Group B features more competitive rosters that should generate more excitement than the previous day. Some teams to look out for are Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses and Immortals. This is the first time we’re going to see these teams play, so we’ll be basing our predictions on rosters on paper and analyst opinions on each player. As more games are played, we’ll be able to utilize game stats and eye-test analysis to make better predictions.
If Dignitas was looking to make a splash this year, the org has failed miserably. The general sentiment among our analysts and community is that Dignitas is just as confused as we are when it comes to building their roster. The org seems to be allergic to strong mid laners, as it replaces Yusui with one of the worst mid laners in the LEC, Blue. They’ve replaced Akkadian with PSG Talon’s River and revamped their bot lane with the addition of Biofrost. All of these roster changes, according to DIG, was to build a team around top laner FakeGod and ADC Neo. We’re hopeful for jungler River, who displayed a competent level at Worlds 2021 with 71% KP and a 3.7 KDA, but we’re doubtful this team will push for a top 5 spot in the LCS.
Team Liquid is a superstar team on paper, but we won’t be seeing a complete Exodia at this lock-in tournament. CoreJJ is having difficulties acquiring his green card, making it impossible to run their full roster given the import rule. Instead of swapping out Bwipo in the top lane, TL has decided to split time between duos Hans Sama/Eyla and Yeon/CoreJJ. Hans is coming off a hot individual showing at worlds with Rogue, while CoreJJ is still regarded as the best support in NA. Both Yeon and Eyla are top talent in the academy and are statistically very consistent. While they’re not the superstars Hans and CoreJJ are, they’re more than good enough to be half a superstar’s duo; Eyla is highly active with 71% KP and 1.55 WPM while Yeon had an impressive 28% damage percentage. We’re not sure Bjergsen is back in form, but it’s serviceable given his matchup is the worst mid laner from the LEC.
Prediction: It’s clear that Team Liquid is by far the stronger team, even if the superteam is going in with a split bot lane. Either bot lane duo is favored to win lane against Neo and Biofrost, but the main focus will likely be on topside given the skill discrepancy in the mid lane. We predict TL will win early through mid or top, before translating those leads to the rest of the map. We have TL soundly beating DIG.