MAD Lions vs G2 Esports

The outcome of this game is pretty much impossible to predict. There's no other way to say it. Both teams have looked downright incredible *and* pretty darn shoddy. They're still learning how to play and execute as a five-man unit, so it's only natural that their performance fluctuates as well. It also boils down to the draft: MAD's loss to SK came pretty much as a direct by-product. Now sure, they did make a series of mistakes, but if they had had at least some of wave clear they would've been able to turn the tides.

G2, on the other hand, still haven't lost, but have nonetheless shown a series of exploitable weaknesses, even against lower-ranked opponents. Their two wins came at the expense of EXCEL Esports and Astralis, so by no means have they been challenged and pushed to the brink of defeat. Their schedule has been pretty darn unintimidating, but now comes their first real test.

MAD and G2 are pretty tied in terms of strength and potential, but one could argue that the defending champions looked ever so slightly more capable and adept in the current meta. The performance delta we're talking about here is by no means insurmountable, but it is worth pointing out. Elyoya, in particular, has been wrecking house and playing like his life depends on it. The rest of the team has been quite stellar as well, but he's the one that has stood out the most. Kaiser, on the other hand, has been quite sloppy and has made numerous uncharacteristic mistakes. Getting cought out of position isn't always the be-all and end-all, but the best teams in Europe will, indeed, punish such blunders. And, needless to say, G2's one of them.

It's impossible to say who's better than whom at this point in time. They are truly separated by the slimmest of margins, and even if you lean towards G2, it's fair to say that their veteran members (i.e. Broken Blade, Jankos, and Caps) haven't all been peforming as well as we had expected. Funnily enough, it was Broken Blade who has had the best showing of the three, with Caps -- undoubtedly the best Western mid of all time -- being fairly meek and unimpressive (in general, not just by his own standards). These are by no means worrying sign seeing how G2 is still trying to reach their "operating temperature" but it is something to keep in mind going forward. They're good, if not even great at times, but they'll still need to get on the same page and actually look and play like a cohesive five-man unit.

In the meantime, they're bound to fumble and fail, much like everyone else.

Which of these two teams will get its hand raised is completely up in the air. It's a toss-up -- they're that even. It'll all boil down to draft and early game execution, and in that regard we favor MAD Lions. Not by no much, in all fairness, but still -- it could end up making a big enough difference, especially if Elyoya comes out the gates swinging. If you're looking for safe bets, though, you'd be wise to look elsewhere.