Golden Guardians vs Team SoloMid

Next up, we have a clash between Team SoloMid and the Golden Guardians — not anything worth writing home about, but still a fairly good appetizer before the more interesting half of the day comes around. If you've watched even a handful of LCS games thus far, you're probably aware that TSM are heavily favored and, well, there's a good reason why.

They're a top-tier team through and through, and even though their long-term potential isn't always evident, their talent and overall ability cannot be underestimated. They're one of the best teams in the region and have shown immense promise whenever they've gotten on the same page and managed to execute to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, these moments didn't always happen when we expected them to, nor did they occur on a consistent basis. Instead, it's more of a coin-flip kind of thing. TSM aren't exactly as volatile as, say, Evil Geniuses, but they're not that far off, especially if they fail to draft a coherent team comp and make a couple of egregious mistakes early on. And that's sort of been their M.O. lately as well. You never know which shade of TSM will come out and play and, frankly, it's like they don't know either.

Be that as it may, they've been winning a whole lot more than they've been losing, so obviously they're doing most things right. Against the absolute best teams in the region (the Cloud9s and Team Liquids of the world), their inherent weaknesses and flaws are often on full display. Against the mid-tier gatekeepers and bottom-tier dwellers, however, they always perform exceptionally well, and this game against the Golden Guardians should be no different in that regard.

The boys in black and gold have been playing fairly well recently and have even taken down a very game Counter Logic Gaming yesterday, so it's not like they lack the tools to compete. Their early games have often been surprisingly solid but it's the mid and later stages of the game that are the bane of their existence. They always fumble when it comes to transitioning their leads and setting things up on the map -- an indication of their inexperience and lack of refinement. Still, they're a feisty bunch and have shown no willingness to surrender, so credit where credit is due.

Be that as it may, TSM are heavily favored and there's a good reason why. They're better across the board (both individually as well as a five-man unit) and should have no trouble in taking GGS down. It might not be particularly clean or commanding, but they'll surely get the job done.