Although neither Splyce or Team Vitality were hoping to be playing for third place, both teams will be looking to grab the No. 3 spot in Europe during the spring on Saturday. At stake is an extra 10,000 Euros as well as crucial points needed to help teams qualify for the World Championships in September. Only three EU teams will make it to Worlds, so the difference between the 50 points awarded to third place and the 30 points awarded to fourth can be massive.
LCK Spring Split Playoffs Betting Odds (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Splyce -172
Team Vitality +130
History
Splyce may have finished one game better than Team Vitality in the regular season standings, but Team Vitality got the better of them both times they met. In their Week 5 meeting, Vitality drafted a quirky lineup with Jax in the jungle and Ziggs as the AD Carry and saw their unconventional approach pay off. Splyce’s mid laner Nisqy performed well on Azir, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Vitality.
These teams met in the final week of the regular season and again it was Vitality that was triumphant. In that match, Splyce played well and actually racked up more kills than Vitality thanks to some solid play from Odoamne and Xerxe, but once Minitroupax’s Caitlin came online it was all said and done. Caitlin took over after 25 minutes and after one big team fight win, Vitality had another victory.
Match-up to Watch
The most public feud all season long was between Splyce’s Xerxe and Vitality’s Gilius. Before their first match, Gilius must have said something that rubbed Xerxe the wrong way, because the normally mild-mannered jungler posted this shortly before their match.
. @GiliusLoL I see all those wins have really gone to your head, you're about to get a reality check
— Xerxe (@XerxeLoL) February 10, 2018
Following Vitality’s victory, Gilius didn’t take long to respond with his usual braggadocio.
Only reality check I got from this game is that not a single team in this region is on our level https://t.co/4QK5NfKmlO
— Berk (@GiliusLoL) February 10, 2018
Entering the second match, Gilius taunted Xerxe for Vitality’s earlier victory with a tweet I won’t link to here. It looked like that may have gotten under Xerxe’s skin, as he spent much of the game chasing kills rather than trying to grab objectives.
Xerxe is widely considered to be the better jungler, but Gilius has performed better than expected this season. It will be interesting to see whether or not Gilius will try to get in Xerxe’s head once again before the match.
Key Player
There might be fireworks in the jungle, but the key to this one will be how well Jiizuke plays in the mid lane. Jiizuke was recently named the Rookie of the Split for his performance with Vitality, and he has shown skill on a number of different champions. The team’s strategy has largely revolved around Jiizuke getting ahead in his lane, so don’t be surprised if you see Gilius constantly roam down to the mid lane to help try to make a play. If Nisqy is able to hold the line in the lane or even get ahead, that will put Splyce in a great position.
Prediction
I’ve been backing Splyce for most of the year, but this team has yet to beat Vitality so seeing them as a decent favorite is a bit puzzling. Kobbe and kaSing did not perform well against G2’s bottom lane last week, and that could lead to another winning lane for Vitality. I’ll go with the underdog here.
Outcome: Team Vitality wins the series 3-1 to claim third place
