Team Vitality
Team Vitality is one of the newest teams to appear on the European League of Legends map. The organization, founded at the end of 2015, initially consisted of: Cabochard, Shook, Nukeduck, Hjarnan, and kaSing. The lineup was promising, but they failed to achieve significant results. A major change occurred at the end of 2017 when the team was fundamentally revamped, leaving only the Top laner Cabochard from the original lineup. With the addition of Gilius, Jiizuke, Attila, and Jacktroll, Vitality shone brightly. Their aggressive playstyle and excellent individual skills created one impressive episode after another, and during the summer split, they achieved their highest result to date – 2nd place in the regular season and 3rd place in the playoffs. This achievement provided a great opportunity to showcase themselves at the main international League of Legends World Championship. Although they didn't win any prize positions, the debutants were certainly not an easy nut to crack for any opponent due to their distinctive playstyle at the time. This season started off tough, with the new Jungler Mowgli taking time to integrate into the team and not performing as well as his predecessors. Overall, the Vitality team looked distracted and unprepared for high-level competition, but last week the situation somewhat improved. It's hard to say whether they just needed more time to gel or if some internal issues were resolved, but in the match against SK Gaming, the signs of the old good Vitality team were visible. Aggressive play, distinctive and unique picks by each player led to victory. Team Vitality has great potential and has proven it multiple times, so if the team's synergy continues to improve and there are no internal problems, it's likely that we will see this team fighting for top positions in the playoffs again.
Schalke 04
After purchasing a spot in the 2016 EU LCS Championship, FC Schalke 04 Esports became only the second professional sports organization to acquire a League of Legends team, following Besiktas' acquisition of Aces High in 2015. Schalke initially assembled a strong lineup: Smittyj, loulex, SELFIE, Upset, and Vander. However, after an excellent regular season, the team failed to qualify for the main league. Loulex and Vander were replaced by Memento and Norskeren, young and individually talented players. This decision paid off as Schalke 04 finally secured a spot in the strongest European League of Legends tournament. The team's best achievement was in the 2018 summer split, where they finished 3rd in the regular season and reached the finals, losing 1-3 to Fnatic. This season, Schalke made significant changes:
Vizicsaczi -> Odoamne, an experienced, individually strong player with good game sense;
Nukeduck -> Abbedagge, a young but very talented and promising player who might need one or two seasons to fully integrate into the team and showcase his potential;
Vander -> IgNar, an experienced Support player best known for his excellent performance with the Misfits team in the 2018 season. Strong individually, with good map awareness, he doesn't need much time to adapt to different environments.
Guilhoto -> Dylan Falco, many underestimate this change and don't give it much importance, but it's crucial to mention that although Guilhoto is a good coach and strategist, Dylan Falco reached the finals of the main global League of Legends championship with the Fnatic team in 2018.
The team is well-assembled, but they will need more time to gel, and if the core is maintained, it's likely that we will see their full potential next year.
Head-to-Head History
In the 2018 summer split, both teams met in the playoffs, in the semifinals. Below you can see a short video made this season that perfectly reflects the rivalry between these teams:
This season, the teams have not yet met, and this will be their first match. Both teams are of very similar levels, but considering that Vitality has been playing together for the second season, the synergy and desire for revenge are very important factors here.
Prediction
Currently, all foreign bookmakers have odds for Vitality ranging between 2.05-2.10, while betsafe: https://betsafe.lt/ivykis/2126647, offers the same bet with odds of 2.2. Overall, considering the match circumstances and the current forms of the teams, the slight favorite here should be Team Vitality, so the given 2.2 odds have a lot of value.
For those who want to explore and learn more about LEC, the league's teams, and information, we suggest visiting the official website https://eu.lolesports.com/en/league/lec.
