MSI Tuesday

(-550) Damwon KIA v Cloud9 (+350)

(+120) Infinity Esports v Detonation Focus Me (-155)

(-2000) Damwon KIA v Infinity Esports (+900)

(-325) Cloud9 v Detonation Focus Me (+230)

(-+700) Detonation Focus Me v Damwon KIA(-1400)

(+340) Infinity Esports v Cloud9 (-525)

MSI Closes out Group C on Tuesday with six games: Damwon is currently firmly in the lead with a dominant 3-0, whereas DFM, INF, and C9 each lag behind at 1-2. Personally, I believe the ranking to be, in order: C9, DFM, and finally INF. I don’t think INF will pick up any more games throughout the group phase, with DK finishing the group 6-0. That being said, each team has valuable players to choose from, aside from INF in my opinion.

Captain

Canyon ($11,100)

The tale of two roles from Group C: top lane and jungle. For each role, I have been severely unimpressed with the pickings outside of Damwon; I consider both Canyon and Khan “must haves” due to that extreme level of parity. While Khan is cheaper than the two, I desire Canyon as captain for two reasons: one, I think he’s more capable of racking up higher KDAs relative to the more isolated Khan, and two, the surrounding jungle talent is less of a grand canyon (pun intended) relative to the rest of the top lane talent, who at least have a few decent “B-tier” players.

Alternatives to consider: Khan ($9,900)

Top Lane

Khan ($6,600)

Khan has returned with a vengeance to Korea, and I think this Damwon roster, for obvious reasons, is his best bet at finally capturing an international title for the top laner. The rest of Group C’s top laners: Fudge, Evi, and Buggax, are far behind the Korean veteran, and are unlikely to pose any threat at all. If you insist on a non-Khan top laner, I’d begrudgingly offer Evi as a decent value pick.

Alternatives to consider: Evi ($5,800)

Jungle

Blaber ($6,800)

With Canyon as captain, Steal, Solidsnake, and Blaber remain on the table, and despite Blaber coming under fire recently, I still think he’s the second best jungler in the group and I have Cloud9 advancing on Tuesday. Blaber’s coordination with his solo laners has left much to be desired, and the new jungle meta of the extremely fast clearing AP junglers hasn’t made Blaber look outstanding, but I believe that Cloud9 can adapt, and finally stop picking Nidalee. For a secondary choice, I’d only consider Canyon- don’t take Steal or Solidsnake.

Alternatives to consider: Canyon ($7,400)

Mid Lane

Aria ($6,800)

Aria has the second highest KDA of mid laners in group C, only behind Showmaker himself. Aside from that, he comes in cheap and passes the eye test solidly; DFM were close to knocking out Damwon before they tripped over themselves. DFM is a team with a high variance, mostly due to their middle/jungle either synchronizing beautifully or degenerating into a cacophony of madness. Don’t be fooled, DFM have tricks up their sleeve to make it out of group C; but if nothing else, Perkz is tried and true, a worlds finalist and clearly has a high ceiling as a mid laner.

Alternatives to consider: Perkz ($7,200)

ADC

Yutapon ($7,200)

And Yutapon is the other trick up DFM’s sleeve; while I’ve been skeptical of Yutapon’s teamfighting, which he truly plays on a knife’s edge, it’s worked out well so far and I don’t think teams will be able to adapt to it within a week. Yutapon is scarily aggressive, and it works to DFMs advantage with their stable mid and top lane; their ADC is an X-Factor they can use to effectively close out games. My second pick is Cloud9’s Zven, who has left a bit to be desired, but I expect C9 to rally on Tuesday.

Alternatives to consider: Zven ($7,600)

Support

Beryl ($5,800)

Beryl is likely the second best support in the world, only behind Ming despite DK being a better team overall. He shows great control of the map and support move, but is inhibited slightly by DK favoring to keep bottom lane in, well, bottom lane longer relative to other teams. Playing a bit of a slower style, although faster than their Korean ancestors, Damwon shows a strong defense that is parallel with RNG’s offense. For a secondary pick, I’d select Vulcan, since I think Cloud9 will end the day 2-1.

Alternatives to consider: Vulcan ($5,400)

Team

DWG Kia ($5,600)

I think Damwon will complete the group 6-0. They slipped against DWG before recomposing themselves and squashing the Japanese team, and I think no other team will come close to stopping DWG in their tracks until they meet with RNG. Good luck to MAD Lions.

Alternatives to consider: Cloud9 ($5,000)

Stacks

Khan & Canyon

The top side for Damwon is the massive gap they have over their group: no other top+jungle shows the coordination that Khan and Canyon show, Fudge has looked abysmal in lane, Evi is alright but clearly prefers tanks or Gnar, who doesn’t like early game skirmishes, and Buggax is underwhelming to say the least.

Perkz & Vulcan

Cloud9’s middle and support are what are, in my opinion, some of their highest ceiling players relative to the rest of the group. Perkz has clearly shown the potential to be even better than Showmaker, and Vulcan has easily been world class in the past. These two work together well, and can still be great players, but they need to have their heads in the game on Tuesday.

Aria & Yutapon

The carries from LJL round out the last stack: Aria and Yutapon have the second highest KDAs in group C likely due to their great game against Damwon Gaming. If DFM can grab a second win against Cloud9 and then defend their standings against Infinity, they can still escape group C.

Top Picks: Khan, Canyon, Beryl

Three Damwon players round out the top picks; they’re 3-0 in their group for a good reason: they’re some of the best players in the tournament, and their group is extremely one sided in their favor. They should finish the rest of the games uncontested for first place in their group.

Top Value: Aria, Blaber, Yutapon

The LJL carries are definitely undervalued, Aria comes from a strong tradition of Korean mid laners in Japan, and Japanese ADCs aren’t half bad either. Blaber has the potential to be great in this group, but hasn’t shown the kind of promise he’s shown domestically, on the international stage yet.