SK Gaming vs FC Schalke 04

For our fourth game of the day, we have an incredibly exciting clash between FC Schalke 04 and SK Gaming. Why is this match-up so interesting and important? First of all, SK Gaming are entering the second week of competitive play on an absolute high.

They completely outclassed Fnatic, the 2018 World Championship finalists. That was a sight no one ever expected to see, and with good reason. Fnatic did lose their star mid laner Caps, but the fact that they managed to retain four-fifths of their Worlds roster should have given them a proper upper hand when it comes to competing at the start of the Spring Split. Now, all of the hype that SK had going for them quickly came to a halt just a day afterwards due to the fact that they were utterly destroyed by Misfits Gaming.

And perhaps saying "utterly destroyed" is an understatement. By the fourth-minute mark, Maxlore was already 0/0/3, and Misfits had a seismic 4 thousand gold lead at the seven-minute mark. That's basically unheard of in competitive play. It was had judging whether or not SK just imploded, or if Misfits are just that good as a five-man unit at this point in time. Their level of play was downright mesmerizing, and SK simply couldn't get off the ground.

How does one judge SK Gaming after such a hot-and-cold level of play last week? If anything, we know that they have much better synergy and team cohesion that anyone expected, and that should give them the edge over the opposition. They're a very strong, highly capable middle-of-the-pack team that's able to compete at the highest level — at least right now.

But what about Schalke 04? Much like SK, they're entering week two with a 1W-1L record. They showcased a lot of potential overall, but were also brutally outclassed by another LEC titan in the making — G2 Esports.

Their game against Team Vitality was a fascinating display of their ability to play a wide range of picks. Odoamne went for Kennen, Memento for Olaf, and finally, IgNar decided to lock in his staple Thresh. Neither of these three picks are exactly meta right now, but they made it work from the very get-go. While they were a bit rough around the edges, you could just see the immense potential that's present within the roster.

It wasn't a clean win in the slightest, but they were able to endure Vitality's onslaught and eventually eek out a win in the later stages of the game.

When their game against G2 came around, however, they were read like a book. G2 Esports had a three thousand gold lead at the ten-minute mark, Wunder was constantly punishing Odoamne's over-aggression, and in short — G2's star-studded line-up outclassed Schalke on all fronts. Schalke drafted an early-focused team comp and failed to get it going. Seeing how they didn't have a backup plan, things quickly fell apart.

Looking at this match-up specifically, it's impossible to side with one team or another. They all have their strengths, their hard carries, but Schalke has the edge just based on their versatility and sheer experience. They've all been playing at the highest possible level for so long, and they've been though think and thin when it comes to LEC play. That doesn't mean they won't struggle against SK Gaming, but they should be able to emerge victorious when all is said and done. The fact that Memento has the tools to compete with Selfmade's early game prowess should give them an edge overall.

We're going with Schalke 04 on this one.