League of Legends LCS predictions Week 8, Day 1

Golden Guardians (6-8) vs. 100 Thieves (6-8)

A tale of two teams is also going to be a fight for the final playoff spot. It’s not so much that the winning team will gain an advantage, but the losing team will be forced to scramble from a position of weakness, one game out of the final playoff spot with three to go.

Golden Guardians are on the downturn, having lost three of their last four games. On the other hand, 100 Thieves are peaking and have won three of their last four. Is momentum going to be the deciding factor?

If Golden Guardians want to turn things around, they need their solo laners – Froggen and Hauntzer – to be the hard carries. Not only are those the biggest points of strength for GGS, it’s a major point of weakness for 100 Thieves who will lean heavily on Bang to carry them.

Prediction: Golden Guardians

TSM (8-6) vs. Echo Fox (3-11)

If TSM’s players and coaching staff weren’t slamming the panic button after their poor performance last week, they will be if they lose this game. This should be a gimme for TSM, a chance to right the ship after some truly pathetic performances in the last few weeks.

In every single lane, other than perhaps top, TSM should have the advantage. This is a perfect opportunity to give Akaadian, Zven, and Smoothie some of their confidence back. But they have to execute in order to do so, something TSM hasn’t done very well in the past few games.

Prediction: TSM

CLG (9-5) vs. Clutch (6-8)

While the other two 6-8 teams battle each other, Clutch has a tough game that they are probably expected to lose. Nothing will be lost if CLG does take this game, so in a sense, Clutch has no pressure on them. On the other hand, though, CLG has a pretty easy game with a chance to control the fight for the other first-round bye.

There is no lane that CLG should be favored to lose, but Clutch does have a few matchups that aren’t terrible (particularly top and ADC). Ultimately, I think jungle is just going to be too impactful and Wiggily is so much massively better than Lira.

Prediction: CLG

The LCS resumes play at 5:00 EST on Twitch.tv/Riotgames