Saigon Buffalo vs Evil Geniuses Prediction: An important match for the Vietnamese side

The seventh game day of the first international LoL tournament kicks off on Friday, May 20. In the fifth match of the Rumble stage of the Mid-Season Invitational 2022 tournament, Saigon Buffalo and Evil Geniuses will meet.

The Mid-Season Invitational 2022 is a LAN tournament in the cybersports discipline of League of Legends, featuring the winners of the spring splits of 11 separate Riot leagues, with LCL not sending a representative this spring due to the cancellation of the LCL Spring Split. It was also announced on April 21 that the LPL representative would compete online from China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all teams will compete at 35ms to level the playing field. The tournament prize money is $250,000.

Saigon Buffalo (formerly known as Dashing Buffalo, Phong Vũ Buffalo, and Young Generation) is a Vietnamese professional eSports organization. Before the 2019 summer split, Phong Vũ Buffalo was renamed Dashing Buffalo to match its new sponsor. In addition, star player Zeros left the team, and without their star player, the team struggled with new top-line players Raizo and Kaido. The team finished 4th at 8-6 in the VCS summer season and lost 0-3 in the first round of the Lowkey Esports playoffs. For the 2021 VCS spring season, the Vietnamese decided to make some risky substitutions. Bringing in 4 newcomers from their academy (BeanJ, Rby, Arrietty, and Taki) completely changed their style of play. This decision helped the organization to break the losing streak and finally start to take the prizes.

Saigon Buffalo was still a favorite this year, but their 3-1 loss to GAM Esports in the finals should have kept the Vietnamese team out of the Mid-Season Invitational 2022. But it has come to light that GAM Esports have decided not to participate in the MSI due to the participation of players from this roster in the 31st Asian Games as part of the Vietnam national team, thereby sending Saigon Buffalo to the international championship in which they have not participated since 2019. In the first match where they met against T1, the Vietnamese did not fall foul. Saigon Buffalo put up a solid fight, but things went against them, failing the mid-game and then the game. In the match against DetonatioN FocusMe, the Vietnamese showed their game, taking the victory from their opponents for second place in the group. Well, the defeat of Team Aze the next day was a pleasant bonus. In the final match of the group stage, the Vietnamese were able to consolidate their position in the group, defeating Team Aze and DetonatioN FocusMe, coming out of the group with a 4-2. The Rumble stage will be tough for the boys, and the match against PSG Talon should definitely be taken if the boys want to fight for the playoffs. However, let's not forget that the second match will be a meeting with Evil Geniuses, the victory against which will very well hammer the chances of the Vietnamese team to get into the playoff stage.

Evil Geniuses formed a League of Legends lineup in 2013. The organization played 2 splits in the EU LCS before moving to North America in 2014. Due to North America's problems, Evil Genes announced their departure from League of Legends and sold their place in the league to Winterfox. EG returned to the NA LCS in 2019 with the acquisition of the Echo Fox franchise slot, bringing the brand back after a 5-year break. They became LCS champions for the first time in the spring LCS 2022 season.

Building on their potential in the summer of 2021, Evil Geniuses took a mid from Jojopyun Academy to replace Jiizuke, and Vulcan was acquired from Cloud9 to replace Svenskeren. An inspired Pole, who previously played for Rogue in Europe, has joined the team. With only two members of the Summer 2021 squad remaining, Evil Geniuses attracted attention at the Lock-In 2022 tournament, going undefeated in their group and beating Golden Guardians and Cloud9 in the playoffs. Evil Geniuses faced Team Liquid in the final, who beat them 3-0.

Evil Geniuses were now considered one of the best teams in the league, but after 3 weeks, they found themselves in 8th place. In the second half of the split, the team performed much better, finishing in 4th place with a 9-9 result and securing a place in the top playoff net. Evil Geniuses lost to Team Liquid in a 5-game series by a narrow margin, leaving EG relegated to the losers' bracket. They beat FlyQuest 3-1, Cloud9 3-0, Team Liquid 3-0, and eventually 100 Thieves 3-0 in the grand final to become the 5th team ever to win the LCS championship. They also won a slot at MSI 2022.

The Mid-Season Invitational itself started with good news for Evil Geniuses. They only had three teams in the groups, so their chances of making it to the next stage were great. EG had only 4 wins out of eight matches, which they got against ORDER (ORDER finished the group stage 0-8, losing 4 times each to EG and G2). In the Rumble stage, the American team will find it difficult, as so far, we have seen easy wins, against a weak region and tough battles, against strong regions. The encounter against Royal Never Give Up will be a real test for Evil Geniuses, which they are not sure to pass. But after, it will be an easier meeting, where Saigon Buffalo will be waiting for them. If the American team aims to make the playoffs, winning against Saigon Buffalo is a must.

In this match, I will take the victory of Evil Geniuses for 1.80.

Also, I'll take Total Over 31.5 kills for 1.83.

I'll also take the duration of the map under 30 minutes for 1.75.

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