It may be a disappointment to be playing in the third place match now, but both Echo Fox and Clutch Gaming would have accepted being in this position at the start of the Spring Split. Echo Fox had been a perennial bottom feeder, while Clutch was an expansion team that no one knew anything about. Both looked impressive during the regular season though, and now they will be squaring off for an additional $10,000 in prize money, as well as 20 more World Championship points. Additionally, whichever team wins third place will also represent North America when they take on Europe at Rift Rivals.
NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs Betting Odds (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Echo Fox -135
Clutch Gaming +102
History
Echo Fox and Clutch Gaming met twice in the regular season with Echo Fox winning their Week 1 showdown and Clutch Gaming evening the regular season series when they squared off in Week 8.
In the first meeting, Huni showed why he would later be named the best top laner in North America this split. He was able to get kills on Gnar in the laning phase, helping lead to a snowball that saw Echo Fox close the game out in 33 minutes.
The second match saw Echo build up a 4k lead only to see it disappear after a great play from Febiven on Ryze. He picked up a double kill that led to Clutch grabbing both Baron and Elder, and the game was over just a couple minutes later.
Match-up to Watch
Although Bjergsen was named North America’s First Team mid laner, you can make the case that Febiven was the better talent throughout the course of the season. Febiven was a fantastic acquisition for Clutch Gaming, posting the fourth-highest KDA of any player in North America this season. He was unstoppable on Azir, going 6-0 with a 14.3 KDA on the champion, and he played well on other champions too.
His counterpart in this match has his work cut out for him. Fenix struggled a bit over the latter half of the season. As teams began concentrating on Huni, he did not have the space in the late game that he once had and was consistently outdueled by the better mid laners in North America. He was dreadful in Echo Fox’s playoff loss to Team Liquid, putting up a 3/14/10 KDA on Ryze, finishing with a sub-1 KDA.
Key Player
For Echo Fox to win, Huni is going to have to come up with a good performance in the top lane. He was phenomenal to start the split, but he was focused in on and camped by enemy junglers later in the season, limiting his effectiveness. His only good performance in the last round came on Cho’Gath, and he wasn’t able to do much on Sion or Camille. That will need to change. Don’t be surprised if he ends up on a pocket pick or two to try to get an advantage.
Prediction
Once again, I like the underdog in this matchup. Clutch Gaming came on strong at the end of the year and pushed 100 Thieves to a decisive fifth game in the Semifinals. The emergence of Hakuho as a great support as pushed this team over the top, and they will pull out the victory here.
Outcome: Clutch Gaming wins the series 3-2 to claim third place
