World Champions Damwon KIA look to take an easy win off NS Redforce in Korea, while compatriots Afreeca Freecs square off against Fredit Brion. In China, World Elite take on what should be, in theory a strong IG, and two relatively low tier teams in TT and LNG try their best to make a claim for relevancy.

Captain

Canyon ($10,800)

Damwon players are coming at a premium for today; thankfully, Draft Kings has overrated LNG’s players due to defeating IG earlier this week. Thankfully though, we are smart enough to not bite and take the overvalued LNG players. Canyon is my personal choice for captain: he’s a big recipient of Damwon’s resources, he fits in fantastically with the current hard farming jungle meta, and Peanut has been up and down historically, and has very little to play with as far as teammates. Canyon doesn’t break the bank either, relative to other captain pick-ups, and he nets you a second jungler, which I already have in mind. If you want someone different, I’d recommend picking up Beishang as your captain; spoiler, but he’s the other jungler I wanted. XUN doesn’t look remarkable for IG, and I think he’s one of the best junglers in the LPL.

Alternatives to consider: Beishang ($9,600)

Top Lane

Kiin ($6,400)

Top lane is pretty impossible to pick today. Rich is up against Khan, who takes up a spot for DWG, LNG vs TT is . . . not worth your time, and coinflip god TheShy is up against Breathe, who has WE backing him up. Kiin, alongside Summit, all of Griffin sans Sword, and OnFleek is one of the “lost children” of LCK. Remarkably amazing for a while although saddled with an inferior team, until their talent was squandered and dwindled. I like Kiin, but his strokes of brilliance are progressively becoming fewer and less frequent. Against top laner Hoya, I still think AFS have a good edge over the competition. Kiin is your sack pick for today, since there are few other top laners worth their weight. If you want to gamble big, just choose TheShy since he’s the ultimate coin-flipper.

Alternatives to consider: TheShy ($6,200)

Jungle

Beishang ($6,400)

I really like Beishang: he’s historically been an amazing Olaf throughout his career, his Graves is great, and he’s just shy of that “Karsa-SofM-Kanavi” level historically, on par with junglers like Meteor. He’s ran over pretty much every single jungler he’s faced this year; even getting the better of Karsa during TES’ Demacia cup run. Across the ring is XUN, a young jungler who appears promising, but whose inexperience is a massive flaw for IG. If you selected a not-jungler for captain, pick up Canyon here since he’s an integral part of DWG. Can’t go wrong with either jungler in my eyes, though.

Alternatives to consider: Canyon ($7,200)

Mid Lane

Shanks ($6,800)

I usually really do not like betting against Rookie, but in this case I think it’s worth it. Shanks has been a hyped-up mid laner for WE for a while now, and while he didn’t start during WE’s 2020 season, he looks strong now that he’s finally got his opportunity; and he’s had to face off against the best LPL already has to offer: he crushed Rookie, Fofo, Xiye, Mole, and while Knight got the better of him, Knight has the potential to be the best player in the world. WE had a great run at Demacia cup, and their form looks preserved into the 2021 season. I love Rookie, but WE’s mid jungle 2v2 is likely to run over IG, combined with a superior bottom lane. If Shanks isn’t your thing, pick up Showmaker from Damwon, who should look great against NS’s Bay.

Alternatives to consider: Showmaker ($7,800)

ADC

Ghost ($7,600)

NS’s massive whole is in their bottom side. Ghost and Beryl are the “neutralizing” lane of Damwon, so they’re actually in a pretty unique position as far as how they match-up versus NS. Typically, Ghost doesn’t get the opportunity to run wild and carry hard against his opponents, but this situation is definitely unique. It’s not as though Ghost isn’t capable of carrying; on the contrary, I think he’s in a great position to do so. I think this is another case of “WE vs DWG”, Jiumeng has the burden to bear in their match-up, I think neither choice is a poor one, but IG also have a “neutralizing” bottom lane, so Jiumeng may have a comparatively difficult time generating points relative to Ghost playing against NS.

Alternatives to consider: Jiumeng ($7,000)

Support

Beryl ($5,800)

I love both Missing and Beryl, although I think Missing’s aggressive nature may lead him to dying more than the more calculated Beryl. I’d recommend pairing ADC + support no matter which you choose though, because both DWG and WE have cohesive bottom lane styles: WE is raw aggression, while DWG is more tempered and prone to playing the map. I like both of them, and while you could split lanes, I think you may run the risk of getting the worst of each world as opposed to the best of both.

Alternatives to consider: Missing ($5,000)

Team

Damwon KIA ($5,800)

Damwon is still the best team in the world. T1 gave them a great run for their money a few days ago, but they still proved that they are giants amongst men. It’s going to take a LONG time to convince me that DWG have been usurped of their title, but maybe if Gen.G is capable of stepping up domestically, they may steal the crown. That being said though, Nongshim isn’t even a challenging prince to the throne, more like a discontented peasant upset at their king. If you’re out of money, or want to invest Damwon KIA spots elsewhere on your roster, I’d pick up Team WE for my team; I think they have a good stylistic advantage into the struggling Invictus Gaming.

Alternatives to consider: Team WE ($4,600)

 

Stacks

Canyon & Beryl

Something different: the synergy of support and jungle is pretty underrated as far as observers are concerned of League of Legends, but Beryl’s general roam timings allow Canyon to take massive swathes from the enemy jungle, and effectively funnel himself into a monster on fast clearers like Graves. Beryl racks up assists in these jungle skirmishes, so putting these two together is a no brainer.

Jiumeng & Missing

WE’s bottom lane is the most entertaining to watch in LPL, for my money. They’re extremely flashy and aggressive, while WE’s top side is a relative weakness of theirs, they more than compensate everywhere else on the map. WE have a good shot at completely toppling IG through their bottom lane alone, as Wink is fairly inconsistent, and whichever support IG choose to play is pretty much MIA half the time. These two are a solid combination.

Rookie & TheShy

I think we may be capable of calling TheShy a “lost child” in the same way Kiin is, although TheShy had a flash of success before his tribulations. The solo laners for IG are still superstars in their own right, but their talent is squandered by poor roster building. The fact that IG are still incapable of producing, or even buying a new, talented support is very troubling. Wink is fine for an ADC, but XUN needs extra help as far as jungle is concerned. These two can still be explosive, and amazing, but the frequency of those pop-offs has been steadily fading.

Top Picks: Canyon, Ghost, Beishang

Junglers are so absurdly overpowered right now, that I feel like they’re one of the best uses for a captain slot on most teams you draft. They’re relatively cheap compared to other roles, and the dominant meta involves inflating them with resources. Ghost isn’t a jungler, but his safe style lets him rack up absurd KDA numbers that basically print points for you. He’s just chilling, farming and taking the easy fights throughout the game whilst Canyon and Showmaker do the majority of the heavy lifting, and set-up by support Beryl.

Top Value: Jiumeng, Missing, Shanks

WE players are so absurdly undervalued it’s hilarious. Runner up to Demacia cup and 2-0 to start off the season, demonstrating pretty solid gameplay against each squad. They even cracked a pretty solid V5 on top of it. I think as TES, EDG, and FPX find their footing, they may fall a little to 5th or 4th place in the grand scheme of the LPL, but don’t miss out. These guys are money makers, their match-up against IG may be one of the rougher ones, but I’d encourage you to look into them; especially in positions that dodge IG’s threatening solo laners like ADC, support, and jungle.