Immortals vs Team Liquid

A fight between Team Liquid and Immortals isn't going to bring the house down. Of that we're all aware. Still, if both teams get out the gates swinging, we should be in for quite an entertaining ride -- in spite of appearances.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about this one game is that both Team Liquid and Immortals want to win and they want it badly. And, well, that's not just because of any inherent competitive drive or urge to improve their overall tally -- it's because they're surprisingly close in the standings and because each and every single win matters immensely. If TL get the win tonight they'll separate themselves from the rest of the pack and inch closer to the 2021 LCS Spring Split playoffs. There's a lot on the line, and the margin for error has narrowed considerably. If Immortals get the win, however, they'd get their sixth win on the board and reach a .500 record — fairly commendable for a mid-tier contender.

So, on paper, this is far from a mind-blowing clash. But once you add these incredibly important tidbits, things start to get a whole lot more interesting. Heck, maybe that's even an understatement.

To make matters even more interesting, neither team has been particularly consistent lately. And we're putting it mildly here. Team Liquid, perhaps, is the bigger offender. They're better across the board, they're more experience, more talented (not to mention experienced), but you can't always tell based on their play. They start off incredibly well and then, at some seemingly random point in the mid game, things go awry without any obvious reason whatsoever. They have leads as well, and all too often they have the better draft as well, but it doesn't seem to matter much. They lose grasp of the game and all of a sudden find themselves on the back foot, and even their early leads tend to diminish and evaporate into thin air. It's a strange position to be in -- they're better and they know it, but if they don't shore up their flaws they won't be able to compete with the likes of Cloud9 and Team SoloMid. That's just a fact. Fortunately, they have more than enough time to improve and get on the same page, but they need to start stringing wins as well. They need the momentum and they needs wins on the board as well, too. With six wins and four losses, they're not exactly a shoo-in for the playoffs.

They have a positive win-loss record, but that won't mean much if they don't sync up.

Immortals, on the other hand, have been both hot and cold. They're pretty darn good all things considered (by LCS gatekeeper standards), and even though they don't have a particularly high skill ceiling (or any incredible amount of long-term potential), they're still fighting their hearts out and have found a lot more success than most of us expected. Having a 5W-6L record is pretty good given the level of opposition they've been facing on the weekly basis, and they deserve a ton of praise for holding their own against teams most of us deemed superior (and rightfully so). Now, whether their wins are flukes or not is less important at this point in time — they're playing as a unit and have been improving at a steady pace, so credit where credit is due.

In the end, however, we simply have to go with Team Liquid. It's the only logical option at this point, and even though they might not be particularly consistent at this point in time, they're vastly superior to Immortals and, if they draft to their strengths and double down on what they're good at, they shouldn't have too much trouble in taking IMT down. It might not be particularly clean or one-sided, but they have all the right tools to get the job done and separate themselves from the rest of the pack. That said, Immortals are definitely capable of upsetting and will surely play like their lives depend on it. In any case, expect an absolute barnburner!