The ESL UK LoL Premiership official kicks off today (Wednesday February 17th) and with it comes the first round of best-of-ones, featuring all eight teams in the tournament.
The schedule is here and below:
These games should make an interesting first round, simply from how all these teams have been revamped. Some teams seem like dark horses because we haven’t publically seen them play yet, which should make it interesting and entertaining to see how their sides of the games go.
Meanwhile, the teams we have already seen in the spotlight on the weekend have had their strengths and weaknesses showcased to the teams they will play against, due to the format being recently promoted teams versus the returning LAN finalists from last season.
Also the bo1 format means that all games are crucial for the teams to win, in order to gain points in the ladder. Expect some cheese, upsets and all of that sort.
In terms of predictions, an anonymous UK player provided ENUK with how he believes the teams will stand in strength:
S tier – Renegades, Exertus and Manalight
A tier – FM, Infused, Choke and TCA
B Tier – MnM
His predictions for the overall end of season standings:
1. Renegades
2. Exertus
3. ManaLight
4/5/6 FM/TCA/Choke
7. Infused
8. MnM.
Note how he has listed brackets as S, A and B tiers, meaning that the teams are incredibly stacked in terms of strength, due to him not putting in brackets C and D – and placing seven of the teams in two brackets.
Other people have posted their predictions publicly:
Predictions for ESL tomorrow:
ML > Infused
TCA < Choke
EXT > MnM
RNG > FM— Billy Wragg (@NutriLoL) February 16, 2016
GLB Blue owner Louis Jose believes the top four will be as follows: RNB, ManaLight, Exertus and FM.
Expect more predictions to be made public closer to the start of the games.
Following these predictions, the game that should be most hyped is Choke versus TCA, however with the strength of the scene at the moment being completely close, all games should warrant viewership.
Check out the games live this evening on the ESL UK Twitch stream.
