Fantasy LCS Week 7, Who Do I Start?

Low Risk:

Altec: The EG adc continues to perform week after week averaging mid 30s in points for 2 games. You can safely expect that he'll turn in a middle of the road performance and wont harm your fantasy chances. If EG happens to do exceptional as they will quite randomly decide to do from time to time he could even put up incredible numbers, though EG has yet to have a consistent enough week to make that happen. 

Team Solo Mid: Not usually members of this list but a lot of people have shied away from them in fantasy since the start of the split and to be fair they have an equal win/loss to Milennium who often grace this list. Most importantly though TSM has one of the best possible weeks this week. They have an impeccable record against the bottom 3 teams, 2-0 against CoL, EG, and Curse and they face all 3 this super week. If your fantasy leagues are anything like mine there's probably at least Gleeb floating free. Snap up TSM members and start them this week, there's a strong chance they're going to go 3-1 at least. 

Creaton: With a few exceptions the MIL ad carry has put up some impressive numbers. He is one of the few to routinely out score Altec week after week thanks in large part to his team's tendency to have long chaotic games regardless of win or loss. This week MIL faces 3 of the easier teams in EU and the always chaotic Fnatic, anything could happen. What will happen though is Creaton scoring you plenty of points. 

Kerp: Highest scoring Fantasy player this split and MIL could go anything from 2-2 to 4-0 this week. If Kerp is a free agent or riding your bench you're just bad at fantasy LCS. 

Medium Risk:

Millenium: While Kerp and Creaton are usually huge points batteries the rest of MIL is generally quite spotty. As mentioned before however, MIL has a relatively safe super week and good potential to pull between 2 and 4 wins. The fact they may only go 2-2 this week makes the rest of the team a bit of a risk but the payoff if they manage 4 wins will be monumental. 

Edward: After their unfortunate Visa problems for London Gambit came back with a renewed fire and Edward managed to stand out among them. His play was incredible and he put up astounding numbers for a support despite Gambit ending the week 1-1. If that same fire is alive in Edward this week he could leave you swimming in fantasy points as Gambit has a decent schedule ahead of them. If they play well Gambit has a reasonable expectation of ending the week with 2-3 wins. 

High Risk:

RobertxLee: CoL continues to garner a reputation as the blue turtle shell of NA LCS taking wins off the top teams. In those wins it's almost always Robert who gets rolling in a huge way to win them the game. This week CoL has 2 strong chances for Blue Turtle Shell action, as well as an always close competition against EG. A bet on Robert could payoff if their tendency to knock games off the best of the league holds true. 

Overpow: Roccat have not looked good at all recently, I broke down why here. Despite that they have shown flashes of their old selves in their most recent games and their coach is finally in house helping them out. Roccat has the easiest super week they're going to get this week, If Veggie being in house and those flashes of Roccat are ever going to amount to anything this is the time it should happen. It's the epitome of High risk to put Overpow on your starting lineup at all but if he's ever going to payoff this split this week is the best chance of that happening. 

From tied for first to struggling at the bottom of the pack, the rise and fall of ROCCAT.

Picture credit: Lolesports.com

When most of us first met Roccat (then KMT) they were complete underdogs heading into the spring promotion tournament against NiP. Instead of playing like the underdogs Roccat simply played NiP's game, but better. Roccat systematically dismantled NiP in 3 long slow games giving us the 3-0 stomp everyone expected, but for the team no one thought would qualify. Thus was Roccat ushered into the EU LCS.

ROCCAT Rising

Qualifying for LCS was only the beginning of Roccat's bag of tricks though. In their very first game Roccat broke out Pantheon mid and gave us the Unstoppable Skyfall wombo combo that would help them to a quick and decisive 31 minute victory. More than just setting Roccat off to a good start, this game also proved that they were more than the slow methodical play we had seen from them in the promotion series. Roccat would follow it up with more stellar performances and even some interesting picks like Gragas jungle and a Mordakaiser mid.

