Team Dignitas vs Team Liquid

Yet another truly fascinating match-up, although not for reasons most would expect. The gap between Team Liquid and Dignitas exists, and it's certainly not small, but it could easily shrink depending on which shade of TL comes out to play.

We've seen both the spectacular TL and the downright dreadful one throughout the last few weeks and, in all fairness, no one's all too sure what to expect. Sometimes they'll start the game off swinging for the fences and just dominate their opponents with ease. Other times, however, they'll look like a bunch of scrubs and fumble and fail with even the most basic things in-game. It also matters very little whom they're up against as -- as is the case with G2 over in Europe -- the TL bunch is its own biggest enemy. On a good day they can tango with the very best teams in the LCS (even with two subs). On a bad one, though, they're pretty darn vulnerable.

Fortunately, there's a very good chance that they'll start with Alphari this time around which, by default, means they're heavily favored — even though this Misfits and Origen alumnus hasn't played on the LCS stage for quite a while now. Still, his mechanical prowess and laning are downright legendary, so it's pretty much impossible to bet against Team Liquid on this one.

Dignitas are a lot better than most folks expected (especially given the circumstances), but that probably won't be enough against a team of Liquid's caliber. They'll give TL a run for their money, that's for sure, but if the four-time LCS champs draft to their strengths and play around top lane, they're all but guaranteed to get the "W." There's simply too big of a gap in terms of talent and potential between these two teams that it's downright impossible not to side with TL — especially now when they're scheduled to compete with their intended top laner.