Despite making some outlandish predictions yesterday, I went seven for eight only losing out on FC Barcelona making the playoffs! My bold move to keep G2 Esports out of the playoffs paid off, but day two was a lot more than G2 missing the mark in Group B.
Chalking up some storylines
For once in our lives we were able to see some chalkier matchups as the favorites in Group A advanced, while Group B proved a bit more of a challenge. Vitality continue to go undefeated and look to be the easy favorite to win the entire event. Randy Gibbons’ River Rats continue to live up to their name by taking win after win (we all know Gibbs stays undefeated) and their matchup with the surging complexity gaming seems to be one of the underrated matchups of the weekend.
The Bricks have continued their kuxir led drive to the playoffs and PSG round out Group A’s representation in the playoffs as the EU squads have demonstrated that they belong in the conversation for a top spot at Valencia. While I do not foresee PSG having an extended stay, The Bricks have played extremely well and could be a dangerous matchup for the high flying Barcelona.
Talking about things I did NOT forsee, FC Barcelona were back to their old selves as they STOMPED Rogue and G2 Esports in the upper finals to book a date with The Bricks. This version of Barca is the one we all expected after the regular season where they only dropped a single series and they have a great side of the bracket for an extended run.
Cloud9 continued their winning ways against the EU squads of Mout Gang (rip) and Triple Trouble and are poised for a high scoring thriller on Sunday against PSG. While Triple Trouble looked good today, good was not enough to cut it against NRG’s jstn as he tore threw the TT defense and NRG were able to qualify for Sunday getting the worst possible draw in the playoffs (Vitality).
The big upset (that I called) was complexity making it to playoffs. A non RLCS team in Season 7 (recently promoted), complexity had to fight their way through RLRS and performed well enough against the field at DreamHack Dallas to place top eight. Matching that placing here in Valencia, complexity had to take down G2 Esports in a dominant 3-1 victory that ensured a first round matchup against the River Rats. Will complexity continue to improve going into Sunday? It’s possible but the River Rats will truly test their resolve.
Crazy predictions 2.0
Nothing gets r/RLE going quite like some against the grain predictions so let’s keep the good times rolling into Sunday! I am thinking the semifinals will look like NRG vs the River Rats after Fireburner leads in scoring as the team shuts down Vitality 3-1. The River Rats will win, but the match against complexity will see them go five games and they will be overwhelmed by NRG and lose the semi final 2-4.
On the other side of the bracket Cloud9 will win against PSG 3-1 in a high scoring but dominant affair for the reigning DreamHack Dallas champions. Unfortunately, FC Barcelona will come in hot against The Bricks and will only snowball into the finals by beating Cloud9 4-3 in a full seven games to set up a date with NRG.
NRG will play well but Fireburner will be denied the storybook ending as NRG will lose 2-4 in the grand finals and Barcelona will become champs and go on to challenge Vitality as the top team in Europe once more.
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