It did not take long for Roccat's strengths to shine through. They were masters of the reactive play style in both champion select and the game itself. Whether it was seeing NiP's late game team comp coming and beating them at their own game, or using SHC's aggressive push mid to create the Unstoppable Skyfall Roccat's reactive play was in a word incredible. They also backed up that strong reactive play with exquisite team fighting.

Spring split Roccat looked very much like Cloud 9 when it came to team fighting. There was no hesitation, no questioning the call, when Roccat went for a fight they all simply went in. The Unstoppable Skyfall is a great example of this. Roccat knows SHC is about to try to 5 man push mid for the outer turret. They've already seen 4 SHC members in mid lane and know Mimer is roaming down. To react Roccat pulls Xaxus down from top and Overpow up from bot. As soon as SHC make their push Overpow pulls the trigger and all of Roccat pile in, the result is a thing of beauty.

I love this gif

That first game for Roccat was such a great example of what Roccat was in the spring split. Not only do they react to SHC's play and pile in on the call to engage without hesitation, but they also show the trademark Roccat style. When this game came out Pantheon mid and Malphite top were not even close to popular. Instead of playing the established popular champions Roccat picked their own style that worked for them and executed it flawlessly, and they continued to do it for much of their strong spring performance.

Roccat were not without their weaknesses though. jungler Jankos often made questionable decisions during the early game that could put him and his team behind, some of their laning phases were below par for the EU LCS, and their vision game was never the strongest. All of that meant teams with powerful early games, like the spring incarnation of Copenhagen Wolves, could get a strong enough lead early to leave Roccat with no good options. This happened more often as teams like SK and Alliance hit their stride but Roccat was still able to end the regular season in 4th and defeat Gambit for 3rd place playoff finish. So how did Roccat go from a top 4 team to barely managing to defeat a squad of last minute substitutes?

Collapse of Confidence

Roccat has lost confidence in themselves and their play. We can see it in their sloppy pick ban phase against SK today where they were caught having to decide which of two very strong Jesiz champions, Kayle and Kassadin, was okay to let through. We can see it in their hesitation to commit to fights and objectives like the game against MIL at Wembley with the dragon dance that just wouldn't end. The most telling sign though is in their picks this split, half way through the season and they've not broken free from the popular tier of picks even once.

Last split Roccat was a team that would bring Gragas jungle or Mordakaiser mid to the table and crush with it because they were playing their own style of game. Now they play everyone else's style, they play the same standard champions as everyone else, and they are afraid of taking the risks that scored them so many victories in spring.

A team once praised for their reactive play style, Roccat has become risk averse. Roccat hesitate when they opportunity to take chances occur, like in champion select against SK where they could have left Kassadin and Kayle both open to put SK on the back food, and they hesitate when they should be forcing fights and objectives like the MIL dragon that dance that never ends.

Each time the hesitation appears, even for an instant, Roccat suffers immensely for it. Whether against the best or the worst of the EU LCS, hesitation has cost Roccat fights, leads, and in many cases entire games. To make matters even worse, none of Roccat's issues from last split have been solved. Their laning phase is still nothing special, they're still making questionable decisions early game, and their vision play has actually gotten worse.

Road to Recovery

Unfortunately while noticing and pointing out these problems is easy, there's no magic cure to solve a team no longer trusting calls. If someone could figure out the secret of convincing teams to blindly trust calls they could make a pretty penny selling it to League teams. Until then however Roccat will have to put in the hard work to solve their problems. There is a small hope that having their coach Veggie back, he was unable to be in the team house until recently, will help fix Roccat's problems.

Even if they struggle to solve the confidence problem Roccat can still make themselves more competitive by solving some of the issues that have plagued them from their entry into the LCS. Better early game and stronger vision control would go a long way towards bringing the team much needed wins. With wins might come some of that confidence they once had and maybe a bit less of the hesitation we see now.

Fantasy LCS Week 6, Who Do I Start?

