Clutch Gamers vs Echo Fox

For our third place match in the NA LCS we have an exciting clash between Clutch Gaming and Echo Fox. Now both these teams had completely different starts to the regular season. While Echo Fox started dominating the opposition straight out of the gates, Clutch Gaming needed a bit of time before settling into their playoff form. 

Echo Fox unfortunately failed to rebound from their mid-split slump, as even with their original line-up they failed to put up much of an offensive against a surging Team Liquid. Even though they had the edge in a couple of moments it was never enough to really propel them towards victory. As for Clutch Gaming, they quickly became the team to watch as they took 100 Thieves to the brink of defeat, almost managing to continue their streak of upsets in an exhilarating five game match. It was yet another reminder on just how threatening and capable this team really is. Their dominant win against TSM was far from a fluke and they were just a couple of decisions away from reaching their first NA LCS finals.

We're going with Clutch Gaming on this one. Even though Echo Fox are the favorites, Clutch shouldn't have too big of a problem taking them down. That said Echo Fox is a fairly strong squad especially in the early game. They never played that badly against Liquid however it was always a bad call in the mid game or a sloppy engage in the late which prevented them from accruing any usable leads. They're simply not playing that well right now, neither as a five man cohesive unit nor individually. The meta doesn't suit Huni that much, Fenix isn't playing that well and Altec and Adrian aren't a force to be reckoned with any longer - for reasons unknown. 

It's incredibly hard to really explain the growth and immense potential that Clutch Gaming displayed in their last two Best of 5 matches. They've stepped up so much that is almost surreal and it's a joy to watch, a team that was an underdog from the very beginning managing to get by and keep up with the very best even with a roster no one really put a lot of trust into. That said Echo Fox won't go down without a fight, so expect this one to go the distance as well.