by in
Last week had quite the upsets with RNG taking IG to a 5 game set and winning by a slim margin of 3-2, despite the last game being a one sided slaughterfest. Unfortunately for IG, the absence of their main top laner, Theshy, prompted Duke to step up for the team. Although Duke did his best as a tanky, crowd control heavy carry, he could not emulate the presence of Theshy. Coupled with the fact that this entire series was the Uzi show, IG simply could not keep up with the tempo that the China all star exerts.
On the other side, Rogue Warriors and EDward Gaming duked it out to see who faces RNG in the finals. EDG had RW’s number the entire match, outdrafting and outplaying the favorites to proceed to the next round. IBoy, Scout and Meiko were the clear catalysts to bring RW’s grave early in the series, causing doinb completely missing his mark in the midlane and Mouse struggling in the top.
This week, the playing field takes place in Chongqing to see which one of these teams will earn the coveted third place for more championship points to pad their stats.
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Rogue Warriors vs Invictus Gaming
Tuesday April 24th – 8PM PST / 11AM EST / 11PM CST
Both these teams finished first and second place in the same group, with Invictus Gaming having a stellar record and Rogue Warriors following close behind. However, last week exposed multiple weaknesses for each team, whether it be RW’s drafting or IG’s inability to stop a snowball. These teams do not have much time to patch up their weak points considering the 3rd place match is only 2-3 days after their semifinal bouts.
RW really must focus on getting Mouse more involved in the team and getting doinb rolling in the early game. Smlz has been and still is a very consistent ADC with Killua being relatively as consistent. Getting doinb a comfort champion would be the priority for RW. In game, RW should focus on Mouse finding a way to expand his pressure against Duke, which should be more realistic considering Duke’s lack of carry champion pool. Smlz will have his hands full handling Jackey, but the botlane should be an even match. The eyes will be set on doinb vs Rookie, a matchup that heavily favors Rookie.
IG have a simple team comp that does not need much tweaking but more execution perfection. JackeyLove is a great, young ADC and Rookie is a veteran midlaner, both of which are more than capable of carrying the game. Focusing midlane to set doinb behind should be Ning’s first priority, followed by repeated ganks botlane. Keeping Ning and Duke on tanks, maybe even Baolan on a pseudo tank as well would truly enable the carries to shine. The only danger is allowing a sneaky Kai’sa or another tank shredder to go through picks and bans.
RW and IG are both top tier teams that have fallen in the later parts of the playoffs. IG are still favorites to win this round despite Theshy being absent from a hand injury. Duke definitely has not been filling the shoes flawlessly, but the jungle and mid matchups are in IG’s favor. The botlane should remain stagnant and RW has had problems incorporating their top lane into the game.
Best bet:Invictus Gaming to win 3-1, paying +200 at BetOnline
