League of Legends LCS predictions Week 8, Day 1

In the penultimate week of LCS action, which professional League of Legends teams do we think will win their games?

The LCS playoffs are fast approaching and there is no room for error. For North America’s best League of Legends teams in or around the edge of playoff contention, mistakes cannot be allowed, moral victories are hollow, and a promising week of scrim results means nothing. There’s just executing on stage or failing.

Four games remain in the LCS regular season for each team. We’ve broken down which teams are the strongest (spoiler: Liquid is number one) and weakest (hint, it’s Echo Fox). So who should be favored in the first day of games in Week 8?

More from LCS

• EMENES retires following leave from Cloud9, cites military service
• EMENES Donezo Manifesto: Former Cloud9 Midlaner airs out grievances
• C9 Jojopyun: LCS superstar to Cloud9 after “a huge series of events”
• EG Sheiden reportedly staying on Evil Geniuses as starting jungler
• 2023 LCS Summer Split Awards – LCS All-Pro Team

Liquid (11-3) vs. OpTic (8-6)

Really, there is no question with regards to our first game of the day. Liquid is the best team in North America and (potentially) one of the best teams in the world. They are favored to win this game and should win this game.

For OpTic, they put themselves into the playoff conversation with their win over TSM last week. They are firmly in the mix for that higher seed in the quarterfinals, which could be crucial for them to get side selection advantage.

The big match-up I’ll be watching is in the jungle. Xmithie has been one of the best and most consistent junglers in the league, but he struggled a bit last week. Meteos has been quite solid in the later games of the Summer Split. I’ll be fascinated to see if he can hold his own in a crucial game.

Prediction: Liquid

FlyQuest (4-10) vs. Cloud9 (9-5)

This is a must-win for FlyQuest, whose slim playoff hopes would be dashed if they lose today. This team has struggled mightily after their impressive performance in the Spring Split, so taking a game off the second or third-best LCS team seems like a tall order.

However, this is exactly the kind of game that C9 has inexplicably botched in the past. Of their five losses this split, two came against 100 Thieves and Echo Fox, two teams at the bottom of the standings.

In my opinion, this game is going to come down to which of the two struggling AD Carries – Sneaky for C9 and WildTurtle for FlyQuest – is able to buck their poor performances this year and step up in a crucial game.

Prediction: FlyQuest