This Friday the LCS reenters in full swing, and features champions Cloud9 against runner ups Flyquest. On the other side is 100 Thieves, who exited play-offs in 5th place against 3rd place Evil Geniuses, who turned their season around at the brink of missing play-offs entirely. They each have their own share of stable roleplayers and volatile superstars, let’s crack into the numbers:

Captain

Zven ($12,000)

Zven came off a mediocre split on TSM in 2019 and reformed himself into the best ADC throughout the league: top KDA, MVP contender, and main carry of Cloud 9, a team coming off a championship. Zven is extremely pricey, but given he tenures a major carry role and played consistently fantastic in his last split, it’s hard to argue that he isn’t worth it. Furthermore, his lane opponent, Wildturtle, is a clearly weak link on Flyquest and is prone to being exploited by high tier ADCs. That being said, some people may be deterred by Zven’s high price tag, for those we will recommend Bang, another premium ADC at a slightly lower price tag.

Alternatives to consider: Bang ($11,400)

Top Lane

Ssumday ($5,800)

The stars align for Ssumday: He’s on the cheaper end of the spectrum, and his opponent on EG is Kumo, a top laner known for his passivity and weak laning. Meanwhile, Ssumday is a monster; consistently top 3 in his position and known for taking over the game by himself, and at only $5,800, he’s a certified steal. Stats don’t lie, and Ssumday clocks in at an astounding 3.53 KDA in Spring with the second highest CSPM out of all top laners. If you have the money to spend, however, it may be worth to cash out on Licorice: a player who has a “winning-er” record than Ssumday. Ssumday is a fantastic choice, but you also can’t go wrong with Licorice. Ultimately, you’re left with picking between chocolate and vanilla.

Alternatives to consider: Licorice ($6,400)

Jungle

Meteos ($6,600)

Jungle is by far the most difficult role to choose from in this match up: Meteos, Svenskeren, Blaber, and Santorin have all been top tier junglers throughout LCS. Despite Meteos looking the weakest last split between the four, there are a few reasons that Meteos is the apparent choice: Meteos held a much higher KDA and CSPM than Svenskeren, his opponent in this match-up. Furthermore, Svenskeren is more prone to flippy games than Meteos. On the other side of the bracket are Blaber and Santorin: Blaber is the MVP of 2020 Spring split and plays an extremely aggressive and volatile style. Santorin is by no means a bad choice, but jungle being a team dependant role discredits him as a choice over all. In conclusion: investing in Meteos will give you a relatively consistent jungler in a stylistically favorable match-up, but if high rollers will want to seek out Blaber for his high risk, high reward play style. Just don’t be afraid if Blaber will blow up in your face.

Alternatives to consider: Blaber ($7,200)

Mid Lane:

Power of Evil ($6,800)

When you’re picking a Flyquest member, you’re betting against the odds. There’s no doubt in it. But looking at your alternatives: Jiizuke, Ryoma, or the pricey Nisqy? There’s no better option to ride out the wave of volatile or mediocre mid laners than Power of Evil, considered the 2nd best mid laner in Spring split. Power of Evil doesn’t have the pop-off games like Nisqy, but he isn’t the type of player to skirt around a game to a 0/0/3 victory like Nisqy occasionally does either. Power of Evil is the type of guy to really rack up his KDA and is the primary carry of Flyquest, while Nisqy can be a secondary carry at times. Additionally, Power of Evil #1 in CSPM in Spring at a mind boggling 9.22 CSPM. If you’re worried about the match-up, Jiizuke is your guy. He’s coinflippy, but he isn’t insanely expensive like Nisqy and he’s almost always a main carry for his team.

Alternatives to consider: Jiizuke ($7,400)

ADC:

Cody Sun ($7,200)

Between Cody Sun, Bang, and Zven there’s no bad choice. Cody Sun is the best for a few reasons in this situation: He’s the main carry of 100 Thieves outside of Ssumday, and he has pieces around him to support him: Meteos, Ryoma, and Stunt each play around the Cody Sun win condition. He consistently sports low deaths and high KDA courtesy of his fantastic positioning. He’s a solid choice for ADC, meanwhile Bang can be a passenger on the Jiizuke and Svenskeren show at points. If you picked a different captain, Zven is likely your guy here for the reasons mentioned above: he’s just the best, and he’s playing against the weakest ADC out of the 4.

Alternatives to consider: Zven ($8,000)

Support:

Vulcan ($5,800)

Realistically there’s only one good option here. Each of the 4 starting supports are mostly engagers and therefore most likely to die in a lost fight, therefore, picking a support whose team is well coordinated and capable of following up on his engages is crucial to victory here. IgNar and Stunt have both faced criticism due to their propensity for dying at inopportune times, harming their team’s performance and their own stat line. Either way, Vulcan was a complete star last split and there’s no reason to leave him off your roster, a KDA of 8 is unheard of on a primary engager. The only real alternative is Zeyzal, another exceptional support. Zeyzal typically plays engage, but he’s more varied compared to Nautilus one-trick Stunt and Mad Scientist IgNar. If you don’t want to go with Vulcan, Zeyzal is your safest bet.

Alternatives to consider: Zeyzal ($5,400)

Team

Cloud9 ($5,600)

If you’ve been paying attention, it’s no secret that this list has been dominated by Cloud9 players. They’re explosive, they win fast, they only lost one season in the regular split in Spring. They’re coming back from their championship and it’s hard to think of a team that’s been as dominant as Cloud9 was last split. Realistically, there’s no better option here. If you wanted to gamble on another team, I’d hedge my bets with 100 Thieves, who have a stylistically favorable match-up with Evil Geniuses.

Alternatives to consider: 100 Thieves ($4,800)

Stacks:

Svenskeren & Jiizuke

These two clawed Evil Geniuses back from the brink last split nearly single handedly, alongside Bang coming back into form. Whether their form will continue is questionable, but outside of Cloud9, these guys are a fantastic 2v2 that can turn an inch into a mile.

Zven & Vulcan

Not much to say: they’re the best bottom lane in LCS hands down. They put on a clinic on anyone they play against and it’s not even close. These two were made for each other.

Santorin & IgNar

This one is a wildcard, but IgNar, Santorin, and Power of Evil are the engines of Flyquest’s success. If there were to be an upset, you can hedge your bets that it will be these two that take control. It’s a massive gamble, but IgNar has been known to pull off some insane upsets before (just look back at the 2017 World Championship). It’s inadvisable, but if you want to make a risky play that may just work out, these two are the ones to look out for.

Top Picks: Zven, Blaber, Vulcan

There’s no disputing it: Cloud9 is on a warpath through the LCS, and these three are the guys at the helm of the ship. You can’t go wrong with any of these choices and they’ll rack up points like Shaquille O'Neal dunking on middle schoolers

Top Value: Ssumday, Cody Sun, Power of Evil

Each of these guys put up crazy numbers in 2020 Spring and their seasons before it. They’re long time veterans that are typically solid. These guys will ride out the flood of volatility which comes from players like Blaber, or even Licorice. It helps that they’re on the cheap side too, so mixing some of these guys into your team will let you cash out with your obligatory Cloud9 members elsewhere.