Immortals vs Evil Geniuses

For our first match of the day, we have a rather pedestrian clash between Evil Geniuses and Immortals. This, frankly speaking, isn't exactly a premier match-up. It's also not the kind of clash that'll make you want to tune in and watch at the edge of your seat, nor is it the kind of game that'll linger in your mind long after it is done. Instead, it's just a random, LCS beatdown in the making.

Still, even if you're not a fan of either team, there's still a reason to tune in, and that's pretty much just because of Evil Geniuses. The way they've outclassed and bullied Cloud9 in yesterday's match was nothing short of mesmerizing. Had you taken the name tags off, you would've never been able to guess that it was EG who was doing the manhandling. And boy did they make it look easy and effortless, as if they were just warming up against a bunch of solo queue scrubs. It wasn't the Cloud9 any of us expected, to say the least. Of course, we're still talking about a meager sample size of just a single game, but it might be enough to understand that the community put too much hype behind the boys in black and blue. They're still a relatively new team that will have to synergize from the ground up. Perkz is vastly different to Nisqy (in every sense of the word) and the same goes for Fudge who cannot even compare to Licorice in regards to experience and mental fortitude. These two changes alone will require Cloud9 to restructure and reshape as a five-man unit.

Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, had a very clear and concise idea on how they wanted to play the game out. And, frankly, they executed to a tee. For EG, it was just another day at the office. Svenskeren and Jiizuke controlled the pace of the game early on, Impact bullied Fudge in every conceivable way, whereas IgNar took over engage duties once the mid and later stages of the game came along. They didn't make many mistakes, and were in fact quite clean execution-wise from start to finish. That, in short, was pretty unexpected. Still, it seems as though that all five players have a similar idea on how the game should be played and that's a huge benefit, especially at this point of the season.

Furthermore, the way they've played made one thing clear: it wasn't a one-off occurrence, nor was it a flash in the pan. Instead, they're just better than most of us expected. This means we all need to adjust our expectations going forward. Evil Geniuses, in short, have a lot more to offer at this moment in time and will no doubt be looking to make a statement coming into the 2021 LCS Spring Split.

Right now, they're up against a team we've yet to see in action, but even though that's the case, we can predict pretty confidently that Immortals won't be able to trade blows with Evil Geniuses in tonight's opening match. There's just no way of it happening, really. Immortals are weaker and less experienced across the map and their skill ceiling is also nowhere near as impressive as that of EG's. Of course, they won't just roll over and surrender, but if Evil Geniuses come out the gates swinging (much like they did yesterday against Cloud9), they shouldn't have any trouble in taking Immortals down. In fact, it'll probably be a walk in the park for the bravado-fuelled boys in black and white.