The 8th week of the LPL is not only about the fans and
watchers of this fantastic competition, it’s all about “The return of Devil on
Friday the 13th”. Yes, you read that correctly, Devil aka Zhu “Namei” Jia-Wen is returning to the starting
line-up of Star Horn Royal Club. Let’s take a look at the upcoming match-ups
for SHRC and other interesting games.
*Note – Team WE won’t be playing this week as they play at IEM
Katowice
Current standings:
Friday 13th March
The first match of
the day is reserved for Namei, as his SHRC takes on the full chinese line-up of
Gamtee, the 10th seated team in the league but with only four losses to their
name.
As Namei is known
to be one of the best ADC’s, if not the best, in the world while having the
ability to output serious damage while dodging skillshots, I personally expect
a clean win. Cola hasn’t been performing as bad as InSec or Corn and Zero has
always been a very good and stable support.
Gamtee might be
looking to cause another upset, but with the current standing and only four
weeks left in the spring split, it’s do or die for the super formation from
SHRC. A loss here is unnaceptable.
The next game that
might be very interesting to watch is Invictus Gaming vs Vici Gaming.
Both teams faced
each other in the Damacia cup this week and Invictus Gaming won with 3-0(3
surrenders by Vici Gaming). It was the series where Mata wasn’t feeling like
playing and decided to instalock the Soraka support in game two and even went
for the Jayce support in the final game that was surrendered after 20 minutes.
Mata was
subsequently fined approx $8000, for his unprofessional behavior and poor
sportsmanship
Still, they are
here to face each other again but now in a Bo2 in the LPL and a win could mean
for both teams to getting closer to that fourth spot. This should be a very
interesting game for the standings itself because of how close both teams are
to each other right now.
The third game of
the day is between Edward Gaming and LGD Gaming,
EDG hasn’t won a
series after the new year break and are really looking for a massive win over
LGD who have held the fourth spot in the LPL for quite a while now.
The biggest
concern about this match-up is if LGD will show up or not. Inconsistency being
an issue the team has faced, all split. They can play fantastic one game and
disasterous in another, wrong drafts, wrong rotations, you name it. This time
though, it’s time to show up big time as EDG seems somewhat mortal after
drawing against OMG, King and Snake.
Will Deft go into
his Corki Godmode and destroy this game or can former team mate IMP take all
the pride for the upcoming games? Perhaps it’s about Flame or Acorn or maybe
Koro1?
Too many star
players to mention, one of the best watches this weekend for sure!
Friday’s games:
Star Horn Royal Club vs Gamtee
Invictus Gaming vs Vici Gaming
Edward Gaming vs LGD Gaming
King vs Energy Pacemaker
Saturday, 14th March
The first game of
the day is a massive one, LGD Gaming will take on Snake for their second game
of the week. A very tough week if I might say so for the players from LGD who
are taking on EDG and now Snake and later on M3 who hasn’t lost a set since the
break.
Both teams are in
good shape, Snake split their series with EDG, which means they won 3 out of
the 4 matches against the superstar powerhouse.
Can Kryst4l
deliver again as he did in the final match against EDG last week? Will Acorn
show up with some incredible teleport plays perhaps?
To end the day,
OMG will take on Master3, undefeated since the break, just like OMG who are the
only team in the LPL to not droip a set.
It will be a great
match-up between super midlaners Cool and Dade. Cool has been looking a bit
inconsistent during his laning phase and Dade still isn’t the old Dade that we
know from the Samsung era. This would be a great moment to show up.
Another match-up
that would be a joy for all of us to watch is seeing world champion Looper take
on the best top laner in China, Gogoing. Who will take the victory in the top
lane and who will get the most attention from the enemy team we could almost
say. Both players have been playing Gnar to almost perfection in their last
couple of matches so that will most probably be one of the contested picks.
A great game
between a super team and a team with a couple of super stars.
Saturday’s games:
LGD Gaming vs Snake
Energy Pacemaker vs Gamtee
Edward Gaming vs Invictus Gaming
Master3 vs OMG
Sunday, 15th March
The first game of
the day will again be assigned to Namei’s SHRC who will be facing King on the
final day of the week.
Both teams at this
point are relatively close to each other and both need a win to stay in the run
for that playoff spot. My personal prediction is just the same as the first
game this week, a clean sweep by SHRC, simply because I have a lot of faith in
Namei and Zero. King has been performing
inconsistent throughout the split and this could be just another game that they
would lose without putting up a real fight, just like they did against Snake
last week.
Namei’s strength
is not to be underestimated or overestimated, but the facts are that this man
is the best player when it comes to dodging skillshots, some might even
consider Deft to be his equal.
All we can do is
wait and hope for Namei to show up big time, a compensation for letting us wait
7 weeks and disappointing us all at worlds.
OMG will be facing
Snake in the third match of the day. A battle for second spot, a battle that
both teams must win, not only for the rankings, but for personal reasons.
OMG already split
twice against Gamtee and another double split in points with Snake would
definately not be acceptable for their organisation but also their fans. They
have to win, they must win.
We all know that
when OMG does show up, games normally against opponents like Snake end up in a
sub 30 minute stomp, with incredible outplays and rotations, there are few
teams that can deliver the way that OMG does. OMG doesn’t only deliver but they
do it with style.
Don’t get me
wrong, Snake didn’t take the 3rd seat in the standings because other teams
played bad, no, they forced wins, they claimed them and they are still the only
team that have taken a full set away from EDG.
The biggest here
though is , with which bottom lane will OMG show up and how will they perform!
Sunday’s games:
Star Horn Royal Club vs King
Invictus Gaming vs Gamtee
OMG vs Snake
LGD Gaming vs Master3
Top 3 players to watch:
1.
SHRC’s Namei – The lost son of the LPL is back this week, funny fact
is that before he was known as Namei, his name was Devil and he actually
returns on Friday the 13th. Scary? Let’s hope so, let’s hope that Namei brings
some demonic rage with him onto the rift and obliterates his enemies with some
incredibly sick plays!
2.
LGD Gaming’s IMP - LGD will be
facing EDG, Snake and M3 this week and for a World Champion ADC this would be
the right time to carry his team towards that wanted 9 points. Yes, 9 points,
that would be the perfect week for LGD. IMP has not been playing the way he did
at Samsung White, will he be able to step up this week and show us all what
kind of a incredible ADC he really is?
3.
SHRC’s InSec - InSec has not
been performing the way we expect him to perform in most of the matches, no,
not at all. The lack of a great carry in his team has perhaps set his mental
state a bit behind, therefore the addition of Namei could be that little bit of
motivation and energy that he needs to start performing “Insec plays” again.
The games are live viewable on the following streams
at 6AM CEST:
