Planting The Seeds – Week 9 EU LCS Coverage And eSports Betting Picks
Published: Mar 25, 2016 - Last Updated: Jul 7, 2023
Currently three teams are tied for f0urth place at 9-6 (Unicorns of Love, Origen, and Fnatic).
Also, Elements and Splyce are currently tied at 5-11 for the seventh place spot and are looking to avoid relegations. We’re here to cover some of the headlines from last week and provide our eSports wagering insight for each match taking place in week 9.
xPeke returns for Origen
After PowerOfEvil came down with a mysterious illness before the start of week 8, Origen decided to bring in xPeke. Call me crazy, but this felt partially preordained.
PowerOfEvil suddenly is sick right before one of the biggest weeks of the split for Origen? We can neither confirm nor deny if his illness was a case of the downers after IEM, but we can certainly say that Origen looked much better with xPeke in the mid lane.
Week 8 featured two crucial games that Origen had to play against Unicorns of Love and ROCCAT. No doubt there was going to be some rust; even xPeke admitted he just started hitting solo que hard in the past two weeks.
And it wasn’t xPeke’s play in particular that I want to highlight (he was a pedestrian 7-6-7 combined in both his games) but rather how the team played.
In their first game of the week, Origen faced off against Unicorns of Love. The game was an extremely close match through the first 32 minutes, with neither team having more than a 2,000 gold advantage.
That’s when a brilliant call by Origen and a well-coordinated team fight left Unicorns of Love down three players.
Origen capitalized by taking Baron and then securing four towers in the next two minutes. They were a bit over aggressive when they tried to siege up mid lane inhibitor, resulting in four Origen players going down.
However, Unicorns of Love overplayed their advantage, looking to end the game with a push down mid. Origen was able to respawn just in time, acing Unicorns of Love as they looked to retreat and then subsequently ending the game.
Origen’s second game of the week, against ROCCAT, proved to be just as entertaining as Origen’s day 1 game. ROCCAT’s jungler, Airwaks, and their AD Carry, Tabzz, went off this game with Nidalee and Sivir, respectively.
Combined they were 13-4-13, helping ROCCAT establish an 8,500 gold lead by 35 minutes. After taking down both mid and bottom lane inhibitors, ROCCAT attempted to siege the tower top lane. While they were able to take down the turret, ROCCAT’s Betsy was erased by xPeke.
This would end up being crucial, as ROCCAT had to send Rammus bottom lane to deal with Fiora split pushing, leaving a four versus three Baron dance in favor of Origen.
Again, xPeke was able to catch Airwaks out of position and kill him. That led to Origen’s first Baron of the game. ROCCAT’s remaining 6,000 gold lead evaporated in the next two minutes, as Origen took the aggression straight into ROCCAT’s base. Six minutes later, Origen made ROCCAT pay for their impatience with a huge comeback victory.
Call it the ‘Hai’ influence if you want, but Origen looked like a reinvigorated team with xPeke in the mid lane. Their approach to the game and just the aggressive mentality that we really hadn’t seen all year resembled what we saw at Worlds last year.
Shot calling and rotations looked more crisp, team coordination was on point, and we even saw a pretty stunning comeback.
G2 eSports shows they belong at the top of the standings
This was a huge week for G2 eSports.
Their first game was against Vitality, a team they were tied with heading into week 8. After that, a struggling Giants squad that replaced three members was on the docket. G2’s game against Vitality was worthy of being the game of the week, as both teams traded gold leads through the first 28 minutes of the game. It took a 30 minute Baron to finally turn the tides in G2’s favor.
While the entire team played extremely well, Perkz’s Leblanc in the mid lane and Emperor’s Lucian were huge in this game. Together they combined for 77,800 damage, almost 70 percent of the entire team’s damage. They were previously 0-3 against H2K and Team Vitality (the other two teams that made up the Big 3), but this win proves they can be contenders come playoff time.
Now to our picks of the week for those out there planning to wager this week. If you’re trying to figure out where to bet on eSports, there are a number of top eSports bookmakers worth a look, among them Betway and Bet365 eSports.
EU LCS eSports betting picks – week 9 / day 1
Origen (1.20) vs. Giants Gaming (4.67)
It’s still unclear at this time if xPeke will be starting again for Origen, but it’s hard to go against the results we saw last week. It’s getting closer to playoff time, and I think Origen has a legitimate shot of winning with xPeke.
I just don’t see that same possibility with PowerOfEvil. This isn’t to say PowerOfEvil is a bad player, he just doesn’t bring that ‘it’ factor to the team that xPeke does. Origen is xPeke’s team, and it showed last week.
For Giants Gaming, they enter this contest at 2-14, alone in last place. They replaced three members last week, and this week they will be replacing support player GODFRED with Hustlin.
Hustlin previously played for Giants Underdoges, a sister team that competes in the Spanish LoL leagues. His solo que experience and professional stats indicate he plays a lot of Morgana, Nautilus, and Trundle support.
I don’t expect anything different with the way the Giants are playing right now. Essentially replacing your entire team indicates you’re in rebuild mode, and that’s exactly what Giants Gaming needs to do.
It’s already a foregone conclusion that this team will have to play in the Summer Promotional series to earn a chance to play in the EU LCS once again.
Take Origen here, no matter who is starting in the mid lane. Origen is tuning up for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Giants Gaming is tuning up for relegations. No brainer here,
Origen all the way.
Fnatic (1.25) vs. Elements (4.04)
Elements is currently tied with Splyce for that seventh spot, and both teams play top four teams on both days this week. If either team can pull off an upset, it could mean the difference between securing a spot in next year’s Summer Split or having to compete in the Summer Promotional series.
