Team Liquid vs Evil Geniuses

What an absolute spectacle! This is *almost* as good as it gets, and if both teams come out the gates swinging (which is all but guaranteed to happen) they'll not only put on a show but also blow our minds in the process! Team Liquid are obviously favored here, but it's not going to be as easy as some folks would lead you to believe. They're the better team -- that much is obvious. Still, they're not infallible, and their two losses attest to it as well. Moreover, they haven't *always* been clean and commanding -- sometimes they got the job done by the skin of their teeth. That much is to be expected given their lacking synergy but still: they *do* have moments of weakness, and just because they seldom happen doesn't mean they don't exist and cannot, potentially, be exploited.

Could Evil Geniuses exploit such an opening? Well, that depends. We think they could, but they've yet to prove it. And, well, to make things even worse, they've lost every single time they stepped foot on stage to face TL. That's... not exactly promising if you're an EG fan. Time and time again, the former LCS champs read them like a book. It was never lopsided, granted, but at no point did we ever wonder who was going to win -- TL were in the driver's seat from minute one and were always "on course" with very few (if any) deviations along the way.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that history will repeat itself, but the likelihood of it happening *is* rather high. They've played four games thus far (across a two-and-a-half month period) and EG are yet to register a win. There's no shame in that, given TL's pedigree and overall depth, but it *is* a bleak reality that looms over them. Will a "breakthrough" finally happen? Well, we're not so sure given their mutual history, but they should not be underestimated -- even though we have every reason to do so in this particular case.

EG *will* leave a mark in some way, shape, or form once everything is said and done. They're not going to win the LCS, but they could very well come close. It might sound ludicrous given their recent struggles, but we know they have it in them. At their best they can definitely tango with TL and C9, and the only thing they need to do *now* is find a way to consistently harness their inherent potential and deliver once it matters most.

If they can reach their LCS Lock-In form (let alone surpass it), they'll no doubt be a very real threat. Whether or not that can still happen -- what with just seven games left to be played -- remains to be seen. We're not optimistic, but we're not counting them out just yet.

And, unfortunately for them and their mental, a fifth loss to Team Liquid is almost surely inevitable.