G2 Esports vs Team Vitality

For our final match of the day, we have a really exciting clash between G2 Esports and Team Vitality. Both teams are coming off of stellar World Championship runs last year, and they've entered 2019 on a high note. Perhaps even better than most people expected.

That said, only one of them will win this Friday, and only one has a perfect 6W-0L record and that's G2 Esports. They're the team to beat right now, and even when they came "close" to losing, they were always able to clutch victory out of the jaws of defeat and emerge victorious. It's almost mind-boggling, to see them so dominant and at ease regardless of opponent. This is a rare occurrence in the world of competitive League, and watching their games is an absolute must.

Make no mistake, it's not like they cannot get challenged -- far from it. Multiple teams were able to spoil their early game-oriented team comps and make them work for the win. Last week it was Splyce. They completely shut down Caps who was playing in a deficit throughout the game. G2 was, in a way, once again in uncharted territory. But it was their incredible individual skill that made all the difference, and they were able to eke out advantages lane-by-lane and eventually snowball. They always play close games, and they basically had the tools at their disposal to eliminate Splyce members one-by-one thus never getting to those hectic five-on-five team fights which they couldn't win because of their draft. No matter how dire the situation looks, they always find a way. They're that talented. You could argue that it was Excel Esports that took them to the brink of defeat, and yet it was still not enough seeing how Caps pulled off multiple miracles on Akali.

Watching their growth and development as a team is an absolute joy, and they're poised to make big waves both regionally as well as internationally this year.

Team Vitality, on the other hand, aren't that far behind. They are, however, painfully inconsistent. In true Vitality fashion, one might add. They have extremely dominant games when their individual skill pulls through, but also games where they fail to mount a cohesive offensive. Problem is -- you never know which game is coming, and it's not exactly tied to their opponents. Last week they almost lost to Rogue in embarrassing fashion, and yet they found a way to snatch the win through a painfully slick backdoor.

There's no way around it -- they played badly throughout the game, or at least not as well as they should have. They never lost in gold, but they were losing on the map. They were reactive and passive when they shouldn't have been, and it was a strange sight to behold, especially against the worst team in the League -- one that's still without a win.

They've shown us both amazing stuff, as well as some painful mediocrity on the Rift over the first three weeks of competitive play, and 2018 even. You never really know what you're going to get from Vitality, and that's a part of their allure. But from a betting standpoint, that's the definition of a nightmare. You might lose out thinking they'll come out dominating, or make a mistake and bet against them while their motivated to prove their doubters wrong.

In any case, their new addition Mowgli is playing exceptionally well. He looks to be fully acclimated and he's currently one of their best performing players -- especially when on engage carry picks like Lee Sin. Looking ahead, they have the tools at their disposal in order to make a deep run into the playoffs. Whether or not that'll happen is a completely different matter. They have both G2 Esports and Excel Esports lined up for week four, so they should realistically end the week with an acceptable 1W-1L record -- barring any exceptional upset against either team.

We simply can't side with Vitality, and perhaps there's no reason to. G2 have earned our respect throughout the first three weeks of competitive play. They were never really challenged, for various reasons. Even when they did come close to losing, it was mostly because of their own willingness to play on the razor's edge and underestimate their opposition. It's hard not to side with a team that's so darn clean, dominant, and flexible. When they lock in a pick they can flex it to four positions basically -- how does one compete against such an immense, capable giant?

Time will tell. G2 Esports aren't invincible, but after witnessing Vitality almost lose to Rogue last week, there's no reason to think that they can find a solution to the G2 puzzle. They will probably make this into a very competitive game, but G2 should be able to clutch things out. Doesn't matter how, because they always seem to find a way, regardless of opponent. Betting against them right now simply isn't a logical thing to do, so we're siding with the former "kings of Europe" on this one.