Europe LCS Week 8 Matchup Previews
SK Gaming vs. Evil Geniuses
The match between SK Gaming and Evil Geniuses at 18:00 CEST showcases two well-known teams that last clashed at the IEM Season VII World Championship in early March of this year, when EG's win over SK knocked both teams out of the World Championship. In their previous LCS matches in Week 1 and Week 2, they took one match apiece. In their Season 3 meetings to date, EG and SK have been evenly matched, and their parity will make this game especially interesting.
SK were victorious in the first game, but it was not easy. EG switched up their typical late-game strategy and came out swinging, dropping a turret early at 4:35 due to the heavy pressure from Froggen's 
Jayce. SK was caught off-guard and was put in a tough spot because of the pressure, but they stalled EG's momentum long enough to claw back and take the Nexus at 49 minutes.
The chips would fall in EG's favor in the second meeting of these two teams. The match saw the first inner turret fall at 23:50, but the passivity worked better for Evil Geniuses. Froggen's 
Lux was especially effective at vaporizing members of SK. The kills were even at 40 minutes, and EG had taken the lion's share of objectives. SK was unable to hang on this time, and their Nexus fell at 45:30.
SK and EG come into Week 8 under similar circumstances. SK Gaming sits in third place with a record of 11W-8L. Half of their losses come from the top two teams in the EU LCS: Fnatic and Gambit Gaming. Their other losses are scattered amongst teams below them, including one loss to Evil Geniuses.
Evil Geniuses houses a record of 10W-8L and holds the fourth place spot. They shot out of the gate in the first two weeks to secure first place, but they have struggled in the following weeks. Four of their losses have come from Fnatic, Gambit Gaming, and SK Gaming, while the other four are divided between the teams behind them.
See the common thread? These teams are nearly identical in who they lose to and in how they have been performing. They both drop games against the top teams, but it is their inconsistent play against the fifth through eighth placed teams that is the most telling. Their inability to secure those wins has put SK and EG in a peculiar situation of dancing around third and fourth place for the foreseeable future, as no team is close to threatening the top four teams in the EU LCS in terms of record.
For the past month and a half, they have been jockeying for third and fourth place without actually facing each other in LCS competition, but that is about to change. Now that they will meet again, it should make for one of the most exciting games of the weekend.
- Written by Darin Kwilinski
- Edited by Matthew Madore and Irena Pencheva and Marissa Moody Kuo
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