The Decisive League of Legends Championship Series Games Begin on Saturday
The names of six teams that qualify for the League of Legends Championship Series will be known this weekend. Each has two games left before the playoffs, which starts in August and only two teams are out of the race already. The top two LCS teams will play straight in the semifinals, while the next 4 will have to go through difficult quarterfinals. This means that the stakes are high even for those that are certain of their presence in the playoffs and nobody will take the foot off gas in the last round of the regular season.
Team Liquid Aims First Place in the LCS 2019
Team Liquid won the Spring season after being tied for the lead with Cloud9. They are in a very similar situation today, although the reigning champions have two victories more than their archrivals. In the first match of the weekend scheduled for Saturday night, Team Liquid play against the rock bottom team. Not surprisingly, ArcaneBet offers esports odds of 3/20 on them, while pricing a shocking win for Eco Fox at 4/1.
Team Liquid will have a much more difficult task on Sunday evening, when they take on Team SoloMid. Their opponents are also chasing a playoff spot and with nine victories and seven defeats, they only need one more game to qualify. Team SoloMid actually have the better head to head record in this series, so the odds of 2/1 on them to win should be considered. At this point, Team Liquid will likely be qualified already from the first place so odds of 2/5 are simply too low given their lack of motivation.
Team SoloMid definitely stands a chance against the current leaders, but the former champions are more likely to pick up the needed win on Saturday. They’ll play against FlyQuest who are out of the playoffs race, hence the odds of 2/5 offered by Rivalry on the favorites to advance. Team SoloMid has won 9 out of 13 games in this series, but were defeated in the most recent encounter and lost 2 of the last 3.
FlyQuest and Eco Fox will try their best in the matches played on Saturday, but the odds of winning are slim against these seasoned rivals. The highlight of the weekend for these teams and their fans is actually the last match of the League of Legends Championship Series regular season. This is when these teams face each other, with FlyQuest slight favorites as reflected by the odds of 3/5. Eco Fox are almost certain to finish in the last place, but they can save face, with a last-ditch effort to win being priced at 3/2.
Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming Chase the Semifinals
Counter Logic Gaming are well positioned to finish in the second place, which grants direct access to the semifinals. They have 11 victories and only 5 defeats and are favorites in both games scheduled this weekend. On Saturday evening they play the first match of this final LCS 2019 round against Optic, which is also chasing a playoffs berth. CLG have lost the first match against the season, but they are in superb form with four consecutive victories and get excellent odds of 3/5 to win again. This is one of the best wagers you could place this weekend, as we don’t expect optic to prevail at odds of 13/10.
Counter Logic Gaming played the second match of the weekend against another team that aspires to play in the playoffs. 100 Thieves have alternative great results with disappointing matches and needs back-to-back victories to make is to the decisive round. Buff88 justly regards them as underdogs, as reflected by the odds of 3/2, while CLG only get odds of 1/2. Counter Logic Gaming has won the first direct match.
Cloud9 have secured a playoffs berth already, but their goal is to finish in the second place, so they avoid the quarterfinals. Their weekend schedule is rather challenging, even though they are credited with the first chance in both games. Action begins for them on Saturday when they play against Golden Guardians, another team bound for the playoffs. They were not very successful at their first attempt, as they were defeated by GG earlier this season. This time around they get odds of 2/5 to level the score, while those who bet on the underdogs to pick up the needed victory will be paid at 2/1.
Regardless of the outcome of this match, Cloud9 will have another opportunity on Sunday evening when they play against Optic. This is one of their favorite opponents, having defeated them in six out of seven games, including the match played this season. We strongly believe that the odds of 11/20 offered by Pinnacle on Cloud9 to pick up a victory in the series are worth taking. Unless they are able to win the first match against CLG, Optic will be hard-pressed to cause an upset at odds of 17/10.
Clutch Gaming have their Fave in their Hands
Clutch Gaming have only 7 victories and 9 defeats, but they are still in the race for the playoffs. They play two critical matches this weekend and even though they are slight underdogs in both of them, they have the tools to prevail. In the opening match they need to defeat their direct rivals, 100 Thieves in one looks like an almost perfect coin flip. Clutch Gaming get even odds to prevail, while 100 Thieves are priced at 9/10. They have won the only match played this season, but lost the previous 7 games.
Clutch Gaming will likely be unable to use a second a victory over Golden Guardians if they falter on Saturday. However, the odds offered on this victory are amazing and as long as they hold at 6/5, with think punters should consider them. They have the advantage in the series, with five victories overall just two defeats, including a win this season. Golden Guardians are actually the favorites, with odds of 7/10.
