The third and final Super Week is underway, and we’ve already had a cracking handful of games to close out the LCO’s last three-matchday sprint.
Pentanet.GG has been invigorated, showing shades of their championship-caliber run in with a ladder-shaking win over the Chiefs.
Peace was humbled by Legacy, with Daniel “Incursio” Brkic and Lachlan “Sybol” Civil putting in exceptional performances from the early minutes. Elsewhere, Dire Wolves’ hot streak was halted by Order, and Mammoth finally chalked up a win against Gravitas.
Looking ahead to Day 2, Gravitas fight (for Glory) an uphill battle against the resurgent PGG. A spicy clash between Order and Peace may continue Shane “Kevy” Allen’s run as king of the jungle, as well as an ongoing slump from the Dragon’s Den. Legacy should make short work of Mammoth to close off the day, if their fiery form on Tuesday is any indication.
Before all that though, we have a matchup between a team widely considered tournament favourites, and a team who’s been trying to slingshot up the rankings through the Super Week trifecta weeks.
Hoàng’s Pick of the Week: CHF vs DW
The past few weeks have shifted the narrative for Dire Wolves in the burst of Super Week action, with the star-studded team pulling out five wins in a row before Order pulled the plug earlier this week. Though the Wolves have gained traction in the second round, it’s a tough ask ahead of them.
Chiefs, on the other hand, have looked solid from Week 2 onwards, and have yet to lose two maps in any one week. They do start off on rocky terms this week, however, with a loss to Pentanet on Tuesday, and with it loss of sole possession of first place.
The game took a steep dive at ten minutes, when Pentanet nabbed Ryan “Swathe” Gibbons and Tristan “Lived” Fulcher in a clever pick-and-dive situation; only to be further gifted Ronald “Kisee” Vo’s Graves on a silver platter, on a slow/keen teleport play, depending on who you ask.
Kisee and Swathe have been otherwise making quite a name for themselves as positional leaders, and certainly, Lived has made strides in attuning to top lane. But if the top side of the map gets caught sleeping, and locked out of the game again, we could well see their first back-to-back losses.
This is especially true since the Wolfpack really banks on Jordan “Only” Middleton. In their upwards streak, he was often the reason Dire Wolves would capitalise on leads and positioning — favoring strong early game champions: Xin Zhao and Volibear. But in some games, it really feels like he’s the only player who makes game-changing plays. Against Order on Tuesday, even when he could still assassinate the odd carry on Lee Sin, he couldn’t convert that to a team-wide advantage.
Swathe has also been making moves in the early game, well outpacing the rest of the LCO’s jungle cohort, and racking up XP and Gold advantages before 15 minutes, favoring a wide pool of picks; even politely showing Only his Gwen jungle pick when asked to on broadcast.
In the highly contested jungle position, the team that pulls away early will likely take it — so Chiefs will take this one.
Hoàng’s Week 6, Day 2 Predictions
- Chiefs def. Dire Wolves
- Pentanet def. Gravitas
- Order def. Peace
- Legacy def. Mammoth
LCO Super Week 3 continues today: the Chiefs v Dire Wolves starts at 6pm (AEST). Catch up on all the Split 2 action in our ultimate coverage hub.