Low Risk:

Altec: Despite EG only managing 3 wins so far this season Altec has been incredibly valuable for fantasy teams. He's dipped below 30 pts only once and he was still very close with 28. Altec continues to be an incredibly safe bet. 

Medium Risk:

RobertxLee: With all their troubles this season it's little wonder that CoL players rarely make this list, but if anyone deserves to it's Robert. He's been instrumental in most of CoL's leads and all of their wins. CoL doesn't have many wins, but they have started to gain a reputation as Giant Slayers and even hold the 1-0 lead over both teams they face this week. If there's ever a time to bet on CoL it might be now, and that bet should probably land on Robert's shoulders. 

Quas: Curse's top laner has been putting in stellar performances, and good fantasy numbers lately. Curse faces the only two teams lower than themselves in the standings this split, and while they've dropped a game to CoL previously Curse seems determined to prove that a fluke. If Curse comes out strong in the same way they have been it will likely have a lot to do with Quas and Voyboy.

Voyboy: Much like teammate Quas, Voyboy has had strong showings and seems desperate to silence the naysayers. If Curse sees victory over EG and CoL expect their solo laners to shower you with Fantasy points. 

Woolite: The CW ad carry has certainly put up his share of impressive point totals cresting over 50 points more than once despite a 2-10 record for the team. None the less he's also had his off weeks posting barely over 10 points which makes him a bit more of a risk than Altec. This week CW faces Fnatic and Gambit, two teams that have struggled nearly as much as CW itself this season. There's a good chance this will be one of Woolite's strong weeks. 

High Risk:

Niq: It's no secret Gambit has struggled since Alex Ich left and Niq was asked to fill his shoes. However, while the team has struggled it's certainly not been the fault of Niq who's reasonable performances tend to generate around 30 points a week. Niq has posted strong numbers on occasion though cresting the 40 pts mark and this could be a week he repeats that. Gambit faces SHC and CW both teams are struggling and both games could swing either way. If Gambit comes out on top expect Niq to generate quality points, but if Gambit falls Niq's lower numbers might make the difference in your match up. 

Fantasy LCS Week 5, Who Do I Start?

Coming up on the halfway point in the LCS split and it's given us some good patterns to look at for trying to predict who will or wont come out huge this week. Unfortunately the nature of the beast means that sometimes unpredictable things happen, like SHC falling apart in their easy week. Even events that couldn't be predicted before they happened though can still be useful. While it is too early to call the SHC train derailed it's made it clear that they should still be assessed as potential risks for this list.

In the interest of readability I've added player names to the front and underlined them in case you don't care to read the explanation as to why they're rated how they are.

Low Risk:

Altec: Since his debut in the LCS the EG adc has shown an impressive ability to generate fantasy points in any conditions. In week 1 losing to top rated Dignitas he scored over 20 points, a score usually seen from victory. Last week Altec scored 28 points despite going 0-2 which was better than about half the ADCs available in fantasy LCS including usually strong performers like Sneaky, Tabzz, and Imaqtpie. This week EG faces CompLexity and TSM, they have a strong chance of going 1-1 and even a reasonable chance at a 2-0 with the help of their new jungler Helios. EG is a good bet and that makes Altec an excellent bet.

Medium Risk:

Kerp: It's no secret Kerp has a tendency to generate ridiculous points when winning. This week Millenium faces ROCCAT and Fnatic which means there's a reasonable chance for at least 1 MIL win. Kerp is inconsistent which makes him a bit dangerous, but MIL typically wins off the back of Kerp and means that betting on him in a potentially winning week can payoff big.

Creaton: Much like his teammate Kerp, Creaton has been known to put up incredible numbers when he does well. With Milennium looking at a 1-1 week Creaton is not a bad bet to score a few extra points from your flex or ADC positions.

Helios: EG is looking at a good week this week and any wins they pick up will depend a lot on the pressure applied by their new jungler Helios. He already showed his skill last week generating early leads for EG proving he's not a bad bet when EG wins.

