Immortals vs 100 Thieves

Just five games, in total. Five shots at making it count. That's all these teams will get. And, well, it doesn't matter if they're atop the standings or a perennial bottom-feeder — the same rules and circumstances apply.

The playoffs picture still isn't clear, but we do have a fairly solid idea on who's going to make it. Nothing is yet set in stone, but there shouldn't be too many surprises. The teams that could, potentially, create a bit of chaos are the middling gatekeepers -- the CLGs and FlyQuests of the world. They're a bit more capable than expected and, by proxy, a bit more dangerous than we'd like. One can never be too certain whether they'll upend the stand quo or fall flat from the very moment they spawn on the Rift. It's a coin toss, really.

100 Thieves, on the other hand, are sitting pretty. They're a Top 3 team and have all but secured their spot in the playoffs. They haven't really been all that impressive, but they've been winning more often than not and that's pretty much the only thing that matters at this point. We don't, however, expect them to defend their throne. They're simply not good enough, and the mistakes they're making cannot be solved or fixed or ameliorated in time for them to truly stand a chance. One quick glance at Team Liquid and Cloud9 is all one needs to see what a true championship-worthy contender looks like.

They'll definitely put up a fight, mind you, but we just don't see them shoring up their many egregious flaws in time for the playoffs. There's too big of a gap between them and the two aforementioned giants, both of which happen to be ranked *above* the defending champions. And, well, that's no coincidence.

Immortals, however, are as egregious and inconsistent as humanly possible. They're not as bad as TSM, granted, but they're not that much better, either. Nothing they try seems to work, for whatever reason, and while they *do* have talent and experience in spades, things simply haven't "come together" in the right way -- hence their wholly abysmal performances.

They can still keep up, in all fairness, but that's a very meager consolation prize given what was expected from them coming into the split. In theory, they *do* stand a chance against 100 Thieves. In actuality, however, we just don't see it happening.