The match of the day on Saturday features an undefeated Cloud 9 facing against 2nd place, and the team who gave them their one mortal blow last split, TSM. CLG faces off against a TL riding a hotstreak, Dignitas looks for composure against FlyQuest, two explosive teams battle to find their form in EG vs GG

Captain

Bang ($11,400)

I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it: FBI is a weak point in Golden Guardians, and Bang was capable of saving a seemingly doomed game against IMT last week. Svenskeren’s form has been so-so throughout the split, but Bang has been capable of forcing victories despite questionable performances elsewhere on the map. If you want a different option, we’d recommend Santorin. As described in yesterday’s article, Santorin has been a great jungler this pick and holds the highest KDA from the position at a solid 7. His opponent in Dardoch has been performing very poorly this split too, which doesn’t hurt his odds of a great performance.

Alternatives to consider: Santorin ($11,700)

Top Lane

Kumo ($6,000)

Back to back EG picks are no joke. Hauntzer’s form has been pretty bad this split as Kumo rides the upswing, and Kumo is cheaper than cheap too. It’s a perfect storm of a good match-up, a relatively solid team, and a cheap pick-up too. Picking Kumo also puts you in a great position to pick up some heavy hitters elsewhere too. If you want to go even lower, rolling the dice on Deus may pay out big. The top laner has looked solid in academy and Ruin has been having a questionable split, he comes in super cheap and is likely one of the only players worth picking up on CLG too.

Alternatives to consider: Deus ($5,800)

Jungle

Santorin ($7,800)

Dardoch has been the weakest jungler in NA LCS and Santorin has likely been the 2nd best, while Blaber is #1, the gap between Spica and Blaber is way smaller than the gap between Santorin and Dardoch. There’s no question you want to pick up a strong arm like Santorin in your roster. It’s the perfect storm of factors for Santorin to show up big, that being said, it’s never a wrong choice to pick up the spring MVP in Blaber. Spica has shown that he can be shut down by more experienced players like Santorin in the past, and while Blaber is still young, he does have much more control of the game as opposed to the wildcard Spica.

Alternatives to consider: Blaber ($7,400)

Mid Lane:

Jiizuke ($7,400)

Damonte vs Jiizuke is a toss-up, it’s perfectly likely that one of them will end the game 10/0 and the other one 0/10, and while GG may have the slight edge in the jungle match-up, EG have the edge everywhere else. Damonte is like a mirror image of Jiizuke as far as playstyle is concerned, both are capable of playing side laners: we give the edge to Jiizuke in this circumstance due to his performance last split, and his team supporting his side laning playstyle. Meanwhile, it is more than likely that Damonte will have to sidelane against a goliath of an opponent due to the inferior players in other positions on Golden Guardians. If you don’t want to flip it between Jiizuke and Damonte, we’d suggest PowerofEvil if you can afford it: Fenix has not looked good in the games he’s played, and it’s likely going the way of FLY either way.

Alternatives to consider: PowerofEvil ($8,400)

ADC:

Tactical (7,400)

Tactical has proven to the LCS that academy is worth exploring, and he’s done it in style. He’s likely one of the best players on the stacked TL roster, and under the mentorship of world champion CoreJJ the TL bottom lane has delivered the team from defeats that have seen inescapable. CLG’s bottom lane has been better than last split, but isn’t the consistent strength it should have been at first glance entering into 2020. If the young star doesn’t catch your eye, you can spend big on Zven, the best ADC in the LCS. TSM vs C9 is predicted to be a bloodbath either way, but Zven has a grudge to settle against the 2nd place team. He’s expensive, but he might just be worth it if the TSM bottom lane underperforms this weekend.

Alternatives to consider: Zven ($8,000)

Support:

CoreJJ ($6,000)

Last split with Doublelift looked like a loss of form from CoreJJ, but the small embers that remained of the former world champion have spiraled into a blazing inferno with Tactical. TL’s bottom lane is likely the 2nd or 3rd best in LCS (depending on how TSM’s is feeling) and likely has more potential than any bottom lane in the LCS aside from Cloud 9. Perhaps even more than them, but since C9 is sitting at the top of the standings at an 8-0 record, it’s hard to argue with them. Speaking of Cloud 9: Vulcan. Not a bad choice, highest KDA in the league. Solid support; sure he’s against TSM, but that’s never been a reason to doubt him before.

Alternatives to consider: Vulcan ($5,600)

Team

Evil Geniuses ($5,000)

Between all of the teams that are winning, the real price winner goes to EG. GG may be a threat in some capacity, but EG’s side lane threats stack up nicely against GG’s slim pickings. The mid/jungle may be threatening towards EG, but as long as Jiizuke and Svenskeren can hold their own against Damonte and Closer, the game should go the way of EG. In conclusion, EG is a good price point for a solid investment. If you have the money to throw, it’s always free to bet against Dignitas, but FlyQuest doesn’t come cheap.

Alternatives to consider: FlyQuest ($6,000)

Top Stacks:

Zven & Vulcan

I could talk about Cloud 9’s bottom lane in my sleep at this point. Each week I’m reminded by how good they are, followed by weekdays of thinking “yeah they’re over rated”, only for the weekend to come around and watch them smash another team to smithereens. Will TSM be different? My heart says yes, but statistics say likely not. Zven and Vulcan are the best bottom lane the LCS has ever fielded, and it’s hard to debate it.

CoreJJ & Tactical

Okay, what if we took Zven and Vulcan and made them cheap, but instead of the ADC being the veteran and the support being young, we swapped that age dynamic around? Well, you’d get CoreJJ and Tactical. These players are mirrors of Zven and Vulcan, but while Vulcan is more “forward” than CoreJJ, Tactical seems to have a higher X-Factor than Zven. Tactical can carry games from the absolute brink, meanwhile Zven is sitting comfortable with both Blaber and Licorice to pick up his dirty laundry. Zven is an established king getting fed grapes like a roman, while Tactical is a prince building his lane kingdom with his bare hands. Both of them are well worth it at their price points, but we prefer Tactical and CoreJJ, as their weaker teammates allows them to shine even brighter.

Santorin & PowerofEvil

Legend says, a funeral dirge plays each time FlyQuest enter the rift. Swing traders love FlyQuest, because they can watch the game while they watch their investments grow simultaneously. I digress, FlyQuest is a team that moves on half speed, but they do win games with their “snail style”. MasH was a good look for FlyQuest, and while WildTurtle is expected to be weaker than MasH, Santorin and PowerofEvil are the two that are capable of closing out games for them consistently. Their mid jungle synergy? Nonexistent. That doesn’t stop them from individually being good players though, each of them are big earners and capable of racking up points.

Top Picks: Santorin, Bang, CoreJJ

Each of these picks are straight forward, and capitalize on a combination of their great individual play, and the relative weakness in their direct opponent on the enemy team. Santorin and Dardoch, Bang and FBI, CoreJJ and Smoothie. Each of these are top 3 players playing against bottom 3 players, position per position. Mix these guys in, it’s consistent all around.

Top Value: Damonte, Kumo, Closer

Damonte and Closer will likely never NOT be top value choices, especially Closer, who’s position in the jungle role leaves him especially valuable for a gambling pick. The new face here is Kumo, who has been performing admirably this split and leveled up his play over last split. Hauntzer on the other hand hasn’t been looking too good, and if GG is going to climb the mountain that is EG, it’ll nearly certainly be through Damonte and Closer’s great jungle 2v2.