When these two teams played each other in week 5, it was apparent that Fnatic was the superior team, winning 16-4 and having full command of the game from the very beginning. They still are the better team here, and it’d take a major effort by Elements to upset a surging Fnatic team.
Yes, there’s a lot on the line here for Elements, but I don’t expect Fnatic to come in to this matchup underprepared. They need this win as well for playoff seeding.
Also of note, Elements took down Unicorns of Love last week, their first win against a top 6 team all Spring Split. I don’t anticipate another top 6 win here, though.
Take Fnatic with a very slight upset potential for Elements.
H2K Gaming (1.33) vs. Unicorns of Love (3.38)
Unicorns of Love comes into this game hurting for a win. They’re 2-4 over the last three weeks, including losses to lower tier teams like ROCCAT and Elements. That’s not a good sign when there’s one week left in the Spring Split.
Meanwhile, H2K enters this week feeling really good. They still have FORG1VEN on the team and they took care of business last week against lower tier competition. They know if they can win out this week, they’re guaranteed a bye week in the playoffs.
These two teams just played each other in week 5. The game was a back and forth duel that lasted 49 minutes, with H2K securing that decisive third Baron to ultimately win the game.
Unicorns of Love’s jungler, Rudy, had a terrible game, going 0-8-11, almost double the deaths of the next person on his team. That can’t happen again here if Unicorns of Love wants to pull off the upset.
Given the recent history of these two teams, and the head to head matchup win that H2K has already, I’m picking H2K to once again win here. Unicorns of Love is still a good team, they’re just not on the level of H2K right now.
Take H2K here, but Unicorns of Love does provide some upset potential (and don’t forget to check the eSports betting odds, folks).
Team Vitality (1.17) vs. ROCCAT (5.05)
If you’re counting, seven of the ten games this week will feature top four teams versus bottom four teams. Great for fans who root for the underdog, but it could also mean an ugly week for a lot of these lower tier teams.
ROCCAT is currently in ninth place with a 3-13 record, and by virtue of tiebreakers, even if they win both games this week they’re certain to have to play in the Summer Promotional series. This will be a good time to starting tuning up, and I expect ROCCAT to come out and play loose.
For Vitality, they have to put last week’s loss to G2 behind them and just focus on the two games they have this week. They’re by far the superior team here, and I expect them to come out and display that against ROCCAT.
Take Vitality here with confidence.
G2 eSports (1.15) vs. Splyce (5.52)
As we stated earlier, Splyce is currently tied with Elements for that seventh place. Because they beat Elements last week, they technically hold the tiebreaker and don’t need to exclusively win.
If Elements pulls of an upset this week though, all bets are off.
With that said, I don’t see Splyce winning here. G2 showed last week they’re a top three team, and Splyce hasn’t beaten a top three team all year.
These two played against each other in week 4, and G2 completely blew Splyce out. Emperor went 9-1 in that game, clearly outclassing Kobbe. I expect more of the same here.
Take G2 with confidence.
EU LCS eSports betting picks week 9 / day 2
H2K Gaming (1.15) vs. Elements (5.53)
This may be the last chance that Elements has of securing seventh place. A win here and they most likely get it. Unfortunately, H2K is a tough out for them. H2K will be stronger in ever lane, stronger at map control, and just stronger at applying map pressure.
It’d be a monumental upset if Elements can pull it off. I expect them to come out swinging for the fences, full desperation mode turned on. Unless H2K decides to give their starters the day off in preparation for the playoffs, I don’t see Elements having a chance here.
Take H2K all the way here.
Team Vitality (1.16) vs. Splyce (5.25)
Splyce will know before this game if they need to win or not. I’m anticipating they won’t have to, so this will be essentially a meaningless game for them.
Vitality will also most likely be playing for nothing here, with the third seed in the playoffs already secured for them and no real chance of moving up after their loss to G2 last week.
Unless Vitality sleep walks through this game, they’re still the better team here. Take Vitality.
Fnatic (1.51) vs. Origen (2.58)
Yes! A game worthy of our attention! This is our game of the week, and it’s always a barn burner when these two play each other. There’s no secrets or team strategies these two don’t already know.
Origen and Fnatic haven’t played against each other since week 1 of the Spring Split. Noxiak was still starting for Fnatic and PowerOfEvil was getting his first ever start for Origen. It didn’t end well for Origen, losing 8-22.
A lot has changed since then. Fnatic realized they really weren’t as good as they thought after that game against Origen. Origen realized (hopefully) that xPeke gives them a more realistic shot of winning in the playoffs this year.
Not only is this my game of the week, but I’m taking Origen here in my upset pick of the week. Bold call, I know, but I’m banking on xPeke starting. And if xPeke starts, expect some sort of magical, Houdini-like team fight mid-to-late game that turns the game in Origen’s favor.
ROCCAT (1.52) vs. Giants Gaming (2.54)
Last place (Giants) vs second to last place (ROCCAT) with nothing really on the line. Should be some good ol’ fun. Hopefully these two just troll it up and pick some absurd champions.
ROCCAT will be favored here, essentially because they didn’t just replace their entire team over the past two weeks. Also, they’ve played decently over the past two weeks, showing they do in fact know how to close out games.
Take ROCCAT here.
G2 eSports (1.35) vs. Unicorns of Love (3.22)
We round out our last game of the EU Spring Split with G2 eSports versus Unicorns of Love. Unicorns of Love would love to win here, especially when they realistically could take sole possession of fourth place if they do.
G2 will be heavy favorites here though. They had a stellar week 8, and they come into this game with a lot of momentum. Meanwhile, Unicorns of Love has really struggled to find any sort of win, even against lower tier teams.
For that reason, I have high confidence in taking G2 here. There is some slight upset potential for Unicorns of Love, especially considering a win here is more important to them then G2.
Regardless, I really like G2 here.
