Over the last four years, Kaos Latin Gamers have dominated the Latin America South region. However, this will be their first ever appearance at the Mid-Season Invitational. Last year, Isurus Gaming claimed the CLS spot at MSI and did not fare too well. KLG will aim to do better than their rivals and bring some attention to the league.
Odds to win MSI Group A (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Rainbow7 -160
Gambit eSports +250
Kaos Latin Gamers +650
Ascension Gaming +1250
Backstory
Kaos Latin Gamers have won the CLS five times since their inception, continually beating out Isurus Gaming and Furious Gaming for the top spot in the region. They did not fare well in their lone appearance at the World Championships, winning just one match and finishing last in their group, but that did give this team some experience.
In the CLS Opening Playoffs, they easily dispatched of their old rivals Isurus Gaming. KLG swept Isurus 3-0 in the semifinals thanks to some great performances from Nate’s Gangplank and Tierwulf’s Trundle.
However, Rebirth eSports nearly prevented them from winning the league. Rebirth finished at the top of the table during the regular season and was looking for its first title ever. They went to a decisive fifth game with KLG, but KLG pulled it out in the end.
What to watch for
Top laner Nate joined Kaos Latin Gamers in the offseason, and he has proven himself in this role. He is usually asked to play tanks and doesn’t deal a lot of damage, but he can carry when need be too. When asked to carry, he will select either Gangplank or Camille and look to make a difference later in the match.
Tierwulf is going to look to camp lanes early on. CLS junglers have the highest jungle proximity of any region in the world, and he will try to get his teammates ahead. He has a very deep champion pool and will use that to try to get an edge. Tierwulf has played 12 different champions over the course of this split, and that versatility gives opponents something to think about.
The longest tenured member of the team is Plugo. He has been a constant in the mid lane for two years. Plugo is very good in team fights, but he also proved that he had a knack for Zoe early on this season. Zoe was not played often in a number of regions, so opponents may ban her away rather than deal with the possibility of Plugo jumping on her to win the laning phase.
Prediction
My big concern with Kaos Latin Gamers is the bottom lane. Fix played a lot of Caitlyn and Tristana this season. He was very good on those two champions, but he struggled on anything else. Tristana is largely out of the meta at this point, and opponents are likely to force him off of Caitlyn.
I like the synergy that Plugo and Tierwulf have, but there are too many other concerns with this team. There is a very real chance they finish at the bottom of Group A.
