• (+265) Afreeca Freecs v Damwon KIA (-385)
  • (-1200) Royal Never Give Up v ThunderTalk Gaming (+650)
  • (+300) DRX v Hanwha Life Esports (-450)
  • (+180) LNG Esports v Top Esports (-240)

Thursday’s LPL and LCK slate features Afreeca Freecs against a Damwon KIA who have been struggling to keep up with their mid season form. Royal Never Give Up looks to take another win on the way to the top against ThunderTalk, Hanwha tries desperately to keep their play-off hopes alive versus DRX, whereas LNG face off against TES subbing in their veteran top laner in 369.

Captain

Chovy ($11,100)

DRX is dead in the standings, the only team locked out of play-offs so far. They’ve already swapped up their roster, with Jett the starting mid laner over Solka. The changes haven’t improved much, but Willer has temporarily, at least, improved HLE’s form. Chovy is still strong in the middle lane, and he should deal with Jett with relative ease. Alternatively, you can reach into the jungle for a cheaper captain option with Wei.

Alternatives to consider: Wei ($10,800)

Top Lane

Xiaohu ($6,800)

RNG has the easiest match-up on Thursday, alongside being the strongest team. And on that team, Xiaohu is likely the strongest player on the squad. ThunderTalk is easy for RNG to smash, and Xiaohu is well known to obliterate weak top laners like LangX. The other option I’d put forward is Morgan against Kingen. I don’t think Morgan is a good player, but he is a strong enough option against the bad DRX top laners.

Alternatives to consider: Morgan ($6,400)

Jungle

Canyon ($6,600)

DK’s jungler is one of the only consistently strong players on the roster alongside their mid laner in Showmaker. Canyon’s opponent in Dread is a solid jungler, but DK will likely look to abuse him by compromising their weak mid laner in Fly, utilizing Showmaker to open up angles to attack the opposing jungler. Alternatively, Wei is another great option up against Xiaopeng- a strong jungler, but Wei can pick up big points against a weak team like TT.

Alternatives to consider: Wei ($7,200)

Mid Lane

Showmaker ($7,200)

On top of Canyon, Showmaker is a fantastic option to pair with him for a strong stack with mid-jungle synergy. Fly is the worst mid laner in the league- even worse than a player like Jett, and while AFS has the stronger side lanes, DK do have the much better mid and jungle. If you selected a different captain, you can also opt for Chovy here, but both players are relatively interchangeable.

Alternatives to consider: Chovy ($7,400)

ADC

Deft ($7,400)

Deft and Gala is the final choice you have to make. Gala at $600 is well worth the price, but Deft against Taeyoon and Jun is a great option, but Gala is the better ADC and against the objectively inferior bottom lane in SamD and Pudding, although $600 is a large amount of money on a contested day like Thursday. Ultimately, either is fine, but I think you’d find more reliability with Gala, whereas Deft is just the cheaper option.

Alternatives to consider: Gala ($8,000)

Support

Iwandy ($5,000)

To be honest, support is by far the most underwhelming position here. Lehends is better than Beryl, but on a worse team. Ming is too expensive, Yyj/Zhao, alongside the other supports, are just bad. Iwandy is the only one worth talking about: LNG still holds one of the best supports in the league, and he’s consistently one of the strongest players on the squad. Ming is super expensive, but he’s probably the second best option.

Alternatives to consider: Ming ($6,400)

Team

LNG Esports ($4,800)

LNG still sits atop the standings in the LPL, and after TES fell to IG, it’s prompted them to make the return of 369, their more experienced top laner. Truthfully, I think that TES will lose once again against LNG, with 369 failing to make a significant impact over Qingtian against Ale. After HLE’s start, I still place them outside of play-offs, but certainly strong enough to beat DRX.

Alternatives to consider: Hanwha Life Esports ($5,800)

Stacks

Chovy & Deft

The two best players on HLE by far, and some of the worst players on DRX are in the opposing positions. Pyosik is by far the best player on the squad, but he lacks the laning talent across the map to make use of said talent. Chovy and Deft are up against Jett and Taeyoon, some of the worst players in their positions.

Xiaohu & Gala

Top and ADC for RNG are some of the biggest carries on the roster, with Xiaohu being a breakout success, alongside Gala regaining his form across the split. ThunderTalk is already dead out of play-offs, and just an all around poor team.

Canyon & Showmaker

Finally, despite being placed with 3 inconsistent teammates, Canyon and Showmaker are each in contention for the best in their position. Their opponents are Dread and Fly, one of the weakest mid-jungles in play-offs, allowing them easy access to points together.

Top Picks: Gala, Showmaker, Xiaohu

RNG are an easy choice, but between Showmaker and Canyon, Showmaker is the actual one laning against Fly. He’s a world champion, and Fly is on his way out of the league after this split. Furthermore, DK’s players are extremely cheap relative to the others, so Showmaker isn’t a dent in your wallet either.

Top Value: Chovy, Deft, Showmaker

Alongside Showmaker, HLE’s carries are more cheap options to fit into your squad, courtesy of their great match-up against DRX, where they should face little opposition.