Will it be NRG, or will it be FlyQuest coming out on top in this week’s LCS match of the week?
It is a battle between two of the LCS’s most prominent organizations as the defending Summer Split champions, NRG, go up against the newly revamped FlyQuest squad. This match takes place on Sunday, January 28, in the third game of the day and is considered ESTNN’s LCS match of the week. It will be interesting to see if both squads will be coming into this one with another win under their belt or if they will be under the pressure to perform after defeat. ESTNN is here to break down this matchup between NRG and FlyQuest.
How Will Big Dhokes Match Up To A Happy Bwipo?
Two LCS behemoths will go toe-to-toe on Sunday as Niship “Dhokla” Doshi takes on Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau. While Dhokla had an ‘okay’ first week in the Spring Split, Bwipo was one of the stand-out stars in his role for week one. As Joshua “Jatt” Leesman mentioned in his JLXP podcast, Bwipo is… happy. And a happy Bwipo is a dominant Bwipo. FlyQuests setup has allowed Bwipo to play champions he enjoys playing. Bwipo has never shied away from new tech in the top lane and was among the first people spamming Udyr in Champions Queue. Bwipo also pulled out Olaf in game two against Immortals, stating in an interview while it isn’t a solid counter to Aatrox, it is a champion that scales well in the late-game and allows him to team fight.
After an underwhelming showing against Cloud9, Dhokla dusted himself off and had a much better game against Dignitas. Proving North American top laners can also play Jayce, Dhokla put Rich to the sword with multiple solo kills to demonstrate he is still one of the top performers in the league. It will be interesting to see if NRG completely bans away Udyr from Bwipo. Udyr, in his current state, is arguably the strongest top-lane champion in the game when played correctly. Bwipo has grasped not only how to build the champion correctly but also how to play around the map with Udyr. Udyr at the moment is such a neusence to play against in lane, no one has been able to counter it thus far. Dhokla struggled when Fudge picked up Udyr in their opening game.
Jungle Matchup Dominates NRG vs FlyQuest
Although seeing both teams square off will be exciting, seeing peak Contractz against a returning Inspired is one of the best gifts the LCS could receive thus far. Despite being away from the competitive scene for a significant amount of time, Inspired has not missed a beat. It has been evident from the first two games that this FlyQuest roster will play around Inspired. Jensen looks much better and should be able to, at worst, hold his own in lane, but at best, consistently be up 20/30 CS on his lane opponent, allowing for Inspired to have free reign to do as he pleases, which is more often than not dominating his opponent.
Contractz continues to be the win condition for NRG. If Contractz is firing on all cylinders, there is a good chance that NRG will win. Even in a losing effort to C9, Contractz was still the player pulling the strings for NRG as they attempted to claw their way out of a losing match. This will be an all-out brawl between Inspired and Contractz. Both players love to scrap and scrap early, often sacrificing camps to get one of their lanes ahead. For Inspired, it is more about getting himself ahead. For Contractz, it is ensuring either solo laner has the tools to carry the game.
Marn Predicts Who Will Win: NRG or FlyQuest?
“It is going to be a really close game and should live up to the match-of-the-week hype we are selling. I think FlyQuest is going to edge this one, but it is going to be really close. Right now, I have more faith in the veteran trio of FlyQuest. Jensen should be able to get onto a comfort pick, and an in-form Jensen should have no problem taking care of Palafox in lane. Then, it comes to the top lane. I think Bwipo will have an answer for everything Dhokla wants to play. This should open the map up for FlyQuest to do some real damage. I think also NRG is going to take some time to ramp up. The introduction of Huhi is not a simple one. Huhi has been the main shot-caller of his team for a while now, and as Palafox mentioned in his interview with Travis Gafford, it will take some time for his style to match with the rest of the team and blend. I think FlyQuest wins this.”
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