No matter what greatness a team achieves, it will always be defined by its limitations. In this regard, understanding flaws can be their greatest strength. Earlier this week, I wrote about how understanding limitations has allowed both Fnatic and Snake to develop styles and rise in their respective leagues.

By the same token, LGD Gaming and OMG have struggled because they haven't developed an effective way to play around their own weaknesses. LGD's 0-4 week to King and Invictus Gaming has a similar feel to OMG's rough 1-1 series against bottom three team, Gamtee. These teams, projected at the start of the split to battle it out for second place, face each other for the first time on February 14th, 4:00am ET. The matchup is still one of the hardest to call because neither team has found their identity. Victory will go to the group that has made the most headway.

LGD Gaming: Working with TBQ

When discussing limitations, it's best to start with the team that actually seems to have identified theirs.

One of the easiest things to notice about LGD is that they might have synergy issues because they rotate top laners in Acorn and Flame, or they rely more on the roaming capabilities of their support — or they have less effective games with Kalista.

Not pictured: a good Kalista player

All these factors point to a deeper problem inherent to the 2015 season jungle change: neutral creep respawn timers were increased from 1:15 to 1:40, making each individual camp much more valuable to a jungler. This is significant for LGD because We1less has been known for taking jungle creeps in LGD's jungle while building Spirit of the Spectral Wraith on multiple mid lane champions. Part of his strength came from being able to push mid lane waves to free up his time to farm jungle creeps until his advantage became too much for his opposition. More recently, We1less has been doing this less and less.

That strategy is much harder to execute this season, largely because the strain on LGD's jungler, TBQ, is much more noticeable. Already a weak point in their roster, LGD's play over the past weeks has focused much more on compensating for TBQ's weaknesses. LGD has run styles that rely on TBQ playing heavy ganking champions to compensate for We1less taking camps or TBQ playing a carry-centric Rengar to utilize farm. Both had limited success due to TBQ's player-specific limitations. He doesn't have the individual skill or judgment to flawlessly execute a high volume of early-game ganks or to carry the game if given a high amount of farm.

LGD's most successful work around has come as a result of allowing Pyl to roam alongside TBQ. This helps him invade and acquire enemy creep camps while We1less farms LGD's jungle. They have also executed more successful early ganks to make up the gold difference. With Sivir's current power, imp having a solo lane gave him her powerful ultimate faster. As team captain, Pyl influenced the rest of the map earlier. The situation was win-win.

Except that imp and Pyl are currently the best 2v2 lane in LPL. Normally, sacrificing this advantage for greater success would seem obvious, but Kalista has become extremely powerful in LPL, and her effectiveness relies a lot upon having her support present in lane early. With Kalista in vogue, being unable to run a 2v2 seems less than ideal.

LGD returns to their fundamental problem before even getting to the question of which top laner to run. The simplest solution seems to be in putting We1less on a high mobility assassin champion and forcing him to make up the gold difference. He and TBQ joining forces to increase map pressure is a strategy LGD used to employ with great success. Why they've failed to execute this suddenly is mystifying.

From there, moving imp to a late-game split-pushing role on Kalista to help LGD keep up their trademark wave management while leaving We1less (or We1less and Flame) to serve as the team's core skirmish carries seems like a no-brainer.

LGD has traditionally been characterized as LPL's "smart" team, so there are likely deeper feasibility issues that I've left unexplored. Whatever solution LGD finds, they have a week in which to come ready for OMG, and we'll see hints in their February 13th set against Vici Gaming.

OMG:

OMG's problem is much more ponderous because it isn't nearly as easy to pinpoint. In fact, OMG has historically been very good at identifying their weaknesses (aka San's lackluster laning phase) and playing around them. They executed lane swaps with finesse or focused on top side jungle invasions to free up pressure. OMG revolutionized the Chinese playstyle with their quick fixes and adaptations, giving them their "aggressive" calling card.

That's probably why OMG looks so sloppy lately. With Uzi, they don't have an immediately obvious limitation around which to build. One might say that OMG's most immediate struggle is to identify their strongest options, which is made difficult with so many options available.

Uzi has operated with single-focus jungle pressure around his lane in the past, but when OMG has experimented with that approach, Gogoing has struggled in the top lane. It's hard to assess whether Gogoing truly "struggles" per se. In their set against Gamtee, it appeared as if Gogoing acknowledged the enemy jungler's approach after Danger passed over a ward, started backing away, then changed his mind and attempted to all-in the top laner.

The crux of OMG's problem, then, is that they aren't remotely serious. From OMG reportedly selecting an incorrect ban in their set against Snake, Cool building full damage items because he's "a bit headstrong", and Uzi repeatedly picking Vayne into almost any situation, it's hard to feel confident that OMG, a team previously known for creativity, is putting their best foot forward.

Despite OMG's lack of identity, inconsistent warding, and near complete absence of seriousness, they're still qualified to take advantage of LGD's preoccupation with their own weaknesses.

If LGD lane swaps, OMG can build on one of their most successful styles to date and leave Uzi to push out waves, answering LGD's greatest asset in their minion control. Then, even if Pyl roams to assist TBQ, OMG's solo laners have traditionally been much more responsive in terms of coming to their aid than LGD's, giving them a terrifying skirmish advantage.

By choosing to go with a superior 2v2, the bash brother combination of Gogoing, Loveling, and Cool will easily make TBQ's jungling unbearable.

Of course, there is still the very real chance that OMG will simply pick Vayne into a 2v2 and leave Loveling to camp Uzi's lane unsuccessfully against LGD's superior duo. In this case, the solo laners are evenly matched enough to drag out the set to the point where LGD's onslaught of minions will overrun OMG as they continue to insist on grouping in the late game.

Has gone for the ill-advised outplay

As OMG have thus far proven to be their own worst enemy, that will probably happen at least once. Despite OMG, in theory, having a unique setup that allows them to take advantage and brute force LGD's jungle weakness, their need to not be entirely serious has so far overpowered all reason. Regardless, expect a close series drawn out by LGD's superior minion management. Be sure to bring a date for the matchup of the week this Valentine's weekend.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore eSports and watches way too much Chinese LoL. You can follow her on Twitter.