High Risk:

Overpow: ROCCAT showed signs of life taking down SHC last week. This week they face the two weakest teams in the EU LCS Gambit and MIL. If ROC is going to have an upswing this is the most likely week for it and it will largely swing on Overpow's ability to carry. He's a dangerous chance to take but if ROC is back that shot will payoff huge.

Diamond: Gambit has struggled to return to their former glory after the loss of mid laner Alex Ich, but Diamond is clearly still a large part of what carries Gambit victories. If ROCCAT's unable to repeat last week's performance it will be Diamond and Gambit who reap the rewards.

For a pro even seemingly innocuous comments about the game can be disastrous

Players in the western regions have always walked a difficult line trying to keep information out of their opponents hands while still interacting with fans via social media and streaming. For the most part players can manage to stream and use social media regularly without giving anything more valuable than already well known facts like Doublelift enjoys playing Lucian. Sometimes however players let slip too much information without even realizing it.

That comment no doubt seemed innocuous to Amazing when answering his AMA on Reddit, in fact it looks like he's suggesting he can't be banned out easily. In the eyes of analysts who work for teams like Cloud 9 or LMQ however, that reply was a clear tier list and a potential point of weakness for TSM.

In the opening game of the summer split Cloud 9 targeted Amazing banning all 3 champions listed in his comment and first picking away the Lee Sin that had made Amazing's name in EU. The heavy jungle focus forced Amazing out of his comfort zone and resulted in him looking rather lack luster on Xin Zhao. Dignitas in week 2 would repeat the winning strategy of focusing on Amazing again putting the TSM newcomer out of his comfort zone. This time Amazing tried the season 3 favorite Volibear to unfortunately disastrous effect. In both cases the information that slipped through in Amazing's AMA was used to remove him as a threat in the game.

Lest you think I'm picking on him, Amazing was not the only one to make such a mistake recently. CompLexity's mid laner Pr0lly is guilty of giving away too much with a seemingly innocent comment after posting this tweet last week.

my yasuo is still at the point where i take a turret shot because i want to CS with my e

— pr0lly (@coL_pr0lly) June 6, 2014

It's a lot less obvious, something most fans (myself included) no doubt passed right over without thinking twice. Not nearly as disastrous as giving away your entire champion pool, but Pr0lly's tweet still tells opponents he's not comfortable enough to pick Yasuo in the LCS. While you may not have, and I certainly didn't, picked up on what that tweet meant at the time LMQ's champion select strategy makes it clear they understood.

LMQ ban away Ziggs and Annie from Pr0lly to limit his champion pool, then first pick away the Lulu to both ensure Pr0lly does not take it and that should CoL take Nidalee the Yasuo counter would have ample knock ups. They then proceed to build a strong pick composition that would work well with both Nidalee and Yasuo. Because of Pr0lly's tweet LMQ are safe in the knowledge he isn't going to bring out Yasuo. That means the only reaction CoL could have to the composition is to steal away Nidalee if they saw it coming, but would result in XiaoWeiXiao happily playing Yasuo, a well known counter to Nidalee and a champion XiaoWeiXiao had favored in their previous LCS games.

A Yasuo pick would have been incredibly effective against LMQ's composition, but thanks to Pr0lly's slip up LMQ knew they were safe to build a poke heavy pick comp. What resulted was the first and so far only outing for XiaoWeiXiao's Nidalee in the LCS and an absolute disaster of a game for CoL that propelled multiple LMQ members to score over 60 fantasy points in week 3.

Players have always walked a fine line of interacting with fans without giving away too much, and like we see here sometimes they make mistakes with hefty consequences for their teams. It's sad to see every time it happens and another fresh young pro learns just how guarded they have to be on social media. Unfortunately this is one mistake that is likely to keep repeating until the infrastructure around teams develops a bit more and coaches learn that social media training is a must before new players are let loose onto Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit.

Fantasy LCS Week 4, Who Do I Start?

Back once again with another week of risky pick suggestions to help you get a leg up on the other guys. This focuses not on the popular obvious picks like Dig or Alliance players, and instead searches for the hidden gems potentially worth tons of points such as Kerp or Altec.

