FC Schalke 04 vs Splyce

For our second match of the day we have an incredibly exciting clash between two playoff contenders - Schalke 04 and Splyce.

This is definitely the most promising and highly anticipated game of the day, if not even the week. But why though? Both teams are entering the third week of competitive LEC play on a high note. They were able to lock down two wins last week, and they've looked pretty dominant in the process. You could even argue that Schalke looked incredible, whereas Splyce took care of business in their "old-fashioned" way of waiting things out and skirmishing when the late game arrived. Hard to blame them seeing how they attained the most success through such means.

Splyce's wins over Rogue and Origen were clean, if not a bit slow. They displayed some serious prowess in all facets of play. They were outstanding on an individual level, and when they had to step up as a five-man unit and coordinate on the Rift, they did so without error. Their game against Origen, in particular, was exquisite. Many were praising Origen's scrim results and innate potential, but once they stepped foot on the stage against Splyce they failed to mount an offensive.

Splyce outclassed them individually, and their incredible rotations throughout the game left everyone in attendance flabbergasted. By the twenty-five minute mark, Splyce had an insurmountable ten thousand gold lead. But one has to wonder - did Splyce outclass Origen, or did Origen fail to do anything at all? They basically imploded, they were sloppy and off-beat in their execution.

Regardless, Splyce were able to improve to a respectable 3W-1L record, and throw their name in the playoff race.

It was an impressive display of skill, but it's incomparable to the clinic Schalke put on Fnatic and SK Gaming. They're an incredibly dominant squad - one that has plenty of tools to win with. Odoamne has been fantastic in the top lane, Memento has been hard carrying on jungle picks like Camille, constantly pressuring all lanes and pulling off successful ganks when you thought there were none to be found.

But it is their sensational bottom lane duo consisting of Upset and IgNar that should get all the praise. They were, for lack of a better term - too clean. They were able to single-handedly win through the some stellar synergy and mechanical prowess. They showed zero hesitation throughout the game, they were aggressive, confident and it was evident from their play on the Rift as well.

By the sixteenth-minute mark, Upset was 7/0/1. A Kai'Sa that fed is what nightmares are made of, especially if you're a solo queue regular.

In short, both rosters played out of their minds last week, but they didn't have the hardest strength of schedule either. That, in itself, is one of the main problems as to why predicting the outcome of this clash is so darn hard.

Both rosters are still so fresh, they're still working on their synergy, and they're all so insanely talented on an individual level. This game can really go either way, but we're siding with Splyce on this one for multiple reasons.

They have the best Kill to Death ratio in the entire region so far -- 1.97 to be more exact. That means Splyce score almost two kills for a single death on average. That's downright fantastic, and they ahead of even G2 Esports and Misfits, two teams currently regarded as super teams. They also have the third-best Gold Differential at 15 minutes -- a smidge over two thousand. They're dominant in a couple of other aspects as well, and even though the sample size we have isn't particularly big this is still somewhat concrete information to go by.

When both teams are playing at such a high level, when both rosters have so many tools to work with, we have to look for nuanced advantages. If you've followed all of their games over the last two weeks you can easily envision both teams emerging victorious. Regardless, the odds are against Splyce, which means this could potentially be a big win.

We're going with Splyce, although not with full confidence. We simply haven't seen enough out of both teams in order to come up with a concrete read on their strength. It probably won't be particularly pretty or dominant, but Splyce have the right tools in order to take Schalke down. Whether or not that'll happen remains to be seen though.

If Xerxe manages to contain Memento's early aggression, and if Splyce's bottom lane get a favorable match-up, they should be able to take this. Their stellar coaching staff (widely revered for their in-depth knowledge and preparation) should help out a ton as well, especially in the pick and ban phase.

Either way, if your ticket is hinging around this one game, it's best to skip it entirely. You don't want to risk things on a game that can so easily go either way.