The 2015 NA LCS Spring Playoffs began yesterday with Team Liquid upsetting the third-seeded Counter Logic Gaming in a one-sided stomp that saw TL advance to the semifinals.

Today's match-up between the always in-your-face Team Impulse and the creative and sometimes innovative Gravity will decide who gets the chance to face off against the reigning champions TSM in the semifinals.

Top Lane: Impact (TiP) vs. Haunzter (GRV)

A mismatch on paper, Impulse has a former world champion starting for them while Gravity counters with a young up-and-comer. Taking a look at the stats between these two players and it's evident that they very well could be the most evenly matched pair in the first round of the playoffs.

Impact did miss the first two games of the season due to visa issues, but he only trails his Gravity opponent by five kills on the season (40 to 45) and has three more assists on the season. Their GPM's are almost equal, Impact barely in the lead in that category and both players sit in the top three of KDA alongside ZionSpartan at the top-laner position.

The one area that Haunzter lacks in is the experience factor. Like Piglet who came through in the clutch for Liquid yesterday, Impact has been to the world finals, won the Summoner's Cup and been in the highest tensioned domestic championships in Korea. All that to say that a first round playoff game in the Spring season isn't going to scare him. Even back when SKT was the most dominant team in 2013, Impact was one of their most consistent players and filled any role needed on the day for his squad.

Contested Picks: Rumble, Maokai

Rumble was picked by both players in the final week of the regular season. Impact has an impressive record of 4-1 on the flame spitting Yordle, and the Gravity player is perfect through two games with the champion along with an 11 KDA.

Advantage: Impulse

So far in the playoffs, it really has been the experience that has gotten it done. Ryu came up big in his games against the Wolves yesterday, and Piglet teamed up with Xpecial to bring back nightmares for all CLG fans across the globe. Impact knows what it takes to win championships in the playoffs and that gives him the edge for me in this even, on paper at least, match-up.

Jungle: Rush (TiP) vs. SaintVicious (GRV)

Hello, Playoffs. This is Rush. He's come to make you bloody as possible and will not stop until he goes through every player in North America and fights them all to the death.

SaintVicious, well, he's too old for that nonsense. While Rush goes around the jungle and continually rushes into action head first, Saint has been a great facilitator for his team all season long. He has the lowest amount of kills and most amount of deaths for season-long junglers, but that's alright. Saint does the dirty work that helps the team's carries, primarily Cop and Keane, get their work done and get the gold they need to help Gravity win.

Rush, to the surprise of no one, is right behind Saint when it comes to deaths due to his wild and sometimes reckless style. Although the veteran Saint relies more on setting up team fights and pulling down assists to spread the gold to his carries, Rush has no problem being a carry jungler and will gladly take kills if given the opportunity.

Imagine this face-off with Rush as the young and rambunctious karate student, wanting to fight everyone in the world and one day become the greatest fighter to ever live. Saint is the old and crotchety karate master that sees Rush coming after him, hits him with a bottle and walks away because he doesn't have time to put up with his attitude.

Contested Picks: Sejauni

Rush is still probably going to ignore this tank meta and continue to select bruisers and champions that punch things, and Saint will more likely keep with his more stable and map-control based champions.

Advantage: Impulse

'Hey, I thought you were going with the whole picking experience over young guns philosophy!?'

Sorry, what can I say, I really enjoy watching Rush fight things: champions, Dragon, Baron, the Scuttle Crab, the trees, towers, cannons, wards, and the list just goes on

Mid Lane: XiaoWeiXiao (TiP) vs. Keane (GRV)

Yasuo vs. Urgot?



Why not.

Here is a lane match-up that does not need a lot of hype about it. These two players have no fear in picking whatever they want and trying it out in a professional game. Mid Rumble? Awesome! Why not throw in some AP Corki? That sounds even better!

Keane turned heads during the promotional tournament last season when he picked mid Hecarim for the Curse Academy team, doing well in the game but losing overall due to CLG winning everything else but the mid lane. This season he hasn't gotten back to riding the pony, Hecarim finding himself in the top lane for Gravity, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been throwing out more wildcards. He picked Urgot against Bjergsen and TSM in one of their final games of the season that had a big effect on their playoff chances, and he and the team succeeded by tearing through TSM's primarily AD composition.

The reigning NA LCS MVP, XiaoWeiXiao, has played ten different champions this season (one less than Keane) and isn't afraid to mix it up in the mid lane. Even after nerfs to Yasuo and the champion falling out of favor in Season 5, XWX has picked his signature three times this season and has won twice.

Contested Picks: Everything

The only thing that would surprise me from this two would be a mid Garen at this point.

Advantage: Impulse

It's going to be a fun match-up no matter which champions these two players pick, and I'm going to have to side with the reigning MVP this time around. But really, advantages mean little in this match-up when either player could pull out something completely new to flip the tables entirely.

