Rogue vs SK Gaming

We've finally reached the end of the regular portion of the split. The ninth week of play will be a fascinating one, although it's not as exciting as it could've been. We already know the six teams that have reached the playoffs, so there's no mystery or intrigue at the moment. Still, there's are many reasons to watch. For the six teams on top, getting as high of a position as possible is incredibly important. Finishing Top 4 will practically give them a shot at redemption, seeing how the LEC is moving to a somewhat butchered double elimination format.

Our first match of the day, however, isn't particularly exciting. Heck, that might even be an understatement. Rogue is currently tied for fifth with Misfits Gaming, whereas SK is mathematically out of the playoff picture. That wouldn't be that bad if at least SK had a chance to pull off the upset, but anything other than a fairly one-sided shellacking in favor of Rogue will be a surprising outcome. This is simply a mismatch and there's no other, perhaps less direct way to put it.

SK Gaming did show some slight improvement over the last couple of weeks, but we're talking incremental changes that have no bigger impact on the game or its outcome. They're just bad both individually but also as a five-man unit. They're played with their substitute top laner last week, presumably in an attempt to switch things up a bit, but not only did they fail to win, they looked even worse than before. You'd be forgiven if you thought things couldn't get any worse for the SK bunch -- but they did. Right now, there's no reason to tryhard seeing how their split is basically over in a matter of days. Huge, team-wide changes need to happen if they want to be even slightly competitive once the Summer Split comes around.

Rogue, therefore, should have an easy time handling them and getting the win. They're far from perfect, and it's not like they're entering this week with any hype or momentum, seeing how they were outclassed by both G2 Esports and Fnatic last week. Still, both losses were expected, and they weren't blowouts, so there's a reason for optimism if you're a Rogue fan. Right now, the most important thing for this ragtag group of solo queue superstars is to win against both SK Gaming and Schalke and therefore secure fourth place in the standings.