Going into quarters, our analysts don’t feel comfortable using stats from the group stage due to the lack of games played. We feel that stats hardly give us the full story, especially when matchups are so lopsided. Going into semis, expect to see in-depth analysis on the matchups.
C9 are coming off a loss to 100T, but still remain a strong team who can beat anyone on a good day. Fudge looked solid in the past, but looked significantly weaker going up against Abbedage in the Viktor Corki matchup where he wasn’t able to bully the Corki early. We hope a week of scrims and customs have helped him shore up this weakness, but we suspect he may be targeted in the draft if CLG are to take a game.
CLG are not favourites to win, but they’ve shown promose across all their games. In particulae, Poome and Luger look good as a bot lane, and pair well with the likes of Contractz in the Jungle and Jenkins in top. The star for us is Palafox who was the most improved player last year and continues to show promise. If CLG want a win today, they’ll need to play through palafox and Luger as much as they can.
Prediction: Despite some issues in the mid lane, C9 should still take this series. We think CLG has the potential to upset but it would have to come from Palafox and Contractz as a duo against Blaber and Fudge. While we do think Palafox is better than Fudge, Blaber can shore up that weakness with mid presence throughout the lane phase.