Evil Geniuses vs. Cloud9: 2022 LCS Lock In betting analysis

The 2022 LCS Lock In has reached the semifinals where two giants in Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 will face off.

This semifinal will determine who goes to the grand final, where the winner of Dignitas and Team Liquid will also be playing. It will be the first best-of-five for both teams this season, so there’s a lot on the line and there are many things to prove for both squads in what could turn out to be a marathon. 

So far this in tournament, both teams have done well with their new respective rosters. C9 is the team that has been under the most pressure, as the squad has been forced to play with some academy players due to travel restrictions. Despite that, C9 went 3-1 in the group stage while only dropping a game to 100 Thieves and advancing forward to the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, C9 took out Counter Logic Gaming in a best-of-three that went the distance but proved that C9 was the superior team. The same has been the case for EG, who remains undefeated in the tournament after sweeping group B and taking out Golden Guardians 2-0 in the quarterfinals. 

Now the real test will come for both teams, as EG will without a doubt enter as the favorite. C9 will still be playing with a substitute roster, giving the strong players of EG every chance to win this series. With former Rogue jungler Kacper “Inspired” Sloma having joined the roster, EG looks like a whole other beast compared to previous seasons. 

The great play from EG to start off the year is beginning to indicate that the team could potentially be a title contender when the 2022 LCS split starts. It’s impressive how the team has synergized and included new jugnler Inspired, as well as former C9 support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme and young mid laner Joseph “jojopyun” Pyun. 

It’s currently harder to rate the strength of C9 given that the full roster isn’t assembled yet. So far in the tournament, bot laner Jesper “Zven”’ Svenningsen has done a great job and has proven that he is definitely still worthy of a starting spot in the LCS. In the top lane, C9 has been using veteran Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya, but it feels like the team is in need of some greater star power in that position. 

With that in mind, this is a match where EG should prevail. It’s possible that C9 can make this one close, but in the long run EG has the best chance to reach the grand final.

Evil Geniuses vs. Cloud9 rosters

Evil Geniuses roster: 

• Top – Jeong “Impact” Eon-young
• Jungle – Kacper “Inspired” Sloma
• Mid – Joseph “jojopyun” Pyun
• Bot – Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki
• Support – Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme

Cloud9 roster: 

• Top – Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya
• Jungle – Robert “Blaber” Huang
• Mid – Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami
• Bot – Jesper “Zven”’ Svenningsen
• Support – Jonah “Isles” Rosario

Evil Geniuses expected to beat Cloud9 and reach LCS Lock In final

With the ongoing roster problems for C9 and a clean tournament run from EG in mind, it’s only logical that EG will enter this semifinal as the heavy favorite. Even though C9 has shown some great results so far in this tournament, it’s expected that the team will hit a wall when it goes up against possibly the strongest team in the tournament today in EG. The question is how convincingly EG may win, as C9 should be able to take a game or perhaps even two. From the results of the tournament so far, the most likely result for this series is a 3-1 to EG. 

Betting on EG to win flat out won’t give a huge return with the current odds of 1.31. On the other side, C9 is sitting as a big underdog at 3.15 but it’s also a very risky option.

The LCS Lock In semifinal between Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 will take place on Saturday, January 29.