The second super week ends today — but fear not. Another one awaits us next week, and they are leaving us with some absolute belters on today’s docket.
Check out the neat bracketing of the matchups today!
Dire Wolves and Mammoth launch the day tied in what has turned out to be a brawl for fifth place – only one will emerge with the coveted spot. Look for solo laners to make the difference there.
PGG and Order will lock horns in a 3-4 battle that PGG will need in order to keep pace with the top of the table. I want to see a little more from the mid/support of Order today — they’ll need to step up to deliver the no-longer-army of Order a victory.
And, apparently, our main event of the evening — Kanga takes on Gravitas in a matchup which could deliver Kanga back to a tie for last. They’re better than this on paper, it’s time to show us that they’re better than that on the Rift as well.
But of course, our attention is firmly fixed at the top of the table where The Chiefs and Peace meet for round two of their spectacular duel for dominance over the LCO.
Perry’s Pick of the Week: Peace (10-1) vs The Chiefs (10-1)
This matchup is rife with intrigue all over the map. Romeo “Thien” Tran is delivering on all fronts for Peace, just as Topoon was at the beginning of the split. Now, Topoon hasn’t been quite as dominant of late as he was at the beginning…but he has by no means been bad. Peace would underestimate him only at their own peril.
Nathan “Puma” Puma rightly identified Thomas “LeeSA” Ma as one of the underappreciated forces of the league on broadcast yesterday, and I give him the edge over Park “Arthur” Mi-reu, who has flattered to deceive for my money. Arthur/Miru has more to offer The Chiefs, and this is the matchup to start.
The mid dynamic is fascinating. Both teams do not turn to their mids as the source of hard carry for their team; in fact, Yao “Apii” Jian-Jing and James “Tally” Shute are stone last and dead middle of the league, respectively, in damage %.
But their advantage to their teams is marked — Tally in particular has underlying numbers that belies the mediocre damage numbers. His impact underscores what our eyes show us, that he leverages his veteran experience and ability to play the map as good or better than anyone in the league.
The bottom lanes should favour Peace on paper. Quin “Raes” Korebrits and Dragon “Dragku” Guo have not reached their final form, and when they do, should be the best lane in the league by a distance. They’ve been good, but they can be even better.
Wang “Chayon” Yun-Cheng has hit the ground at a gallop this year and hasn’t looked like slowing down. He’s made life almost spectacularly easy for David “Beats” Nguyen-Dang, who in turn has shown sparkling improvement over a 2021 campaign he’d rather forget.
Both teams go as their bottom lane goes, and the fireworks need to come from these four players for either of these teams to feel in control of the game.
As for my pick, well, I often say that OCE matches tend to be about who has the player who plays the worst rather than one who plays the best. The one player who regularly and consistently disproves that is Raes.
I like the Chiefs better across the five players. In my head, I think they should win.
But I can’t pick against Peace until they give me a reason to.
My Pick: Peace.
Perry’s Week 5 Day 3 Predictions
Mammoth def. Dire Wolves
Pentanet.GG def. Order
Peace def. Chiefs
Kanga def. Gravitas
LCO’s second Super Week of 2022 closes today with our feature match scheduled for 8PM AEDT. Catch up on all the split details in our ultimate coverage hub.
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