Golden Guardians vs CLG

Frankly speaking, this is a match-up no one's really dying to see, and with good reason. A fight between the tenth and eighth ranked teams is by no means a must watch, regardless of allegiance. There's just nothing on the line, and even the level of play we're about to see won't blow anyone's mind. Perhaps that's even an understatement.

Now, make no mistake: there's *some* talent and potential present within these two line-ups, but it's nowhere near enough to actually warrant a spot any higher up the standings. For both teams, they're about to play their last two games of the Spring Split, and that's about all there is to say. The Guardians are in a slightly better position record-wise, but they're not going to reach the playoffs regardless of the outcome of this one game.

So, in other words, they're fighting for a bit of redemption and are hoping to improve as much as possible coming into the off-season. Obviously, they all want to keep their jobs over the coming months, so no one's going to slack off.

Golden Guardians, to their credit, looked much better throughout the split but even their best moments lacked longevity. They were short flashes of brilliance, moments of individual prowess and talent rather than the result of their team-wide cohesion or sheer potential. Former TCL MVP Closer was the one leading the charge whenever GGS got the win, but even he slowed down as the split developed. Just when everyone though they'd lock down a spot in the playoffs during their mid-split resurgence, they quickly regressed and haven't looked the same since. They've slotted former CLG mid laner Huhi instead of Keith, but that change made no difference in the grand scheme of things, and one could argue that it came too late into the split.

So overall, there's not much to like or get excited about. They're a pretty okay team overall, and they can certainly compete with a good number of teams ranked above then, but when push comes to shove, when they need to clutch things out and actually prove their worth, they fail almost by default. They lack the talent and experience to close things out and to snowball their leads -- given that they even have a lead in the first place.

Counter Logic Gaming, on the other hand, isn't much better. On paper, they're stronger across the board, but you wouldn't know it by watching them play. Still, after bringing over former CLG alumni Pobelter they've looked miles better than they ever did with former world champions Crown (of Samsung Galaxy fame). They're nowhere near being top-tier challenger, but they've been having these really solid, deceptively strong showings at the most random moments. Take last week for example: they actually went blow for blow with Cloud9 and were even ahead at certain moments of the game.

They're a veteran roster and they know what they're doing. With so much experience behind their belts, they're always a dangerous opponent, regardless of the meta. They've also improved in many nuanced ways and their drafts are no longer as abysmal as they were back when the split began. When they give Pobelter agency and put him on a pick he can excel at, they're definitely capable of trading heavy blows with the best teams in the league.

Because of this, and the fewer number of mistakes made over the last couple of weeks, we're going to side with CLG on this one, but it could truly go either way.