Team Liquid vs CLG Predictions, Game Preview, Live Stream, Odds & Picks, July 24
Team Liquid is Struggling in this Meta
Considering that Team Liquid is currently sitting on a 6-3 record and is tied for 2nd place with 100 Thieves, it might sound a bit strange to say that they are currently struggling. We can’t forget that every single player in this lineup has won either the LCS or the LEC multiple times, that’s why we can’t go easy on them. I could say that Team Liquid reminds me of Team Vitality because they could both be considered “superteams” yet both have failed to prove their worth throughout the 2022 season.
Let’s take a look at their last series against Evil Geniuses, which was one of the most expected matches of the split. We can start at the draft, where Team Liquid got heavily outsmarted, according to EG. “They picked 4 of the 5 champs we discussed in draft prep last night, Rigby reading ’em like an open book”, said Naser Al-Naqi, the Evil Geniuses Head of Scouting. It was very strange to see Team Liquid going for a Zilean composition when they clearly lacked damage in other lanes.
On a side note: We recently saw Damwon’s mid laner Showmaker pick Zilean in a similar situation, but builds are something important to consider when it comes to League of Legends betting. Bjergsen decided to opt for Everfrost, and on the other hand, Showmaker went for Ludens which gives him a big damage boost.
The Hans Sama Diff no Longer Exists
Team Liquid clearly doesn’t benefit from this current meta where ADCs are basically the determining factor in most games. The Hans sama we are seeing this summer split is far from being the one we saw in the spring split. He is being put constantly in a position where he is forced to gain an early game advantage significant enough to simply roll over the opposition in the mid game. While that might work against weak bot lanes, when it comes to facing the best bot lanes that’s when they struggle.
Now, this whole ordeal wouldn’t be happening if either Team Liquid had a different read on the meta, or if Hans Sama was playing like most expected him to. And his stats amongst ADCs only prove this further, he is 5th in KDA (3.4), 4th in highest deaths per game (2.3), 4th in DMG% and DPM, and while his @15 stats look good, we could attribute that to TL playing a lot of Lucian Nami. Ranking 5th and 4th in some stats looks really bad if you are playing for a 2nd-place team.
Can Luger Overtake Team Liquid’s Bot Lane?
Last split we used to talk a lot about Fatih “Luger” Güven because he was almost the only reason why CLG was picking up wins even though their roster looked considerably weaker than the rest of the competition. While Luger hasn’t looked outstandingly good like he did last split, he’s still a very important piece to the CLG puzzle, especially in this meta.
I think that CLG’s solo laners are the main pillars, especially Dhokla, who is known to be a strong voice in the team. But at the same time, their inconsistency is so notable that it’s hard to think of CLG as a team that’s going to make it deep into the playoffs. Sure, they might look like a top-6 team without a doubt, and on their very best days, they might be a top-4 team. Now we are heading into the 2nd phase of the round robin and they haven’t been able to fix their biggest issues.
Their game against Immortals should’ve resulted in a loss 99% of the time, but luckily for CLG, they were going against a team that has no clear idea on how to close out a game. I could give credit where it’s due and say that CLG knew how to execute their Yasuo Gragas composition, but in reality, Immortals gave them multiple opportunities to come back into the game, and Luger had a clean performance in key moments.
Team Liquid vs CLG Game Information
- Date: Sunday, July 24
- Time: 3:30pm ET
- Team Liquid vs CLG Live Stream: LCS – Twitch
Team Liquid vs CLG Predictions
Now that we have talked enough about both teams and their current form, let’s get into how this game might go. Team Liquid is what I would consider a draft-reliant team, and yes, we might say the same about plenty of teams, but TL is a special case. They have some of the biggest names in the LCS and some of them were the very best in their respective roles last split, but now, not so much. It seems like they prefer to play a “safe” game and wait for the enemy team to make a mistake big enough to gain an advantage.
On the other hand, CLG is far from having strong players in each of their lanes, but they do seem to have a very clear team identity. While Contractz isn’t having his best season, I would consider Palafox and Luger clutch players because in late game teamfights, they seem to look great.
Team Liquid are the clear favorites, not only because they beat CLG in their last encounter quite convincingly, but also because they are Team Liquid. The best esports betting sites consider TL to be one of the strongest teams in the league, but I think that they are starting to lose their power as the regular season progresses. Team Liquid is definitely the safest option, but if TL ends up getting an unfavorable draft, I see CLG having good chances of winning the game.
