Golden Guardians vs Team SoloMid

This is where things get a lot more interesting, to say the least. A clash between Team SoloMid and the Golden Guardians is bound to bring a ton of fireworks -- and it's also mighty important for the standings as a whole. Needless to say, it's an absolute must watch, if not for its overarching importance, then for the top-tier play that's almost guaranteed.

Both challengers have a fair bit of hype behind their backs, but they find themselves on opposite ends of the playoff Top 6. On the one side, we have Team SoloMid with 11W and just 5L -- they're tied for second with Cloud9 which tells you all you need to know when it comes to their current power level and long-term potential. Then again, just writing their record makes one feel strange. When did they exactly accrue so many wins? The sights of them imploding beyond reason this split are still fresh, and yet here they are, ranking near the very top of the LCS. They're inconsistent, they're prone to making egregious mistakes at the worst possible moments, but with so much experience and flexibility within their roster, no one should be overly surprised to see them ranked so highly -- even with all of their inherent flaws which don't seem to be going anywhere. Broken Blade has improved slightly but it's still too early to call it a comeback, Spica is hit or miss (mostly the latter, unfortunately), with the rest of the team ranging from "great" to "downright fantastic." The seasoned TSM mid lane veteran (and part owner) Bjergsen has been having a renaissance split so far and watching him flex his mechanical talent and sheer knowledge of the game has been nothing short of amazing.

The Guardians, on the other hand, are equally hard to read, if perhaps for a slew of different reasons. They have incredible pop off games but then they just implode at the most random of times, regardless of whom they're up against. At their best, GGS can tango with the LCS crème de la crème. But whether or not they'll set things up in such a way to actually be competitive is always an uncertainty. Sometimes they just don't play good League of Legends, for whatever reason. They start off slow or they make a mistake they can't fix over the course of the game and find themselves at an insurmountable deficit. Either way, it feels like they're a coin-flip kind of team with very distinct highs and lows. The thing is, no one knows which shade of GGS will come and play until they start drafting. That, obviously, is quite a problem if you're betting on or against them. There's very little logic behind it all, and the odds of them upsetting are always about as big as those of them imploding. Go figure.

In the end, we're going to side with the boys in black and white on this one, but just keep in mind that this is as far from a safe bet as you can possibly get. Team SoloMid are perhaps better overall, but they often don't look like it, and that's a problem. Still, they've already beaten GGS a couple of weeks ago and they've earned a higher spot in the standings for a reason. Whether or not that'll translate into a win still remains to be seen, but the odds are certainly on their side.