Team Vitality vs Origen

For our first match of the day we have a rather interesting clash between Origen and Team Vitality. First of all, this is by no means a match-up between two equals. Instead, it's a fight between one of the best teams in the region (Top 3 at the moment), and a bottom-tier dweller. There's just not much to get excited about if you're looking solely at the standings. Team Vitality have failed in every way, shape, and form over the last two weeks of competitive play. Not only did they fail to mount an offensive (regardless of opponent), but they also didn't display anything worthy of mentioning.

Every time they stepped foot on stage to compete, fans and spectators were left underwhelmed. And even though their starting mid laner couldn't compete, they still looked downright abysmal. In fact, Saken -- their substitute mid -- often performed better than his teammates. This incarnation of Vitality is a passive, out of sync mess. They're not playing well individually nor as a five-man unit. There's simply no synergy at display, and it's worrying. Two weeks have gone by and while they still have more than enough time to right the ship and improve, one simply has to wonder whether such a thing is even possible.

They have Origen and Excel Esports lined up for week three and they're not predicted to beat either team, meaning they'll remain winless, barring any huge upset. To look this bad a couple of weeks into the season is simply unacceptable. They do have *some* potential within their line-up, but it's simply not enough to warrant a spot higher up the standings. At the moment, they're the worst team in the region -- by far.

Origen, on the other hand, has looked downright fantastic over the last two weeks, although their hype train was derailed somewhat after their one-sided loss to G2 Esports last week. The fact that they lost isn't that surprising, but the ease with which they were outclassed by the reigning champions certainly was. G2 outdrafted Origen without much trouble therefore neutralizing their most potent early game catalyst: Xerxe.

The Romanian veteran had a solid showing, but after getting banned out his impactfulness dropped off immensely. The rest of the team couldn't do much against G2's potent line-up either. G2 snowballed fairly quickly and closing out the game felt like a formality. Origen certainly had a couple of solid moments, but they were too few and far between to actually challenge the defending champions. It was an uneven fight, and G2 -- even in their updated line-up -- completely decimated Origen. So in that sense, they definitely need a bit of time and practice before challenging the upper echelon of the LEC. They need to work on their flaws and diversify their arsenal a bit more before actually trading heavy blows with the very best teams the LEC has to offer.

In any case, Origen want redemption and they definitely need a quick and dominant rebound after getting outclassed mere days ago in what many thought would be a clash between two "equals." In the end, it was anything but. They shouldn't have much of a problem in taking Vitality down. They're better lane for lane and will definitely prove in today's match as well.