AD Carry: Apollo (TiP) vs. Cop (GRV)

No matter who comes out on top in this series, both Apollo and Cop have two of the best stories in all of North America.

Cop, back when he was on Curse, was actually atop of the KDA standings and had nice stats to go along with his play. But those stats were seen more empty and meaningless than anything, as Cop was criticized for playing a soft style that would see him run away from any fight that had the possibility of not going his way. He would die less and have a better KDA to show because of it, but what did it matter if he wasn't getting the necessary shots off and fleeing when things got bloody?

Now, Cop once again is one of the leaders in KDA, but there is no more talk of empty stats. The former Curse player has transformed into an all-around player that no longer runs away from danger and die a few times to make sure that his team wins a team fight.

Apollo has also matured. When he came in as a rookie for Team Coast a few seasons ago, he was known as a strong online performer that choked on the main stage. His stats looked good heading into the LCS season and there was always murmurs of how well he could play if things clicked for him, but the potential never came to fruition and he fell out of the LCS.

He returned his season under a new ID and is finally living up the expectations that people thought he could reach on Team Coast. Be it growing with age, shaking off the nerves through those tough experiences with Coast or simply being more comfortable with his teammates, there is no question Apollo has turned himself into one of the rising stars in the NA LCS this season.

Contested Picks: Grave

Graves is the most played champion for both players. Apollo sits at 7-3 while Cop has a 4-3 record with the former-cigar smoking gun blazer.

Advantage: Gravity

The Cop of a few years ago was a boy. The Cop of the present is a man who laughs danger in the face and wears a badass leather jacket. Sorry Apollo, you're a rising star, but Cop is a star in the NA LCS.

Support: Adrian (TiP) vs. Bunny Fufuu (GRV)

These two players are the new generation for NA supports. Bunny has been an interesting prospect for a long time now. When he was first put on the main Curse team a few seasons ago, the question was how fast would it take for him to topple the NA greats like Aphroomoo and Xpecial before taking his seat on the throne as the best support in North America.

It didn't work that easily. Bunny was bumped off with the inclusion of Xpecial, he started playing on the Academy team and eventually qualified with the team in the expansion tournament that was held before the season started. It's still too early to say he's going to live up to becoming the best in North America, but he's already putting himself as one of the elites at the position. His play-making ability on Thresh and other champions this season have made him a highlight reel player that has made him a fan favorite with the crowds.

Adrian was an untested rookie coming out of college for Impulse with a lot of question marks about how he would play. Apollo was already getting condemned for his weak play on Coast, and Adrian was a by product by having real no history to draw off and getting thrown onto a team where most of the players spoke a different language than him.

There have been a lot of good rookies this season, yet it'd be hard to leave out Adrian's name when discussing who should win the Rookie of the Season award. His partnership with Apollo has been one of the best in their first season together, and while he has died a lot to make opportunistic plays for his team, he's backed it up with 172 assists in 18 games.

Contested Picks: Thresh

Don't let Bunny pick Thresh. Just stop it. Stop letting this guy get Thresh and then do stupidly mechanical flash hooks that make him look like a mind reader crossed with a Jedi.

Stop.

Advantage: Gravity

It's similar to the Apollo vs. Cop discussion. I think Adrian is on his way to being a big name support in the NA LCS two or three seasons from now, but Bunny, in my opinion, is already a big name. I wouldn't rank him as the best support in NA, yet anyways, but he is definitely one of the most exciting and mechanically sound players at his position in LCS.

The Verdict:

Excitement. Out of all four first round match-ups, this is the one I've been most excited for. You have the veteran vs. young gun matches in the top lane and jungle. XWX and Keane might pick anything in the mid lane and make everyone in solo queue rip their hair out for the next few weeks. And in the bottom lane, you have two rising duos who are making a case to be the best in North America.

It doesn't have the same 'star power' as a CLG or TSM match, but these are two teams who are well-coached by Fly (TiP) and LS (Gravity) who are going to show some awesome games and hopefully produce a close series that comes down to the final game.

Rush punching people.

Apollo and Cop's redemption.

Bunny making more Youtube highlight videos with bad dubsep in the background.

Saint still not caring about your stupid LCS Fantasy team even with the season already over.

Keane and XWX willing to bring anything out of their bag of tricks.

Trust me, this series is going to be awesome. If it's not and it's a boring 3-0 stomp that bores everyone to tears, then, well — forget it. Just believe me. This is going to be a great series and one you're not going to want to miss.

Prediction: Team Impulse 3 - 2 Gravity

Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger is a staff writer for The Score eSports, and he will be covering both the EU and NA LCS Playoffs. He shares no responsibility if you skip your Easter dinner with your family to watch this match and it's a boring one-sided stomp. You can follow and tell him your predictions on Twitter.