as consistently as we expected and should continue to impress and help secure another win here.
ROCCAT let Schalke 04’s Ryze tear them apart in a discouraging scramble for plays and even with the G2 win, it’s made us less confident in their own ability for an extended comeback tour.
Splyce to beat ROCCAT – 1.55 at Betway.com
Misfits vs. H2K
Methodical is the best word to describe the Misfits’ dismantling of Schalke 04 last week.
Top-laner Barney ‘Alphari’ Morris and jungler Nubar ‘Maxlore’ Sarafian lived up to our expectations as the Misfits dream-team duo, and we reckon they can easily keep up the pain against H2K.
Alphari was brilliant as a roaming Gangplank and his 7/0/8 KDA was well deserved, while Maxlore’s active ganking and lane management will keep the group one step ahead.
H2K were aggro on the barons and while it worked the first time, their top-lane needs some work if they wish to avoid another lopsided team-fight massacre that Vitality was serving up in droves.
Misfits to beat H2K – 1.35 at Betway.com
Vitality vs. Fnatic
Vitality’s roster returned to the 2018 season refreshed and it showed in their rapid-fire domination of the mid-lane and its towers against Giants Gaming.
Their slower, more methodical dismantling of H2K’s top-lane last week also have us confident in their ability to switch things up with the veteran roster of Fnatic this Saturday.
In contrast, Fnatic were quick on the objectives but showed questionable lane management last week. The aggro approach worked on Splyce because they lacked nuance themselves, but Vitality have shown they’re a whole other ball game.
Vitality to beat Fnatic – 2.75 at Betway.com
Schalke 04 vs. Unicorns of Love
The Schalke 04 rookie to watch, Elias ‘Upset’ Lipp, called in sick, but mid-laner Erlend V?tevik ‘Nukeduck’ Holm showed proven experience is more than enough to secure the Rift.
Nukeduck’s near solo steamrolling of ROCCAT last week with Ryze was incredible, as was Upset’s support fill-in Oskar ‘VandeR’ Bogdan, who turned around a 3v5 engagement with a triple kill and set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
Other than some early split-pushing from Fabian ‘Exileh’ Schubert which was well executed, Unicorn of Love were on the back-foot the entire opening weekend.
The 04 mistakenly let the Misfits get the long-game foothold, but we don’t think UoL’s current track record gives any indication they’ll be able to do the same here.
]]>The EU LCS spring tournament will see 10 teams duke it out for top spot in Europe, and will feature four of the best teams from the previous LCS summer season, winners of the EU LCS Summer playoffs and winners of the EU LCS Spring Promotion. The team that takes home the crown for the Spring Split will get invited to the 2018 Mid Season Invitational, sandwiched between the Spring and Summer Split later this year, for an additional shot at glory.
With major changes to the EU League this year – which includes the removal of mid-year promotion/relegation and the return to a single league, double round robin Bo1 (Best of 1) tournament format – it will be easier than ever for hardcore fans and curious newbies to jump in and start rooting for their favourite professional League of Legends esport teams.
Nearly every single team in the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split could prove to be potential dark horses, making our week-to-week betting opportunities all the more interesting. With the exception of Fnatic, every team has had massive roster shake-ups that will make the playing field a lot less predictable. With the tournament changing back to one game played per match, we fully expect there to be plenty of upsets and new strategies accustomed to steam-rolling the competition in a shorter period of time rather than the long and often agonising Bo3 events we endured last year.
Here are our best picks for Week 1 of the 2018 League of Legends EU LCS Spring Split.
EU LCS Spring Split Accumulator of the Week
- Misfits to beat G2 Esports – 1.90
- Unicorns of Love to beat Giants Gaming – 1.50
- Schalke 04 to beat ROCCAT – 1.45
- Splyce to beat Fnatic – 2.95
Betway.com fourfold accumulator pays 12.19
G2 Esports vs. Misfits
This year’s EU LCS looks like a head-scratcher, but G2 Esports is one of the easier teams to place higher on the list based on their consistent performance last season. Last year their roster thoroughly dominated the Misfits in the EU LCS Summer Split and Summer Playoffs, securing second and first place respectively with straight 2 – 0 and 3 – 0 wins. They only dropped one game to the Misfits in the EU Spring Split before returning to domination and securing the Spring Playoffs with only one match loss to Team ROCCAT. Fitting, then, that the opening match is the most interesting rivarly.
However, those days of glory might just remain in the past, as the old G2 have moved onto other teams with the exception of mid-laner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic. While the new roster built around him looks promising – particularly jungler Marcin ‘Jankos’ Jankowski, one of the best pro LoL players in the EU without an EU LCS title – their inexperience and shorter time together as a team is unfortunately hard to overlook.
The Misfits are Europe’s LoL sweethearts going into the EU LCS. After suffering a heart-breaking defeat to SK Telecom T1 at last year’s World Championships and the loss of two of its star players, Lee ‘IgNar’ Dong-geun Tristan ‘PowerOfEvil’ Schrage, the team has re-organised itself with some strong new talent. Coach Hussain Moosvi will build on their undeniable progress to top 5 LoL team last year with the newly signed Chres ‘Sencux’ Laursen and Mihael ‘Mikyx’ Mehle, two former Splyce team-mates with great on-field synergy who will provide additional back-up for the dream-team duo of Barney ‘Alphari’ Morris and Nubar ‘Maxlore’ Sarafian, arguably two of the best top-laners and junglers in the EU region who many won’t argue got the Misfits to the World Championships with their carry plays.
