It is that time in the split folks, time for teams to put it all on the line and push for Worlds, so before the action starts later in the week, lets get a rundown of the quarterfinals. Over at goldper10.com, Pianist, has the rundown all the upcoming matches. Over in Europe, we have a stand out game in Team ROCCAT vs Unicorns of Love, Pianist says:
The match is rather difficult to predict, as Unicorns can be everything from utterly terrible to an amazing team. From a statistical standpoint ROCCAT seems to have the overhand in this matchup. Better warding and objective control can help them restrain the wild unicorns. And UOL have barely 2 weeks to practice with their new jungler H0r0 However, UOL has two things running for them: the increased focus on toplane. Steve is the weakest link on ROCCAT and could be abused by UOL. And their favourite style, a chaotic pick-oriented game caused the most trouble for ROCCAT. Roccat only won 1 game out of the 5 times they faced a pick composition.
Lane to watch: PowerofEvil vs. nukeduck (midlane) Both of these players are the primary carry for their team and play very similar. Look for crazy plays and picks from these players, who in the wins of their respective teams always were a major part.
Sounds like a set to watch for sure! This would be a big win for Unicorns, as they finished 2nd in the spring split, giving them 70 champion series points towards Worlds.
Over in NA, Team Solo Mid faces off against Gravity, and recently both teams have been struggling. But a few weeks ago these guys were battling at the top:
In week 6, Gravity and Team Solomid were tied for first place. At the time, a TSM vs Gravity final wouldn’t look unlikely. However, both teams went in a slump and now they face each other in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Both Gravity and TSM saw their chances at a bye disappear at the second day of week 9, when both team lost to a team low in the standings, C9 for TSM and TDK for Gravity. This match is important for TSM, because if they win, they go to worlds in every situation possible except if they finish 4th and Liquid second. Gravity is locked in the regional finals if Impulse wins their match on saturday, otherwise they have to win to have a shot at going to worlds. TSM’s problems have been reactionary play and more importantly, passive play. Santorin is often criticized for not ganking at all. Gravity’s problems seem to be their one-dimensional playstyle and poor rotational play. And although Gravity is good at teamfighting, even that is flawed: They rely heavily on Altec to deal damage.
If TSM want to challange Gravity on teamfighting, then there need to be a major upgrade on Dyrus‘ teleport usage. Analyst and caster Christopher “Montecristo” Mykkles complained multiple times on ‘Summoning Insight’ about teleport usage against Gravity. But unfortunately that is one of Dyrus‘ weaknesses as a player, so there needs a big improvement there. Lusboy’s lack of synergy with the team on engages doesn’t help this either. As shown in the game against Cloud 9 in week 9, Lustboy and TSM are not always on the same page.
Lots of work to be done if TSM wants to defend their spring split championship title. There are more games coming up though, and Pianist has done a great job of summarizing the other matchups as well, so check them out here.
