Deep Cross Gaming's Azir Gamble Faces LCP Series Decider
Deep Cross Gaming faces a high-stakes Game 5 against GAM Esports in the LCP 2026 Season Split 2 Playoffs.
The selection of Azir by HongSuo for Deep Cross Gaming represents a significant gamble on mid-lane dominance, given his low 14.3% win rate in the LCP region over just 28G. By opting for this champion, they are betting on her ability to outpace the red side's scaling while maintaining enough mobility to survive early aggression, though success depends on securing early priority to prevent GAM Esports from snowballing their bot lane.
Composiciones
Deep Cross Gaming is fielding a draft heavily oriented toward aggressive engage and skirmish capability. With Flauren on Jax and ShiauC on Braum, they aim to create imediato space for HongSuo's Azir and Feng's Varus to find scaling windows. Conversely, GAM Esports has opted for a more controlled, utility-heavy composition designed for late-game dominance. They want to utilize the zoning of Aress's Tristana and the durability of Kiaya's Aatrox to dictate the teamfight structure while ensuring their damage output scales significantly over time.
Picks Clave y Estadísticas
The jungle matchup remains a critical point of fricción in this draft. Pop9 securing Sejuani holds a significant advantage over Draktharr, as he boasts a 36.6% global win rate with 82G. In the mid lane, HongSuo on Azir maintains a solid edge against Aress, with her champion holding a 44.3% global win rate over just 657G. At the top, Flauren on Jax faces a difficult matchup against Kiaya's Aatrox, where he holds a lower 48.5% LCP win rate over just 18G. The bot lane presents a high-risk scenario for GAM Esports, as Artemis on Ziggs has a dismal 28.6% global win rate against Varus in only 7G. Finally, the support matchup sees Taki on Shen struggling against ShiauC's Braum, where she holds a 53.8% global win rate over just 106G.
Ventaja del Draft
Deep Cross Gaming enters this game with a clear drafting advantage due to two major counter-picks. The jungle dominance of Pop9 on Sejuani effectively shuts down the mobility of Maokai, while HongSuo's lane priority over Tristana ensures they control the mid-lane rotation. While GAM Esports successfully secured one of the predicted B1 picks with Kiaya on Aatrox, they failed to ban Sejuani, allowing Deep Cross Gaming to solidify their jungle identity. This deviates from the pre-draft analysis where banning Nocturne was considerado esencial for Deep Cross Gaming.
Polymarket Market
The market correctly identified Deep Cross Gaming as the heavy favorite for this specific match, with a 70% win probability at draft close. This reflected the analytical edge provided by the jungle and mid lane counter-picks. Interestingly, the pre-match series odds of 80% for Dplus Kia were heavily skewed toward a sweep, and this result has now shifted the trajectory significantly. The series probability has surged to 64% for Deep Cross Gaming, indicating that while they lost this game, the market still views them as the overwhelming favorite to close out the series. This result officially closes the series at 3-1.
Predicción
The model prediction stands at Deep Cross Gaming 51% vs GAM Esports 49%. Given the massive counter-pick advantage in the jungle and the mid lane dominance of HongSuo, I am increasing the confidence level toward a Deep Cross Gaming victory. The ability to neutralize Maokai early will be the decisivo factor for this opening map.
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