This series was brief. I thought Virtus.Pro looked great in both games. LGD Gaming held one net worth lead for maybe two minutes. The only notable thing in both games was VP’s support picks. Virtus.Pro swept LGD Gaming 2-0. Let’s break down the series;
Pre-Match Predictions
LGD had a very uneven Group Stage despite their success, I have doubts about any team that losses 2-0 to iG Vitality. Virtus.Pro had fewer wins than LGD and more split series but that includes split series against Newbee and Invictus Gaming and a 2-0 victory over LGD.Forever Young. Virtus.Pro also had a hilarious video featuring the whole team. On paper LGD looked slightly favored but really Virtus.Pro were favored to win a 2-1.
Game One; Virtus.Pro Picked Crystal Maiden, Seriously They Did
Crystal Maiden is not a good Hero right now. Every caster could not stop talking about her nerfs, how slow she was, her limited viability right now. It was funny to see LGD Gasming ban Lycan and watch Virtus.Pro pick Nightstalker, I almost wish they had either banned Nightstalker instead or let it go and try to pick Lycan. LGD were soundly punished in-game for that error during the draft phase. It was also surprising to see Onmiknight, it was a solid pick against Kunkka as he’s a very pick and teamfight oriented Support. Virtus.Pro really styled on LGD in this game. While there were points where LGD inched closer to being in the game but at no point did VP allow LGD to get back into the game. LGD surrendered around the 24 minute mark.
Game Two; Virtus.Pro Picked Chen, It Worked Really Well
Everytime Lycan was picked in Group A the casters went out of their way to mention how much better Howl was than Chen’s Hand of God. Virtus.Pro played in Group B and would have probably still picked Chen even if they had heard the criticism. Virtus.Pro clearly came into each game witha solid plan and then went on to execute those plans in both games. I should mention that LGD Gaming did have almost one whole minute where they had a net worth lead but in a game that doesn’t even last 30 minutes that doesn’t matter. LGD had flashes where they played well but without a solid answer to Faceless Void and Chronosphere LGD were never going to win this game.
LGD Gaming (0) vs Virtus.Pro (2); Now What?
LGD looked really lifeless today. Before today I would have slightly favored LGD Gaming over Digital Chaos, but now? After this I don’t know if LGD can bounce back to win two games against Digital Chaos. Virtus.Pro did 2-0 LGD.Forever Young in the Group Stage and they are slightly favored to do so again. The circumstances surrounding their next series are why I feel that VP should only be favored slightly, both teams want a top four finish at TI7. Both teams had a solid showing against what I now consider to be lesser opponents. VP might try the same quirky drafting strategy against LFY but I’d caution them against that. While LGD and LFY may be different teams I’m positive both staff have communicated since they are sister teams. LFY will be in a position to punish VP if they do this again.
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Upper Bracket Recap: LGD Gaming vs Virtus.Pro