Rogue vs Astralis

It's hard to get excited for undeniably the biggest mismatch one can imagine. Rogue have garnered a metric ton of hype for their immaculate play and if they keep playing this darn well they might even stand a chance at claiming the LEC throne. Astralis, on the other hand, still haven't managed to get a win on the board -- and they've had an equal number of chances to do so as everyone else.

That's... not a good look. Rogue still haven't "slipped." Not even once. Astralis, on the other hand, have done nothing *but* slip. They've been pretty darn dreadful, and there's no reason for us to sugarcoat it -- it's a well known fact, one that no one likes to talk about. We didn't really didn't expect anything from Astralis and yet we're *still* somehow disappointed.

One simply has to wonder: did they really expect a different outcome? Were they really *that* naive? Astralis needed to rebuild from the ground up if they wanted to stand even the slightest chance of ever correcting course. It goes without saying, but things obviously didn't pan out that way. In fact, Astralis *totally* botched it -- to absolutely no one's surprise.

As a result, they've pretty much sentenced themselves to playing the role of the perennial bottom-dweller for the rest of the year -- and possibly even beyond that point. They're actually better than their record would imply, but their few moments of brilliance don't really matter much as they have yet to result in any wins. Unfortunately for Astralis, they're competing in one of the most competitive regions in the world, and they're simply not equipped for the task at hand.

Rogue, on the other hand, have all the hallmarks of a championship-worthy contender. Whether they'll end up hoisting any trophies this year still remains to be seen, but it's impossible not to sign their praises after all that they've done and accomplished in just four weeks of play. And, well, them improving to 10W-0L is all but guaranteed given whom they're scheduled to compete against.