LCS Summer 2020 Playoff Preview: Evil Geniuses vs. FlyQuest
By Josh Tyler
We preview the second series of the LCS Summer playoffs, as Evil Geniuses face FlyQuest.
The first series of the LCS Summer Split playoffs may well be in the books by the time you’re reading this article, but there is still one more playoff matchup to decide before we head into the loser’s bracket matches this weekend. Both Evil Geniuses and FlyQuest have aspirations of making the run to Worlds, but to start they’ll have to avoid the pitfalls of a first-round loss that would put them one series loss from elimination.
Evil Geniuses
Record: 8-10
Roster
Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon
Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer
Bae “Bang” Jun-sik
Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam
The Regular Season
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Evil Geniuses were an extremely strong team at the beginning of the split, winning five of their first eight games and consistently being ranked among the top three teams through Week 3. However, as their performance started to taper off in the middle of the season, EG made a bold, controversial (and I would say, bad) roster swap.
They swapped top laner Kumo and mid laner Jiizuke for Huni in the top lane and Goldenglue in the mid lane. While, ideally, EG would have liked to just swap Huni for Kumo, the import restriction meant that at least one of the spots, mid or top, had to be played by a native North American player.
Since that swap in Week 6, Evil Geniuses have gone 3-5 in their last eight games. Per Oracle’s Elixir, the team is below average in their early game and mid game play.
FlyQuest
Record: 12-6
Roster
Colin “Solo” Earnest
Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage
Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
Lee “Ignar” Dong-geun
The Regular Season
If there’s one word that can describe the season for FlyQuest so far, it’s been consistency. This team has never been below .500 at any point during the season and they appear to be heating up at the right time. The team is riding a six-game winning streak entering the playoffs.
According to Oracle’s Elixir, although FlyQuest are a decently-strong early game team, their real strength comes in their late game macro. They are rated third behind only Team Liquid and TSM in that regard. With a team full of veteran players at key positions, it’s no surprise that FLY is such a strong macro team.
Head to Head Matchups
Top Lane: Huni vs. Solo
The mid-split swap of Huni/Goldenglue for Kumo/Jiizuke was supposed to provide more upside to the top lane for Evil Geniuses and stability in the mid lane. For his part, Huni has performed quite well but not to the level that this swap was supposed to elevate his team. On the other hand, Solo has been a strong, consistent player who has arguably been the better laner than Huni.
Advantage: FlyQuest
Jungle: Svenskeren vs. Santorin
A tale of two junglers, as last summer’s MVP had a massive dropoff in his play this year, ending the split as our worst-ranked jungler. Meanwhile, Santorin has been the best jungler in the LCS other than Blaber and is one of the key reasons for FlyQuest’s success.
Advantage: FlyQuest
Mid Lane: Goldenglue vs. PowerofEvil
The tradeoff to getting Huni’s carry potential in the top lane was having to take on Goldenglue as EG’s mid laner. To be fair, Goldenglue hasn’t been nearly as bad as he was in spring with Golden Guardians, but still nowhere near good enough to justify the swap. PowerofEvil, though, is an absolute monster and the best mid laner in the league.
Advantage: FlyQuest
ADC: Bang vs. WildTurtle
Bang isn’t a pop-off and carry ADC, and has always preferred to be the “Robin” to the “Batman” of a strong mid or top lane carry, be that Faker or Ssumday. Right now, though, Bang is the most consistent carry this team has had and they’ll have to lean on him.
On the other hand, though, WildTurtle has been shaky all summer, at one point being benched for Mash. Turtle has performed well enough to earn his spot back, but not so well that I think he can overtake Bang in a best-of-five.
Advantage: Evil Geniuses
Support: Zeyzal vs. Ignar
Zeyzal never gets the credit he should for being a strong, consistent support. He had the fewest unforced deaths in the split other than Treatz and Gate, who didn’t play the full season. On the other hand, Ignar had among the most unforced deaths for supports, but has also shown far better vision control and playmaking ability. This is easily the closest matchup of the two but I’ll give the edge to the less-“coinflippy” player.
Advantage: Evil Geniuses
Keys to the Series
Bot lane is the only area where Evil Geniuses really have an advantage so I think it’s going to really come down to bot lane difference for the series. If Turtle and Ignar can stand up against the power of Bang and Zeyzal, they’re going to give FlyQuest an easy window for the win. And, quite honestly, I think they have a great shot at doing so.
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Bang and Zeyzal aren’t the greatest of laners, and they tend to get most of their advantages through mid and late game fighting. Against a team as solid in the late game as FlyQuest, I don’t really see much of a window for Evil Geniuses to win.
Prediction: FlyQuest win 3-0