(+185) Golden Guardians v Evil Geniuses (-250)

(+250) Counter Logic Gaming v 100 Thieves (-350)

(-140) Cloud9 v Team Solomid (+110)

(-350) Team Liquid v Flyquest (+250)

(+120) Team Dignitas v Immortals (-155)

Happy Independence Day! As a treat, the LCS has given us a full slate of matches that are sure to bring the fireworks! The biggest of these is the TSM versus Cloud9 grudge match in the middle of the day which should be chalk full of amazing matchups. There are going to be a lot of different angles for Sunday so let’s dive in! 

Game #1 Golden Guardians v Evil Geniuses

Cann’s Pick: Evil Geniuses

Game #2: Counter Logic Gaming v 100 Thieves

Cann’s Pick: 100 Thieves

Game #3: Cloud9 v Team Solomid

Cann’s Pick: Cloud9

Game #4: Team Liquid v Flyquest

Cann’s Pick: Team Liquid

Game #5: Team Dignitas v Immortals

Cann’s Pick: Immortals

 

Captain

Favorite: FBI (100T: $12:300) While FBI is not the current kill leader in the LCS (57 total kills) it is hard not to pick the ADC for the best team in the league. He has a 7.7 KDA and has been almost unkillable (20 deaths) during Summer. The CLG botlane of WildTurtle and Smoothie have only found success on being aggressive and capitalizing when enemy teams are just a little too far forward and they can jump on this misposition. FBI and huhi don’t do that. They will take you out of the game through constant poking and being wildly efficient at farming. I love FBI’s chances at getting into the late game wildly ahead and putting out a ton of damage late.  

Value Pick: Fudge (C9: $9,600)

Top Lane

Favorite: Impact (EG: $7,400) Another day, another slate where I remind all of you to pick Impact for your top laner. Impact had a “down” game on Saturday with his Sett pick and he still had 11 kill partiicipation and his opponent (Finn) had a KDA of 1. For Sunday Evil Geniuses will be squaring up against Golden Guardians and the top laner Solo. I think the weekend is only getting easier for this squad and especially Impact. Great pick up here but admittedly very expensive for a role that will primarily pick up points through assists. 

Value Pick: Ssumday (100T: $6,600) 

Jungle

Favorite: Closer (100T: $7,200) The gap between the production between top tier junglers and the rest of the LCS feels like it is getting wider. Closer is looking really scary right now with 48 kills and 98 assists. Playing Broxah today should also not pose too much of a threat to Closer. Broxah has not been as aggressive and gank heavy as he has in the past and I think in today’s game, you need to force fights and make teams reactive to what you are trying to accomplish. Big game potentially for the 100 Thieves jungler. 

Value Pick: Xerxe (IMT: $6,600) 

Mid Lane

Favorite: Jensen (TL: $7,800) I have to put this somewhere and make it known. I am not sure what TL are doing. You have players like Jensen who are cracking their back trying to win games but you don’t have the pressure you were used to in the top lane without Alphari. Just bring him back. Now that is out of the way, Jensen has had really poor score lines the last couple days and he still is in the top four in terms of mid laner kills (47). Thankfully for TL they get a bit of a break with Flyquest and Palafox mid. TL take out some frustration on this lower tier team on Sunday. 

Value Pick: Perkz (C9: $7,200)   

ADC

Favorite: Zven (C9: $7,200) Back to my mid breakdown, Cloud9 benched Zven and then realized they were worse without him. In realizing this, they brought him back and now look unstoppable. He has an unreasonable KDA in 10.5 and averaging less than one death per game. TSM’s ADC (Lost) is not good and SwordArt’s massive contract is looking more and more like a waste of money because they don’t have an ADC who can push the limit. Zven plays this one out comfortably.  

Value Pick: Raes (IMT: $7,000)  

Support

Favorite: IgNar (EG: $6,200) IgNar is the assists leader for supports (128) and he is pulling this off with a rookie ADC. His ability to control the lane with his aggression and how he is constantly harassing the enemy bot lane is something all supports should go watch and emulate. EG has been so consistent in picking up sizable advantages in the bot lane and that is seen through his average gold advantage at 10 minutes of +216 and a first blood rate of about 14%. Golden Guardians are the bottom of the table team but I worry about the return here with the big price tag. IgNar will rack you up points but $6,200 is a lot and there are cheaper supports here, feel free to flex through some other options if you need.  

Value Pick: huhi (100T: $5,800)  

Team

Favorite: 100 Thieves ($6,000) Best team versus bottom team. 100 Thieves are playing such a simple version of this game right now and they have such control over the game. They do not take unnecessary risks and they are so focused on winning through collecting objectives and roll up a ton of gold in the process. Golden Guardians are scrappy early but really struggle with objective control which means you should get maximum points in this slot.  

Value Pick: Cloud9 ($5,000) 

 

Cann’s Example Lineup

Captain (x1.5): Blaber ($10,200)

Alternate: Xerxe ($9,900)

Top: Huni ($5,600)

Jungle: Closer ($7,200)

Alternate: Blaber ($6,800)
Mid: Abbedagge ($7,600)

ADC: FBI ($8,200)

Alternate: Tactical ($7,800)

Support: Vulcan ($5,000)

Team: 100 Thieves ($6,000)