Low Risk:

This is the last time SHC is going to get a mention here short of a monumental losing streak, which is unlikely. MrRallez was the no risk pick of the team all last split but the entire team has really come together incredibly well since then. It's a good play to grab up anyone on SHC this week as they have relatively easy competition in MIL and ROC. Pay special attention to Impaler who's the most improved player in the EU LCS, and Mimer who's one of the highest scoring top laners this week. Mimer especially has extra points potential in his back pocket. This week Rengar is enabled and Mimer is well known as one of the best Rengar players in EU.

I talked about Altec previously and he's going to continue to sit here in the low risk section as long as he keeps being amazing. He put up strong numbers in defeat in almost every game and when EG turns it on Altec comes up huge, scoring 40 points thanks in part to their surprise win over C9 last week. In addition while EG faces tough competition this week both CLG and LMQ have a history of overconfidence problems that could allow another flash of EG brilliance like the one that took down C9. Plus EG has heavily suggested that Korean star Helios will be playing for the team in place of Snoopeh this week, his OGN experience could be just what the struggling EG needs to turn things around.

Medium Risk:

Kerp has had some shocking runs already in the 3 weeks of the LCS and there's potential for him to do it again this week against Gambit. The fact that Kerp has put in some negative points value games earns him medium risk status but we should also remember he made up for it that same week with a 40 point domination over the Copenhagen Wolves.

Speaking of the Copenhagen Wolves their carries Woolite and CowTard definitely deserve a spot right about here. While they do face SK this week making them a medium risk they also face ROC who've simply not been able to right their sinking ship of late. When CW wins CowTard and Woolite often end up drowning in fantasy points and CW has a strong chance of victory over ROC. If your flex is looking a little weak either player could make the difference between victory and defeat for your fantasy team.

High Risk:

Pobelter, much like his teammate Altec, often scores massive fantasy numbers when EG wins. What makes him risky though is his poor scores in defeat. EG is definitely a wild card this week if Helios plays and or either of their opponents get over confident EG could put up incredible numbers and that would make Pobelter one hell of an investment.

The brilliance of Froggen's Anivia.

Froggen is without doubt the most well known Anivia player in the world right now. From tales of him grinding games early in his adoption of League of Legends on it, to his incredible Season 2 performances with it on CLG.EU Froggen's legendary Anivia has become a fan favorite occurrence. Fans enjoy his Anivia so much that when Froggen was voted into the Paris All Star show matches fans went out of their way to make sure he played an Anivia game. Surprisingly we didn't just get to watch Froggen on his legendary main at Paris, we also witnessed him absolutely crush Bjergsen's Zed and carry Team Ice to victory in the show matches. It's little surprise then that fans exploded in excitement when Froggen locked in Anivia for their match against Roccat this week. The Anivia pick was not just for the fans though, in returning to his favorite cryo-phoenix Froggen had found a massively synergistic pick with the current meta.

Right now much of the LCS champion select revolves around the fact that outside of Lucian, the highly immobile Twitch and Kog'Maw are by far the best ADC picks. This has baited more than one team into running Kog'Maw with little to no peel to rather disastrous effect. Meanwhile in mid many of the meta favored champions don't pair well with Kog'Maw. Lulu, Orianna, and Nidalee are okay pairs with their shields and heals, but picks like Leblanc, Kassadin, Twisted Fate, and Yasuo offer nothing to the protect the Kog'Maw composition usually required to run the champion.

Enter Anivia, in place of the shields or heals Nidalee, Orianna, and Lulu offer to Kog'Maw Anivia instead brings overwhelming zone control and peel. Anivia brings a 400 unit radius slowing AoE from her ultimate, an AoE stun that slows anyone it damages even if the stun misses, and a wall that at max rank extends 800 units across the map. On top of all that team utility Anivia brings to lane strong burst from her Q+E combo, Ziggs level infinite wave clear, and near unparalleled safety from the egg form passive. When paired with Kog'Maw Anivia's kit asks the question "How are you going to get through all this peel and still have something left to catch the ADC?" The simple answer to which is, you're not.

