Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9

Yet another spectacular clash that's bound to deliver in all the right ways! Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses has "barnburner" written all over it, and, frankly, we can't wait for these two teams to step foot on stage and compete! Interestingly enough, the EG bunch has a lot more hype behind their backs and, frankly, all of it has been well-deserved. They've been pretty darn spectacular thus far and their incredible six-game winstreak attests to the fact.

They're not perfect (far from it), but they've been fighting with so much grit and gusto that it's nigh impossible not to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. With EG you always know they're going to implode at some point, but it still feels like we're a ways off from it happening. Each and every single member on the team has been doing a ton of heavylifting, but their Academy AD carry Danny has certainly stood out in all the right ways. He's not playing like a rookie, but rather a confident (perhaps even brash) veteran with a metric ton of mechanical prowess and bravado. He's the perfect kind of marksman for EG, and has been the missing "piece of the puzzle" — we can finally say so with confidence after getting a concrete enough sample size.

Whether he'll once again wreck house remains to be seen, but EG have been playing some fo their best League of Legends yet, so it'll be mighty interesting to see whether they're ready to finally go over that hurdle and make a statement. They're not a top-tier team just yet, but if they get a win over Cloud9 tonight they'll definitely make a case for themselves! With six consecutive wins, they have to be a part of the conversation, regardless of how many times they came up short over the last three splits.

As for Cloud9, they've been slowly improving but are still nowhere near as dangerous as was the case back in Spring. Blaber and Perkz are still underperforming, and it's hard not to get at least a little bit worried for their chances going forward. They're still one of the best teams in the LCS, but they're no longer the front-runner to win the whole split — far from it, in fact.

In any case, it'll be interesting to see whether they'll be able to subdue a surging Evil Geniuses or, conversely, fall prey to one of the most aggressive teams in North America. We'll be entertained either way.