RLCS S9 - Week 2 Preview
The second week of RLCS9 is here and boy do we have some good matchups!
Europe
Spacestation Gaming (1-0) vs Susquehanna Soniqs (0-1)
The Soniqs again have a tough match, starting off the season with the number one and now number two team in NA. Shock will look to repeat his week one performance, but unlike NRG, Spacestation does not seem to have off-days. And when looking at the players past Shock & Sypical, it is difficult to have confidence in Soniqs taking the win. A previous matchup back in July of 2019 did have then Afterthought victorious, but SSG has come along so much since then that they’re expected to be simply better than recently promoted teams, and the Soniqs are no exception.
eUnited (1-0) vs Ghost Gaming (0-1)
A rematch from the LAN qualifying match from last season, which eUnited arguably stole from Ghost. A win for eUnited would put them in the conversation to again qualify for the world championship, and equally resign Ghost supporters to another season of mediocrity. Was eUnited’s stellar performance vs Cloud9 a result of C9 being poor, was Ghost simply outclassed by Spacestation and are they still the real deal. Many questions surround this series, so despite it being an early game in the season, it could prove crucial come the end of week eight.
Rogue (0-1) vs Cloud9 (0-1)
The two massive disappointments of week one will get a chance to get off the board this week. It’s an awkward match to evaluate purely for there be little no redeeming qualities about Rogue or Cloud9 at this moment (a sentence that still feels weird to say). Cloud9 will probably be favored, again on pedigree, yet Rogue in a similar scenario last season Rogue miraculously took a 3-1 victory of Cloud9, so any and all scorelines are truly possible for this series. Whoever comes out of this matchup looking worse will have major questioned posed about their future in the RLCS.
NRG Esports (1-0) vs Flight (0-1)
NRG last weekend even on an off day vanquished the Soniqs, so there is no reason to believe Flight poses a realistic threat to them. Their last encounter back in Summer did go the way of Flight, although that was with Aeon. Regardless, while Flight might now have the ever consistent Memory, Turbopolsa is equally consistent while being of a standard comparable to GarrettG or jstn, it is impossible to recall a bad series from here, therefore it is tough to envision NRG losing. Flight even taking a game would be a respectable showing.
Pittsburgh Knights (1-0) vs G2 Esports (1-0)
Another series that potentially defines the top-four race in NA, this will be a good measuring stick for both sides, facing teams above the caliber of the relegation tournament. Considering Knights is the team most associated with G2’s decline, after defeating them in DH Montreal Grand Finals and then humiliating them 3-0 in RLCS season eight league play, vengeance is most certainly on G2’s mind. The other pro players believe that not only is G2 back, but that Knights with AyyJayy just isn’t as good as with mist, therefore this primetime matchup will almost certainly live up to its billing, both on social media and on the pitch
Europe
FC Barcelona (1-0) vs Endpoint (0-1)
After finally dodging a reverse sweep against a shaky Veloce side, FC Barcelona will be hoping to climb to an 0-2 record against an Endpoint who fell in a tough first matchup against Vitality. This is a huge series for both of these sides as they look to sneak into the top six and keep their spot in the RLCS. This series should be an exciting one to watch, with Endpoint’s explosive demolition-heavy playstyle potentially being the deciding factor between two evenly matched teams.
Team SoloMid (0-1) vs Veloce Esports (0-1)
Two teams with very different game five defeats last week face off in the second matchup of the day. While Veloce looked shaky in their defeat to Barcelona, often struggling to create any meaningful offensive chances, TSM came close to an upset over Dignitas as they created more forward momentum that many had expected heading into the new season. Expect another close series as both teams look to bounce back from a less-than-ideal start.
Renault Vitality (1-0) vs Team Singularity (0-1)
After a disappointing performance against Reciprocity last week, newly-promoted Singularity has been dealt another tough series as they come up against a Vitality side who impressed last week, taking the top spot in our power rankings. Vitality should be able to see off their opponents with relative ease on Sunday, as Singularity will hope to cause a huge upset.
AS Monaco (0-1) vs Dignitas (1-0)
Last weekend, Monaco came close to a win against the new mousesports roster after taking three of the series’ four games to overtime. If they want to win out against a Dignitas side who impressed against a resurgent TSM last week, they’ll need to bring out some similar form, with all eyes on last week’s star man Extra. Dignitas will be hoping for another strong performance that helped them see off TSM.
Team Reciprocity (1-0) vs mousesports (1-0)
The first meeting of Europe’s four LAN teams from last season, Reciprocity and mousesports both impressed last week as they took down Singularity and Monaco respectively. This is a huge matchup with a potential top-two spot on the line come to the end of the season. After last week’s round of close matches, expect this one to be no different, with not much separating the two teams from the get-go.
Image via ZeeboDesigns.