To really hammer home the advantage Anivia brings Alliance held the Anivia pick in both games until late in the champion select. This allowed Alliance to see Shyvana and Evelynn come out from their opponents and ensure that the enemy would have very little hard engage to lock down someone. This magnified Anivia's strengths allowing Froggen to block flanking routes into the team and funnel enemies through his heavy slowing and damaging ultimate. The zone control of Anivia allowed Tabzz on Kog'Maw in game one, and Twitch in game two, to pump out damage with impunity, ensuring Alliance's victory.

By digging into his past Froggen was able to find an incredibly strong pick no one was using and make a 2-0 week look easy. The ability to look outside the popular picks and find something that works so well in new metas is what sets the best players apart, and Froggen has certainly shown he is still a world class mid laner breaking out the Anivia again.

Fantasy LCS Week 3, Who Do I Start?

Continuing the series from last week I'm back again with some suggested players if you're looking to branch out from your roster of C9 and Alliance players and take a little risk in hopes of big rewards. Just like last time I wont be going over the picks everyone knows are dependable like Sneaky or Shiphtur, but rather the ones who are risks but have potential for big gains on the week like Kerp in week 1 or Altec last week.

Low Risk:

For week 3 the big low risk high potential reward tickets are Curse members. In their two games last week against C9 and EG every Curse memeber except for IWDominate raked in more than 20 fantasy points each despite ending the week 1-1. This week they face CoL who are again playing with a sub, this time in the jungle, and a struggling TSM. Curse is likely to at minimum go 1-1 and pull similar points to last week, but there's also a good chance they take down the struggling TSM in a close bout that could generate a mountain of points.

Medium Risk:

The Copenhagen Wolves players turned out to be the surprise stars of Week 2 with Woolite and Cowtard generating the highest scores for the week. The result was especially shocking after their rather poor super week where multiple players had more than 1 game of barely generating 1 point. CW went 1-1 against SHC and Roccat last week and this week they're in for two more potentially close fights against Gambit and Millenium. Despite that the lack luster performances of super week are still fresh forcing the CW players to be rated a medium risk, but if they come through the payoff will be totally worth it.

While they faltered last week it's hard to forget the incredible super week performances of Millenium players. This week MIL faces CW, which has a lot of potential to be a close match generating plenty of points for both sides, and SK who's own slow play style leaves lots of openings for MIL to generate a surprise win or at least pick up some respectable fantasy points. Millenium players are a risk but the potential for another amazing outing from Kerp is still there and that makes them worth a shot.

I'm not sure if I even need to mention MrRallez here at this point, but I'm going to do it one more time just to be safe. While it's true SHC faces tougher competition this week it's hardly worth abandoning Rallez. Throughout last split Rallez was the breakout star of his team with great numbers in victory and strong numbers in defeat. He should consistently bounce between low and medium risk pick depending on the strength of SHC's competition. Expect him to put up reasonable this week against strong opponents and return to a top points generator next week against easier competition.

High Risk:

You probably thought I was crazy to recommend Altec so highly last week but then he went and generated 31.44 points in 1 win and 1 loss. Altec's strong performance actually managed to beat out usually strong performers like Froggen, Vasilii, Jesiz, XiaoWeiXiao and more. Now that was admittedly EG facing relatively easy competition. This week EG faces two of the best teams in NA and the chances of a win for the team are incredibly slim. Despite that Altec still has potential to put up big numbers, in super week he put in incredible performances despite EG going 0-3, including a score of 8/3/2 against Dignitas who they face again this week. This is only the 3rd week of Altec's LCS career so I'm not willing to lock him in as the MrRallez of NA, but he's certainly trending in that direction and that makes him a potentially huge asset for your Fantasy LCS roster.

