For all the memes that have been created concerning Europe’s supposed “love of ties,” last week’s League Championship Series proved Europe is a strong, confident region that don’t need no third game. Wait, let me rephrase that: the current level of European play proved that most teams aren’t strong enough to bounce back from a loss in any meaningful way. Unlike previous weeks, which had most teams battling back and forth to split the series and keep the standings relatively even, teams that lost Game 1 proved lacking when trying to adapt to their opponent’s game plan, both in and out of game.

For some teams, the good outweighed the bad. Schalke proved it has a hard carry on the roster, as Fox continuously stepped up, even in losses. Splyce displayed a much more cohesive team effort, using both Kobbe and Sencux far more effectively than it had last split, with Wunder accepting a lesser, but still valuable, role in his team’s success. Even Giants Gaming came away with some reasons to be optimistic: NiGHT continues to shine in their victories, and S0NSTAR has been able to take advantage of the weaker bot lanes around a scene that is still currently starting xPeke at the position.

Of course, for most, this week was filled with disappointment. Vitality made it clear things were not going to get better, as Mightybear is continually behind in his jungle pathing and Nukeduck has taken a massive step back. Cabochard alone is not enough to carry that team, and they’ll continue to plummet in the standings until they figure that out. ROCCAT was finally punished for its early-game woes, with teams consistently ganking Betsy until the mid laner could do nothing to turn around late-game fights; it’s almost like Airwaks playing the early game the exact same way every game is exploitable! Somehow, the worst of it has fallen onto the Unicorns of Love fanbase, who went from arguing they had the potential to be a Top 3 team on their subreddit to watching Hylissang fall back into bad positioning habits, Veritas prove why he hadn’t gotten signed to an LCS team before now, and Exileh as the worst mid laner in Europe.

The good news for everyone is that there’s still time for all of these consistency issues to change. Schalke and Splyce each failed to take a game off the top tier teams last week, but there’s reason to believe they can get there over the next six weeks of play. The bad news is that teams that fail to develop quickly will find themselves light years behind the teams that are. We’ll learn what camp each of these teams fall into this week, as most teams, even at the top of the standings, had clear issues that needed to be fixed.

Also, quick note: the Guess the Lines section of the Podcast had to be delayed again due to some changes over at Unikrn. We’ll put that part of the podcast up later today.

On today’s episode of the Rough Drafts Podcast, Chase “RedShirtKing” Wassenar and Walter “Ceades” Fedczuk break down a disappointing Week 3 and what that has in store for Week 4. Together, they discuss whether Schalke has stepped up as a potential playoff team, the fall of Team Vitality’s mid laner, how Expect managed to emulate Kikis despite having two different play styles, and how ROCCAT’s terrible play broke Chase’s heart. They promise a bonus episode featuring the gambling lines is coming soon.

Week 4 just the lines:

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