Karmine Corp and Top Esports are slated to duke it out in the debut First Stand’s round robin stage, with Top Esports being the clear favorite. Though considering Karmine Corp’s recent performance, does the underdog team have any upset potential?
First Stand’s round robin stage kicked off with five qualifying teams from the LCP, LCK, LEC, LTA, and LPL. While some teams, including Hanwha Life Esports and CTBC Flying Oyster, have been performing well already, the same can’t be said for Karmine Corp. The team lost the first two matches it played and is now against Top Esports, the team that convincingly defeated Team Liquid, who KC has already lost against.
The round robin stage will only eliminate the bottom-most team. With every team getting four matches, Karmine must win at least one match if it wants a chance of staying in the tournament, especially considering that every other team has won at least once already. That puts KC in what could effectively be a must-win situation versus TES.
Karmine Corp may have come to the tournament with many fans rooting for it, but its members have consistently disappointed. From the entire team getting sliced up by CTBC’s Skarner to Yike not performing nearly as well as most would have hoped against Liquid, the team has been in a bit of an off streak.
On the other hand, Top Esports has been fairly strong. Despite the team’s loss against Hanwha Life at the start of the tournament, TES successfully countered and took down Team Liquid in the follow-up match. Arguably the most stand-out player in Top Esports’ roster is the jungler Kanavi. With excellent ganks and objective control, KC may be in for a bit of a tough match.
Below are the rosters of both teams.
Karmine Corp
Top Esports
Overall, both teams have a handful of champions they tend to play, even if the fearless draft system ensures both teams can’t utilize the same sets of champions every game. KC’s picks usually include champions like Ambessa, Gnar, Sejuani, Xin Zhao, Varus, Ezreal, Leona, and Rell. Viktor’s another champion who is very likely to be seen by KC mid-laner Vladi.
Taking a look at Top Esports, it’s very likely that champions like Gnar, Vi, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Ashe, and Rell will be picked. Vi was particularly strong in the first game against Team Liquid, and repeating that against KC may give TES a quick win. Having a strong support champion like Braum or Nautilus may be a good idea to successfully shut down Yike’s aggression, which he has already been punished for at the event.
As expected after looking at Karmine Corp’s performance in the tournament, Top Esports is the strong favorite going into the upcoming match. Top Esports’ 1.08 cements it as the favorite compared to Karmine Corp’s shockingly high odds of 7.50.
Top Esports took down Team Liquid without losing a single game and there’s no reason to think that the same couldn’t happen against Karmine Corp. The pace of both games will likely be set at the very start with TES usually being very aggressive to look for early picks. Like with what happened against Liquid, Karmine Corp may be unable to counter the aggressive playing style, losing the first Feats of Strength point.
Karmine Corp has multiple factors to look out for. Firstly, its bottom and top lanes must perform well, which won’t be easy considering these two lanes in particular have been weak throughout the tournament. Karmine’s bot lane gave CTBC first blood in both games of that series, and a return of that poor form may spell another defeat for the team. Additionally, giving Top Esports’ jungler free reign to get early objectives will likely come back to bite Karmine later if it happens again here.
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