Golden Guardians vs 100 Thieves

We’ve reached week six of the 2022 LCS Spring Split and, needless to say, the pressure is starting to mount. For most, things haven’t yet gotten dire, but that could very well change in just a day or two’s time. The playoffs are a lot closer than most folks realize — there are just three weeks of regular season play left which is quite an insignificant amount of time. For most LCS teams, we’re slowly but surely approaching the “do or die” point of the split.

All past mistakes will be forgotten, forgiven, and justified if they can deliver in these trying moments. Everyone’s grouped up, too, which means that each and every single game matters a lot more than one would expect. Heck, even CLG have a shot at making the playoffs, even though the likelihood of it happening *is* rather slim (to put it mildly). The LCS has always been the home of the most mind-blowing upsets and narratives, so betting on any particular game right now *is* rather treacherous.

GGS taking on 100 Thieves is, therefore, a potential “landmine,” and much of the same can be said for other match-ups as well. Even TSM, a team that has only registered two wins thus far, has shown a marked improvement and could, in theory, keep on climbing the ranks. Unlikely, but still possible.

The playoff picture still isn’t clear, but we *do*, in a way, know who has the best likelihood of making it in. That, however, can easily change depending on how things shake out over the next couple of days. 100 Thieves are in a slightly better position than GGS, but the lead they have is by no means gargantuan. Far from it, in fact.

We’re quite disappointed with 100 Thieves. Heck, they’re disappointed with themselves as well and, frankly, they have every reason to be. They neither look nor play like a top-tier team. We also have no idea as to why that’s so, and what exactly occurred behind the scenes that has forced them to regress to such a degree. They’re not favoured to accomplish much once everything is said and done and that’s… weird, to say the least. Crushing, even. A team as stacked as theirs? Absolute insanity. Imagine telling someone at the start of the split that 100 Thieves would be struggling to maintain their position in the Top 4 — you’ve been laughed at and ridiculed to no end.

But that’s the reality of competitive League. Resting on your laurels is a “cardinal” sin, and there’s a very real chance that 100 Thieves are guilty of it. The meta hasn’t changed all that much — not in any meaningful way that would affect their strengths and win conditions — so it’s hard to fully understand what’s the problem. Granted, most of their losses could’ve easily been avoided, but they’re still indicative of their inherent flaws and the fact that they’re far more exploitable than expected.

They’re still a top-tier team. Of that much you can be certain. They don’t, however, always play like one. There’s no excuse for the kinds of mistakes they’ve been making. None whatsoever. FBI and Abbedagge, in particular, have been downright dreadful — not just by their own standards but in general as well. Will they step up and deliver now that things have “gone down to the wire?” They very well could, but they won’t be entering the playoffs with any noticeable amount of hype behind their backs, that’s for sure.

100 Thieves, by the looks of it, will almost surely be dethroned. That’s our biggest and most concrete takeaway at the moment. And it pains us to say it. An LCS without a game 100 Thieves is a much weaker region — there’s no two ways about it. The only question now is: will they clutch it out and finish in the Top 3? That, too, is fairly important, although nowhere near as important as it’s going to be come Summer Split.

They’re still an exceptional team, in all fairness, but by no means have they been as impressive and capable as Team Liquid and Cloud9. Heck, even the Evil Geniuses, as flawed and inconsistent as they are, have had higher highs than the defending LCS champions. How such a thing is even possible is beyond us. It just serves as proof that getting to the top is actually the “easy” part — it’s what you do after that point that counts the most. Where do you find the motivation to tryhard and go the “extra mile” when you’ve already accomplished your biggest goal? It’s a hard position to be in, no doubt, but that pressure is also a privilege, and it seems that 100 Thieves still aren’t good enough (or willing) to handle it. We hope they’ll find a way to bounce back, but we’re not particularly optimistic.

The Golden Guardians are obviously in a slightly less favourable position in regards to reaching the playoffs, but their 5-6 record is still quite stellar and could, by all means, end up being enough for them to make the cut — assuming they can get a few more wins behind their belt, that is.

Whether they’ll eventually make it in or not still remains to be seen, but they sure do have a shot. Their loss to TSM last week was definitely a worrying sign, though, but it’s still not time to sound the alarms — it was just one game, after all. In any case, they’re much better than people want to give them credit for and they could, by all means, pull off an upset here. Now, do we think that’ll happen? Not really, but by no means would it be impossible. They’ve already taken down Team Liquid which certainly speaks volumes about their inherent talent and overall feistiness. If they can channel a bit of that “underdog” energy against 100 Thieves as well, they might actually stand a chance.

They do, however, have more flaws and (potentially exploitable) weaknesses when compared to the defending champs. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to lose, but if 100 Thieves prepare well and attack in the right way, they should definitely be able to get the “W”.