If the Misfits can find a way to put Sencux’s individual talent as an assassin and splitpush to better effect for the team this season, we see them shaping up to finally have their year. With the switch back to Bo1 and a decent mix of old and new players, the Misfits’ hard-hitting playstyle will make them one of the teams to most likely establish an early lead.
Misfits to beat G2 Esports – 1.90
Unicorns of Love vs. Giants Gaming
Unicorns of Love (UoL) have, like other teams in the EU LCS 2018, suffered a few big losses in the form of veterans Zdravets ‘Hylissang’ Galabov and Tamás ‘Vizicsacsi’ Kiss to other stronger teams which may hurt their chances at playoffs contention. There’s still some solid promise here, though, with Matti ‘WhiteKnight’ Sormunen and Jonas ‘Kold’ Andersen both proven top-laners and junglers, respectively. Samuel “Samux” Fernández Fort is widely considered to be one of the best AD’ers in the league who got caught to UOL’s general under-performance last Split, but we see him most likely getting a proper chance to shine this season.
The Giants have lost the promising line-up that got them through the EU LCS 2018 Spring Promotion to Team Vitality, only retaining top-laner Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min from their pre-Challenger Series roster, who isn’t a standout himself. Charly ‘Djoko’ Guillard, Felix ‘Betsy’ Edling and Pierre ‘Steelback’ Medjaldi have EU LCS experience but little individual distinction, and with no synergy on display compared to the other newly-formed teams, there’s good reason why the Giants are predicted to be at the bottom of the EU LCS ladder this season.
UoL to beat Giants Gaming – 1.50
Schalke 04 vs ROCCAT
Schalke 04, the esports division of the German football club of the same name, return to the EU LCS after their embarrassing performance in the 2017 Spring Promotion tournament led them to be relegated. All of their roster subsequently abandoned ship, but judging by their substantially reinvigorated roster and management staff, Schalke 04 have made significant investments to become a formidable opponent once more.
For starters, their new line-up all have at least one Split worth of experience under their belt, which was put to good use when they went undefeated in the 2017 Challengers Series, smashing every single opponent 2 – 0 and setting the record of becoming the first ever European team to go undefeated throughout an entire season of the LoL Championship Series.
AD player Elias ‘Upset’ Lipp is the rookie to watch this season; while his trash-talking ways leave a lot to be desired, the raw talent on display in their scrims is undeniably promising, and the more experienced duo of Erlend V?tevik “Nukeduck” Holm and Oskar “Vander” Bogdan will keep him properly focused should their synergy click as we predict. Former LCS support and Riot Games commentator Mitch ‘Krepo’ Voorspoels, now on sub/support is one not to over-look, either.
On the opposite end of the field is ROCCAT, who dumped their more promising 2017 roster for a mix of semi-decent players who may or may not perform well together. Jonas “Memento” Elmarghichi is perhaps their most promising re-acquirement, returning after nearly two years to face his former Shalke alumni. Kim ‘Profit’ Jun-hyung from SKT and Ninjas in Pyjamas is a potential Korean superstar in the making, though he could bring some potential communication issues between the team’s crazily diverse roster.
Despite prior mis-steps in the EU LCS, Schalke 04’s roster are a lot stronger in our eyes, and ROCCAT have a lot more to prove with their mish-mash of so-and-so players before we start backing them.
Schalke 04 to beat ROCCAT – 1.45
Fnatic vs. Splyce
Unlike every other team going into the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split, Fnatic retained the majority of their roster with just one new support player in the form of Zdravets ‘Hylissang’ Galabov, previously of Unicorns of Love. Hylissang is notable for his Thresh play and active shot-calling, and will provide the much needed experience and leadership they required in support, despite Jesse ‘Jeziz’ Le’s decent comeback as player rather than coach last year (Jeziz will sub this season).
Fnatic top-laner Paul ‘sOAZ’ Boyer and the four seasons under his belt also help the team look as solid a line-up as it ever was, though we’re not sure if one new player alone will help stabilise their overall inconsistency, as seen in last year’s Spring Split. sOAZ himself has admitted in recent interviews the team has struggled with synergy and getting along, pointing to these behind-the-scenes troubles as the reason for their poor results last season.
Splyce is arguably the new potential EU super team to beat, based on raw talent alone. Head coach Peter Dun has built a team of European superstars and brought them together to form a deadly new combo to dominate Dun’s side lane control-focused approach. Mid-laner Yasin ‘Nisqy’ Dincer Kasper and support Raymond ‘KaSing’ Tsang are two extremely strong players from the NA LCS and European Challenger Series that will help bolster AD Kasper ‘Kobbe’ Kobberup, the final Splyce from last season who is underrated and who we can see getting the limelight he deserves with the new support formed around him. KaSing in particular is an amazing support and shot-caller we hope continues to perform.
As a collective, Splyce are already stronger than the team that beat Fnatic this time last year, and we think they will provide the first round upset excitement we all crave in this year’s much-needed revamped EU LCS format.
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