-310) Team Vitality v exceL eSports (+225)
(-155) FC Schalke 04 v Astralis (+120)
(+290) SK Gaming v Fnatic (-450)
(+105) Misfits Gaming v G2 Esports (-135)
(-150) Rogue v MAD Lions (+115)
Friday was a perfect example of how fickle the LEC (and all of professional League of Legends) can be at times. Looking at this slate, we have a lot of interesting matchups here. I am especially interested in the Misfits versus G2 matchup as well as the Rogue versus the MAD Lions. We have had some shifting at the top of the table and with a playoffs spot on the line, teams are running out of time to hit their stride. Let’s dive in.
- Game #1 Team Vitality v exceL eSports
- Cann’s Pick: Team Vitality
- Game #2: FC Schalke 04 v Astralis
- Cann’s Pick: Astralis
- Game #3: SK Gaming v Fnatic
- Cann’s Pick: Fnatic
- Game #4: Misfits Gaming v G2 Esports
- Cann’s Pick: G2 Esports
- Game #5: Rogue v MAD Lions
- Cann’s Pick: MAD Lions
Fantasy Value Breakdown
Captain
Favorite: Upset (FNC: $12,300) While I have questions for Fnatic as a legitimate contender for the LEC title, this should be about as close to a slam dunk as possible for Fnatic. SK Gaming is by far the weakest team in the LEC currently and the continuous roster swaps are not helping. They have one of the lowest performing bot lanes with their ADC (Jezu) having only 14 kills in 8 games. Upset isn’t flashy (I swear I say that a lot) but he has 41 kills (averaging over 5 a game) and 50 assists (6+ per game). Safe pick up here with a large price tag. Grabbing Upset will mean you need to grab some dogs in other roles.
Value Pick: MagiFelix (AST: $10,200)
Top Lane
Favorite: Adam (FNC: $7,200) Adam is an exciting laner to watch, but there are some downside to him. With his 33 kills and 47 assists, he does have a tendency to die in the side lane. Normally this would be the advice I would give you when picking Adam but like the write up for Upset, I have to remind you that FNC is playing SK Gaming on Saturday. Jenax has a 1.7 KDA and had almost had as many deaths (23) as he has assists (27). I foresee Adam being put on a champion with agency to absolutely put Jenax in a body bag on Saturday.
Value Pick: Whiteknight (AST: $5,800)
Jungle
Favorite: Selfmade (VIT: $7,200) Selfmade has been oddly quiet the last few weeks. He has been on less aggressive junglers and I think Fnatic need to put him back on a carry jungler champion. While I liked his Evelyn pick against MAD Lions last week, the constant picks of Udyr and Rumble don’t match his playstyle. XL has pulled off some surprising wins against top teams but their jungler (Dan/Markoon) have not performed to the same level this split. Combined they have 15 kills in 8 games and 38 assists. XL has played through the mid lane in their wins not the jungle; Selfmade should have less pressure on him in this game.
Value Pick: Elyoya (MAD: $6,000)
Mid Lane
Favorite: LIDER (VIT: $7,600) You have to be excited about LIDER. In the new generation of mid laners, LIDER seems to have some of the highest upside. One of the struggles of Team Vitality was their mid lane and how Milica was more of a warm body rather than someone who could play with some agency. With LIDER, teams have to respect the fact that Team Vitality have another player they can win through. He has 30 kills and 30 assists in 8 games which isn’t overly impressive until you put it in the context of of him having one of the lowest deaths totals at 17. He has a 31% team kill share percentage which should make you excited to pick him up. If Team Vitality have a big game, LIDER is having a big game.
Value Pick: Vetheo (MSF: $6,600)
ADC
Favorite: Rekkles (G2: $7,600) *Insert meme of John Travolta looking around from Pulp Fiction here* That is how everyone felt watching the G2 loss to XL on Friday. Even in that thrashing where G2 died 15 times, Rekkles didn’t die at all. In fact, he technically had a positive scoreline going 0-0-1. Now I know that isn’t impressive but in the context of how badly his team was losing, it was impressive to see him be able to keep himself safe. I think with the struggles of G2, $7,600 is a steal in terms of price for a player this good. We saw on Friday that Misfits 7-2 record my be more inflated by playing lower tier teams with how badly they have lost to Rogue and MAD Lions. The question for you here is how bad do you think the problems for G2 actually are? If you think it is a momentary issue, jump on this pick. If you believe something is broken, fade Rekkles and G2.
Value Pick: Carzzy (MAD: $6,600)
Support
Favorite: Hylissang (FNC: $6,000) While I feel like there is too much value in Fnatic today, Hylissang would be my choice of FNC players for you to definitely pick up if you wanted to diversify your picks. With 86 assists he has the most assists for supports in the LEC and he has a 67% team kill participation rate. Hyllissang, along with Bwipo, is the heart of this of this Fnatic team. With that comes his participation in almost all of the fighting that FNC takes part in. For the support role, that is exactly what you are looking for.
Value Pick: Vander (MSF: $4,800)
Team
Favorite: Fnatic ($5,800) They are playing the statistically worst team in the LEC. SK Gaming has a 0.64 team KD ratio along with the lowest mid-late game ratio at -34.3. SK has a -1059 gold differential at 15 minutes where FNC is at +1160. I also really like the FNC turret take rate (75%) and their dragon take rate (63%) in this matchup against SK. SK’s biggest issue is they seem to struggle prepping for objectives by placing vision and being in the right place at the right time. This should mean FNC will have access to picking up a lot of team points with neutral objective takes meaning more points for your lineup.
Value Pick: Astralis ($4,400)
Cann’s Example Lineup
DraftKings Classic
$50,000 Salary Cap
Captain (x1.5): Upset ($12,300)
- Alternate: Hans sama ($11,100)
Top: Adam ($7,200)
Jungle: Razork ($6,200)
- Alternate: Elyoya ($6,000)
Mid: Vetheo ($6,600)
ADC: Jeskla ($6,800)
- Alternate: Kobbe ($7,000)
Support: Hylissang ($6,000)
Team: Misfits ($4,600)