CLG went 2-0 in the first week of the LCS 2023 Spring Split, beating Evil Geniuses on Day 2. Can they take down C9 as well? Let’s break it down in our LCS Weekly Preview.
Image Credits | CLG
CLG faces C9 in LCS week 2 for 1st place
CLG are keeping their positive trend from last year, getting a 2-0 start in the first week of the LCS. By making no changes during the offseason, the team made by domestic talents is making wonders, taking down Evil Geniuses after a long-fought 44-minute game. Despite falling behind in the early game, they were able to come back through the fights around the neutral objectives and wait for the late-game champions to come online.
CLG seems to have a strong read on the current meta, with scaling comps being the current trend so far. They start playing slowly and progressively build leads as they get stronger. With week 2 likely still on Patch 13.1, they are probably going to propose a similar playstyle.
C9, on the other hand, have destroyed 100T and GG in the opening week, taking advantage around the mid-game and snowball into game-deciding teamfights to close out the games. Compared to CLG, C9 have managed to close out both games before the 33rd-minute mark. They draft strong skirmishing team comps that spike in the mid game. Thanks to the players’ individual skills, they can easily take control of the flow of the game.
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Match Preview – Draft will be key
Going into the match between these two teams (which kicks off week 2 of the LCS), C9 should be favored as they seem to be clean in managing their leads a lot more than the squads that CLG faced so far. Unless great blunders, C9 has the advantage. That said, if C9 cannot close out the game fast enough, CLG will have the chance to fight back.
This is where the draft comes into place. If C9 do not get the strong mid-game comp, nor they can snowball fast enough, they might have big issues against CLG’s full late-game scaling. The current meta doesn’t really allow you to ban all options so some champions will always be available. Also, strong early game bot lanes don’t seem to be working in the LCS, as Lucian and Varus have negative win rates: pay attention and see if one of the two teams picks them.
Overall, CLG are the underdogs in this series but after surprising time and time again, this might be the opportunity to see CLG back to the top of the LCS standings.
Predictions: C9 57% | CLG 43%
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