Evil Geniuses vs 100 Thieves

Next up, for our third match of the day, we have an absolute barnburner: 100 Thieves vs. Evil Geniuses. This, in short, is one of the most exciting match-ups that North America has to offer. It's also a fight between the third and fourth best teams from the LCS Lock-In. It's not exactly as hype as TL vs. C9, but it's damn close, that's for sure.

In short, these are some of the best and most capable line-ups in the LCS right now, and they're playing some exceptional League of Legends, too! And, perhaps most importantly, they're exceptional *right now* unlike, say, Team SoloMid who'll need a bit more time to synergize and get on the same page. Now, based on recent evidence, it's fair to say that neither 100T nor EG are quite ready to take on the likes of Team Liquid and Cloud9, but they're not far off either. In fact, they'll surely give the former LCS champions a run for their money in a couple of weeks' time. They have all the right tools at their disposal, and now it's only a matter of time before they build up enough cohesion, carve out an identity to call their own, and shore up a couple of glaring weaknesses -- most of which were on full display in the most crucial moments of the LCS Lock-In.

100 Thieves came so achingly close to taking Cloud9 down but were reverse swept in one of the most painful Best of 5 reversals in recent history. And, to make matters even more interesting, they're the only team in the LCS to hold a win over Team Liquid. Funny how things work out sometimes — it's all a matter of styles and match-ups. Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, couldn't hold a candle to Team Liquid and were quickly overwhelmed en route to an 0-3 shellacking. But up to that point, however, they were pretty darn fantastic. In fact, they played out of their minds throughout the first two weeks, only to drop the ball in the semifinals. Still, they lost to Team Liquid, and there's no shame in that whatsoever. For Evil Geniuses, it's all about taming their aggression and honing their approach to the game. They don't lack talent nor mechanics — in fact, they have both in abundance. What they're missing, however, is consistency. They're often overeager and have the ill-advised tendency of throwing caution out the window. Sometimes it works. Other times, they fall flat on their faces. And against the very best teams in the LCS, they cannot afford to make such foolish mistakes — teams like Liquid (and 100 Thieves, for that matter) can punish in a blink of an eye.

And that's what we're focusing on here the most: 100 Thieves' experience and pre-existing synergy between four of their five members. This line-up is basically Golden Guardians 2.0, and they have all the right tools to defeat Evil Geniuses in tonight's marquee match-up. That, however, will not come easy. This EG roster is playing with a chip on their shoulder and they'll surely trade blows right from the very get-go. 100 Thieves are favored for a reason, but they'll have to be immaculate in execution if they intend on taking Evil Geniuses down and starting their 2021 season off with a "W."