After six weeks of action-packed competition, the regular season for LCO Split 2 2023 has concluded. Six teams have made it to the penultimate week of play for this year’s LCO, and only two will be left by the end of Friday, both of whom will jet off to Taiwan to represent Oceania in the PCS playoffs.
The two teams failing to make the playoffs are Ground Zero and Kanga. Both had a promising start to the split, each having picked up two draws (one of which was against the other) in the first three weeks to find themselves in the hunt, but neither failed to pick up wins in the second half of the season.
Tonight, the league’s top four teams will compete in a pair of upper-bracket best-of-threes. Team Bliss, the first seed in the competition having won a one-game tiebreak against the defending Champions in The Chiefs, will take on fourth-seeded Dire Wolves.
The teams last met on the opening day of this competition, with Bliss taking the victory; however, the Dire Wolves have since had a lineup change with the introduction of Yang “sHAKa” Zhen-Yu, who was brought great success to the Wolfpack thus far.
My game of the day will be the second series, as The Chiefs take on Mammoth.
Harry’s Game of the Week — The Chiefs v Mammoth
The defending champions Chiefs have their eyes set on the PCS once again. Having won 12 of their 14 initially scheduled regular season games, having only dropped single maps to Pentanet and the Bliss (as well as a second loss to Bliss in a gruelling tiebreaker on Wednesday) the team comes into this week looking to make it the double.
Unlike in previous splits, this team still has a way to go to reclaim the throne, or at the very least, to make the plane to Taiwan. The competition this split has been far closer and The Chiefs have not quite been the dominant force of nature they have been in the last 12 months.
Whilst they have had their fair share of dominant games and series, they have also had a couple of gruelling—and on the odd occasion—uncharacteristically sloppy games, especially in the last three weeks.
They have also seen some roster flexibility this split as Chiefs have adopted a jungle split, with both Leo “Babip” Romer and Shane “Kevy” Allen as the team deems necessary. Whilst they do share a champion pool, the two junglers bring different styles to the rift, with Babip being more supportive and team-focused, whilst Kevy brings more aggression and solo carry potential. They have seen great success so far with this style, but with any active six-man roster, there will always be questions asked about team stability with this deviation from the norm.
Mammoth comes into their first playoffs since 2019. That is hardly a real surprise, as the team had adopted a more developmental focus after winning their sole Oceanic title in Split 2 of 2019. This split saw them sign a team of established talent and they have thrived.
Whilst not quite at the top of the league as of yet, it has been rare to see Mammoth be outclassed in any of their contests so far, as proven by taking maps off Team Bliss, The Dire Wolves and Pentanet, and therefore shouldn’t be a pushover.
Their regular season clash with The Chiefs however was their rare example of being outclassed. Both games went in the favour of the defending champs, with around 26-minute final game times and 11K+ gold leads in both games, where Chiefs got an early lead and snowballed their way to victory. This game also featured a jungle split, with Kevy playing in the first game, before Babip changed it up for the second map.
Coming into today I expect a Chiefs win, but I think Mammoth will push them to the distance. The Chiefs are still the better team on paper, but within the recent form, the gap between the two teams has narrowed and Mammoth definitely have it in them to take a map.
LCO Split 2 Playoffs Day 1 — Predictions
The LCO 2023 Split 2 starts tonight with another night of action-packed competition. Check out the schedule, rosters and more on our ultimate coverage hub.
Follow our prediction team @CDMLoL, @ImHarryTaylor and @NadetteOCE on Twitter.
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