While MrRallez has spent more than a split putting up convincing numbers in every game he plays the rest of SHC faltered for the majority of last split. That seems to be over however as all members of SHC have generated a combined total of over 100 points across their 6 games, something few outside the ADC or Mid roles have accomplished. Those strong numbers suggest that everyone on SHC is worth the risk to start, but this will really be the telling week. Despite the slump Fnatic remains a talented team, and Alliance is the strongest force in the EU LCS right now, if SHC can put up strong numbers against both this week it might be time to consider all the members in the same category as the dependable MrRallez.

Altec is a good first step for Evil Geniuses, but they've still got plenty of work to do

After being forced to defend their LCS spot yet again last split Evil Geniuses knew they had to do something to stay competitive. That something turned out to be signing former Cloud 9 Tempest, who EG successfully defeated to retain their LCS spot, AD Carry Altec to replace Yellowpete. Many EG fans were critical of the move, considering the always consistent Yellowpete to be the least of EG's problems. While it's true that Yellowpete's consistent, never feed but never really carry, play was not an active detriment to the team, it's quickly become abundantly clear that Altec is an enormous boon for EG.

After five games in the first two weeks (he had to miss the first day due to delayed paperwork) Altec has put EG's bot lane on the map as one to be reckoned with. Instead of Yellowpete's mostly ignore-able consistent play Altec threatens to run away with games by himself if left unchecked. In such a short time Altec has already posted some impressive scores including 4/2/4 in a loss to TSM, 8/3/2 in a loss to Dignitas, and 3/0/9 in EG's victory over CompLexity. The threat of Altec carrying a game for EG cannot be underestimated, and that threat means teams can't focus as heavily on Pobelter and Innox and still be successful like they could last split.

Adding Altec and creating an additional threat on the team was a great first step for EG, but it was still just a first step. EG went 1-5 in it's their six games and they've got a ton of work to do if they're going to turn things around.

Pobelter and Innox both need to work on their consistency. Both of EG's solo laners have turned in some utterly amazing games to carry the team to victory Most recently including Innox's crushing of Yazuki that carried EG back to the LCS in the relegation tournament. However, both players have turned in some disgustingly poor performances in the previous split. For EG to break out of the bottom of the pack both of their solo laners will have to fix their own mistakes so they can move into the mid game strong instead of playing from behind. So far things are getting better on this front, Innox is turning in more good games than bad ones in the split push top laner meta, and Pobelter is finished with school and moving into the EG house to practice full time.

Snoopeh needs to work on his timing. The EG jungler has taken more than his fair share of flak in the last year, though it's primarily incorrectly focused on his mechanics. While Snoopeh's not exactly on par with world class junglers like SKT T1 K's Bengi, he's far from being the worst jungler to compete in the NA LCS much less bad enough to drag his whole team down with him. No, the real problem for Snoopeh seems to be in his timing. Whether he's wasting time top lane looking for a gank that isn't going to happen, hatching a ward in the river, or arriving too late to the party bottom, Snoopeh never quite seems to be in the right place at the right time. Almost never do we see Snoopeh actually correctly predict the enemy junglers movements enough to setup a counter gank, like the one Brokenshard pulled off against Cloud 9 to create CompLexity's first win of the split. More effective use of his time from Snoopeh would go a long way to developing early leads for EG that they could convert into victories.

Above all else to be competitive EG must fix their shot calling. From engaging a fight before everyone's close enough to participate, to trading Baron for their Nexus. EG has made terrible call after terrible call and it has got to stop. The indecisive nature of EG's calls has been a major pitfall of the team since they first joined the NA LCS and it's not an easy fix, but there is a glimmer of hope. EG's victory over CompLexity had some of the crispest play the team has ever seen. Sadly the team devolved back to their normal selves the next day against Curse, but it's still a glimmer of hope for EG.

If the Evil Geniuses can find and harness whatever magic it was that propelled them through CompLexity with such ease they could, despite their other problems, actually go toe to toe with some of the best in NA and come out on top thanks in large part to now having all three lanes threatening to carry.