Team Liquid vs Gen.G esports

For Team Liquid, every single game going forward matters immensely. Now sure, one could argue that that's true for all teams in Group D, but it's no secret that the North American representatives have the least amount of hype and momentum behind their backs. MAD Lions have warmed up and have looked better and better with each new outing, Gen.G have been a lot more dominant and decisive than expected, and the same goes for the fourth-best team from China LNG Esports.

Team Liquid, on the other hand, is sort of the odd one out, with only a few good moments sprinkled throughout their first three games. They made things competitive against Gen.G and had even managed to beat the MAD Lions, but they still feel like the least capable team in the group. Moreover, with everyone having a bit more time to acclimate and get on the same page, it stands to reason to expect that Team Liquid -- a team with a fairly one-dimensional identity -- will fall even further in the standings. This is only a theory, of course, but it *is* rooted in reality and empirical evidence. Plus, the fashion in which they had lost to LNG Esports was truly horrendous and it hurt their stock quite a bit. They looked completely out of sorts, without any apparent game plan in mind -- it was like a random scrim game in which the losing team would just surrender at the fifteen minute mark and ask for a remake.

That won't, however, happen against a more subdued, technical, and reserved team like Gen.G, but the outcome should still remain the same. The Korean representatives have more tools to work with, they're more consistent, and have a very similar playstyle to that of TL's, but their execution is at a much higher level. At their best, TL can definitely trade blows and go tit for tat, but they haven't looked nearly as good as North American fans had hoped (the more optimistic ones, at least), so it's just hard to fully believe in their chances going forward.

Still, stranger things have happened at this year's Worlds, so we'll reserve judgement and wait things out before drawing any concrete conclusion. There's no surefire way of predicting the outcome of this game, but Gen.G have done more thus far and have looked much better, so betting on the LCK representatives is pretty much the only logical option. Still, it could potentially be a lot closer than anyone expects if Team Liquid draft for comfort and execute to the best of their ability.