Team SoloMid vs Evil Geniuses

To things off, we have Team SoloMid vs. Evil Geniuses — not exactly the most mind-blowing of match-ups, but a wholly interesting one regardless. The reason why it's relatively hard to get excited about this one is because there's far too big of a gap between these two teams. TSM have earned our benefit of the doubt and are currently one of the best and most capable teams in North America; Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, are about as flawed and one-dimensional as ever.

Now, make no mistake: they'll put up a fight, but they're the underdogs here for a reason. They simply pale in comparison to the boys in black and white, and explaining why that's so would truly be redundant. The fashion in which TSM outclassed Team Liquid yesterday left no one indifferent, and if they keep this up they'll quickly become one of the biggest favorites to win the whole split. They have all the right players for the job and if we ignore a couple of egregious mistakes and fumbles which they've made, it's easy to imagine a world in which they not only trade blows with Cloud9 but even win out.

Then again, given just how hard Cloud9 imploded, that might not be all that big of a compliment. It seems that TSM is the only top-tier team that hasn't regressed for whatever reason. The TL coaching staff have decided to bench Alphari, and the same goes for C9's Zven. TSM, on the other hand, are just cruising by, picking the fruits of their labors and inching closer to the LCS throne.

Conversely, Evil Geniuses did next to nothing worthy of praise in their match against Dignitas. They had the lead (a sizable one, no less) but they failed to capitalize and close things out — as is so often the case with EG. Their teamfighting has been dreadful and the same goes for their decision-making as well. They look and play like a bunch of solo queue pick-ups, and if their first game of the Summer Split is anything to go by, the outlook is pretty darn grim. Unfortunately for EG, their road doesn't get any easier as they're scheduled to face what can rightfully be deemed as the best-performing team in the LCS right now.

And yes: the sample size that's at our disposal is meagre at best, but it's like TSM simply picked up where they last left off, and it's impossible not to be impressed by the ease with which they've traversed the Summoner's Rift -- against a championship-worthy team, no less. All in all, they're favored for a reason, and we can't wait to see them back in action!