Evil Geniuses vs 100 Thieves

On the one hand, this is about as exciting a match-up as we can get in the LCS. On the other, it's also an absolute nightmare to predict. These two teams are separated by the slimmest of margins, and we simply cannot pick one over the other with confidence.

On paper, we'd say that the 100 Thieves are the better, more cohesive and, therefore, more dangerous team. But they've also just lost to Immortals mere hours ago, so it's hard for us to sing their praise and talk about them as if they were some unassailable behemoth. They're not, and they'll surely drop numerous games on their way to the playoffs. They still have some of the same issues as they did back in 2021, which is quite a worrying sign. Granted, only a select few teams will be able to exploit said flaws, but the point still stands. They were outclassed by Dignitas back in LCS Lock-In, and their loss to Immortals is also quite hard to stomach. They're still a spectacular team with an incredibly high skill ceiling, but dropping games when you're playing your comfort picks doesn't exactly scream "top tier."

Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, had a very... peculiar game against Dignitas. They got the win and they sure did look good in the process, but it wasn't the kind of showing we had expected. Putting Impact on Karma -- despite the fact that that whole strategy is going to get nerfed in a matter of days -- doesn't make a lot of sense. Why even practice it? Why put one of your best-performing players on a pick with so little agency? Now sure, a bit "limit testing" definitely makes sense at this point in time, but it can easily come back to bite them further down the line.

The best course of action is to always tryhard and to rack up as many wins as possible -- playoff seeding matters immensely, and it can often play a vital part in a team's chances of leaving a mark. Evil Geniuses are an exceptional team, but they're not the only "killer" in the LCS. And it'd be disastrous for them to face one of "their own kind" so early on.

This is pretty much an even fight between two stacked giants, both of which have the tools to emerge victorious. 100 Thieves have a lot more synergy, but that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things -- if Immortals could pull of an upset, then pretty much everyone else can, too, assuming they draft well and execute without fumbling (too hard). We'll still give them the benefit of the doubt here as they've always bounced back in grand fashion whenever such a "slip up" happened in the past, but it could really go either way.