• (0) Rare Atom v Team WE (-130)
  • (-325) Damwon KIA v Nongshim RedForce (+230)
  • (+250) LNG Esports v FunPlus Phoenix (-375)

Play-offs continue on Friday and Saturday: Rare Atom and Team WE are locked in a close match-up, but I believe Rare Atom to have the stronger carries in both iBoy and FoFo versus their counterparts in Elk and Shanks. In addition, Damwon KIA faces off against Nongshim RedForce in a close match-up, although DK has a narrow solo lane advantage over Nongshim. Finally, FPX looks to take down a red-hot LNG Esports coming off a win against RNG.

Captain

FoFo ($10,500)

The Rare Atom mid laner has been an underrated jewel for the squad. Him and iBoy are some of the most explosive and highest performing carries in the league, similar to a squad like Oh My God with Creme and Able, except with an improved surrounding cast. Furthermore, he comes in cheap too, and has a good match-up against Shanks in the middle lane. Doinb is another great option, but we will revisit him later.

Alternatives to consider: Doinb ($11,700)

Top Lane

Khan ($6,400)

Towards the end of the split, Khan has had a resurgence in form and has been performing remarkably well relative to his mid split and early summer form. This has come just in time for Khan to face off against Rich, the Nongshim top laner and the weak point on the squad: while Rich can have good games, his champion pool is notoriously slack, and abusable by Khan. My other recommendation is to pick up Breathe and pit him against Cube, who is the weak point on Rare Atom.

Alternatives to consider: Breathe ($6,800)

Jungle

Tian ($7,200)

While I hate to bet against Tarzan, Tian is an incredible jungler and he’s worth putting money on. FPX is a well oiled machine with him in the jungle, supporting and facilitating Doinb and spreading his advantage out across the map and truly making the enemy feel the pressure. Canyon may be decent enough against Peanut- but Peanut has been one of the best LCK junglers this split.

Alternatives to consider: Canyon ($6,800)

Mid Lane

Doinb ($7,800)

Likewise with FoFo, Doinb has another great match-up against Icon, who showed up well against Cryin, but typically has a low level of play across the year. Doinb is the highest rated mid laner in the entire league alongside Knight, and Icon is likely to falter against the top dog of the league. FoFo is another solid option to grab too if you haven’t snagged him yet.

Alternatives to consider: FoFo ($7,000)

ADC

Lwx ($7,600)

As far as ADCs go, you really can’t get much better than Lwx unless you have EDG’s Viper, who isn’t even playing yet. Lwx’s opponent in Light is a decent ADC, but despite putting up a decent performance against RNG, I don’t think he can carry on his success against a superstar like Lwx (he already struggled versus Gala). Lwx is one of the best in the league, and he’s my recommendation.

Alternatives to consider: iBoy ($6,800)

Support

Crisp ($5,600)

I’d look to combine the FPX bottom lane- and by extent, basically their entire team past the top lane role since they have looked to make use of both Xiaolaohu and Nuguri across the split. Crisp should have a decent time in the bottom lane against Light and Iwandy, who generally look to scale up and play teamfights. For a different option, I loosely recommend Hang, but I’d try to do my best to secure Crisp and avoid Hang.

Alternatives to consider: Hang ($5,000)

Team

Rare Atom ($4,800)

All things considered, I’m pretty puzzled by people’s sourness towards RA. The team has never looked consistently “bad” across their tenure in the LPL during the summer split, whereas there were points people thought WE were going off the slide to the bottom. RA, by contrast, is generally a pretty consistent performer, and likely to outshine WE’s inconsistency.

Alternatives to consider: FunPlus Phoenix ($5,400)

Stacks

Doinb & Lwx

The carries for FPX are the highlights on their squad. While they have amazing players in the supportive roles, Doinb is truly unique in the way he pursues his approach to the game. By contrast, Lwx is, by contrast, a much more traditional ADC in the way he uses his advantages: big damage, all the time.

FoFo & iBoy

The two carries of RA parallel those of FPX. Whereas Doinb plays towards his team, Rare Atom plays to FoFo, the strong mid laner who is the cornerstone of their squad. Resources get piled into FoFo, and are gained passively through his strong laning phase. iBoy is a teamfight wrecking ball, and converts his team’s leads into massive damage.

Khan & Showmaker

While I’ve been a fan of Nongshim’s mid laner Gori, I have to pay respects to the Showmaker: Damwon’s mid laner is the latest addition to the long line of Korean world champion mid laners, and while Khan hasn’t had an exemplary split this few months on the rift, Rich is the weakest member on Nongshim, and he should be able to defeat his opponent handedly.

Top Picks: FoFo, Lwx, Doinb

All around, these players have extremely great match-ups on their match day: FoFo has the hardest, up against Shanks- a decent mid laner, although FoFo has been one of the best domestic mid laners in the LPL. Lwx and Doinb face their counterparts in LNG in Light and Icon- with Icon in particular being a weak point of the squad overall.

Top Value: FoFo, iBoy, Khan

iBoy faces a situation similar to FoFo: he’s a monster in the making, and his match-up against Elk and Missing is decent enough, but that doesn’t mean Rare Atom is necessarily favored to win the entire game. Khan targets Rich, the weak link on Nongshim in the top lane.