NRG vs. Team Liquid Prediction on August 19, 2023

Match info

Cloud9 have already advanced to the League of Legends League Championship Series (LCS) 2023 Summer Grand Final, however, the outcome of the match for the second berth in the finals is still up in the air. Following the match between NRG and Team Liquid, a decision will be made. We’ll try to determine which team will perform better in this match, which will start on Saturday, August 19, at 2 p.m. local time at Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA, and qualify for the final game, and who’ll have to give up on the chance to win the summer split.

Meeting statistics

Regional leagues are gradually coming to an end. The summer splits are coming to a close in North America too. Three teams remained in the LCS Summer 2023 to compete for the championship title and the $100,000 top cash prize. The three have already won their spots at Worlds 2023, so there’s no uncertainty in regard to berths.

The current form of NRG

Let’s begin the match analysis by examining NRG’s recent performance. By reaching this point in the event, they’ve already demonstrated their competitiveness. To be honest, it surprised us to see them here.

NRG is a brand-new participant in the LCS. This is despite the fact that they first arrived on the League of Legends stage of the North American professional league in 2016. The organization placed Top 6 in the spring split and Top 9 in the summer split back then. Since that time, NRG have been forgotten and remained so till 2023.

After assuming the Counter Logic Gaming position, they were able to get back to the LCS. It’s sort of a working-out-well scenario. NRG advanced to the First Round of the Playoffs in what was effectively their first split. They ended the group stage with 9-9, which overall appears to be fairly excellent. NRG signed individuals that had formerly played for Counter Logic Gaming after taking over their position. Victor “FBI“ Huang and Lee “IgNar“ Dong-geun (formerly of Evil Geniuses and Dignitas, respectively) joined the team after some minor roster manipulation. The organization is therefore somewhat fresh, but at its core, it’s essentially Counter Logic Gaming with a slightly better performance.

The LCS newcomers faced Team Liquid in their first Playoff game. The face-off with a supposedly superior opponent concluded with a 3-1 victory for NRG. The fact that they defeated Golden Guardians, the top team of the regular season, made The International even more intriguing for their fans. NRG defeated Golden Guardians in a classy way, easily defeating them with a score of 3-1. But they were unable to accomplish the same when facing Cloud9. Without giving NRG a chance, Cloud9 prevailed, winning 3-0, and sent NRG to their current position.

The most popular champion for NRG is Gnar (10 games, 90% wins) and it’s on the top line. Kenen, who was employed four times and won each match, is the only NRG champion with all victories.

The current form of Team Liquid

We continue the analysis by looking at Team Liquid’s recent performance. Since they hit the Lower Bracket before NRG, they are ranked second nominally. Liquid perform in a disorganized manner, making it difficult to place them among the elite clubs in North America. However, they’ve already qualified for the 2023 Worlds, therefore their program is fully utilized.

If the team consistently finished first in the regional league in 2022, winning first place at LCS Lock In 2022, followed by third and fourth place finishes at LCS Spring 2022 and LCS Summer 2022, respectively, then the situation has altered in 2023. The squad placed eighth at LCS Spring 2023, which is well below its standard. The squad changed the central league player after the dismal LCS Spring. Eain “APA“ Stearns, who had previously played for Team Liquid Challengers, was the newbie.

Liquid were successful in earning a spot in the LCS Summer 2023 Playoffs. They topped the group with a 10-8 record, guaranteeing themselves a spot in the elite Playoffs. They didn’t stay long there, though. Liquid fell to NRG, who are surprising this season, in the opening game. Liquid then defeated 100 Thieves 3-1 in the opening game of the LB Playoffs, and now they are in this position.

Dignitas was Liquid’s playoff foe after 100 Thieves. Dignitas presented Liquid with little challenge, and the game finished 3-0. The following game was against the Golden Guardians. On paper, Liquid was the underdog, yet it was able to outlast itself by winning the series 3-2. However, it was a very tense series in which Liquid lost two initial cards, but they ultimately managed to accomplish what they had begun.

Kenen is the most well-liked champion of Team Liquid (3 games, 100% victories). Yes, there are a number of other champions with a 100% win rate, but the lack of a significant “specimen“ prevents us from taking these champions seriously. Maybe that’s why the odds for their win over NRG at LCS betting sites are larger than they should’ve been in theory.

Head-to-head encounters

During the season, the teams clashed three times. In the Group Stage and the Playoffs, NRG Esports triumphed twice, while Team Liquid triumphed just once, and it was in the groups.

Match analytics

The two teams have a highly intriguing narrative for the LCS Summer 2023, thus this replay of the UB of Playoffs promises to be The-International-like fascinating. As Liquid have gained momentum in the Lower Bracket Playoffs and the match versus Golden Guardians should be a morale booster, we’re not sure whether or not we’ll see a performance repeat of the prior match between them and NRG.

In conclusion, we’d back Liquid so we propose betting on Handicap 2 (Team Liquid) -1.5 at odds of 1.73 on MELbet.

Results of the forecast

Forecast failed. NRG vs. Team Liquid 3:2