LEC marches into week 2 with several great match-ups: G2 is projected to absolutely pummel AST, RGE will smash MSF on the top side, and MAD will shatter XL’s mid/jungle. Let’s get into the picks

Captain

Hans Sama ($12,000)

While Hans comes in on the expensive side at $12k, he’s well worth the price: he sports a ~11 KDA, the second highest in the league for ADCs just behind Rekkles, and he won’t break your bank. While Misfit’s Kobbe is a comparatively stronger part of the team, Hans has already broken FNC’s Upset, and Excel’s Patrik without any particular issue: by comparison, Kobbe is a minor speed bump. Rogue is far and away the 2nd best team in the LEC, and Hans is the 2nd best ADC. If you’re looking for a different pick, I’d actually consider picking up Odoamne for top lane, due to his very low cost allowing you to be flexible elsewhere.

Alternatives to consider: Odoamne ($9,000)

Top Lane

Odoamne ($6,000)

Odoamne has been very remarkable for me on Rogue, possessing a 9 KDA: the highest in the league, not even G2’s representative in Wunder can compare. It helps that Misfit’s top laner HiRit has been alright, but more on the underwhelming side, and Misfits as a result have been diverting their resources elsewhere. Odoamne has a great chance to rack up points against the disjointed Korean top laner, but if you really want to double down, there’s nothing wrong with picking up Wunder, who gets to face off against the worst top laner in the LEC in Whiteknight: take your pick.

Alternatives to consider: Wunder ($7,000)

Jungle

Elyoya ($7,000)

The way I would describe MAD’s new jungler Elyoya is “just solid” with a serviceable sheet of statistics across the board. Unfortunately, I’d describe XL’s jungler Dan as “Dan Dan, but jungle”: utterly mediocre and likely the worst in his role within the LEC so far. I think Dan can still be decent, but relative to junglers like Rabble or Canee that are still in ERL, the hope for me just isn’t there. If you’re looking elsewhere, pick up the KDA leader Jankos. Zanzarah has actually been pretty good for Astralis, but it’s G2 versus AST… no more thought needs to be done.

Alternatives to consider: Jankos ($7,600)

Mid Lane:

Milica ($7,000)

I’m pretty out of the door on Nisqy; he has not looked good in LEC, aside from one bearable Twisted Fate game against S04. Milica has nerves and isn’t at the top of his game right now, but he’s still one of the better mid laners in the league; I just have one piece of advice for him: please stop choosing bad champions. If Milica can keep his fingers away from LeBlanc or maybe even Jayce he can take the free win against Nisqy by just being the better player, no questions asked. If you want a more consistent performer, I’ve gotta recommend Larssen as always, he is an absolute menace and has been killing it since 2020 Summer. This kid is a prodigy.

Alternatives to consider: Larssen ($7,600)

ADC:

Rekkles ($8,400)

Rekkles is the KDA god, he hates his teammates and would prefer to purposefully sacrifice them in order to keep his death count low; to keep it short: he is the ultimate Fantasy Draft player, there is no one better at getting points, and his price point reflects that. He’s worth saving elsewhere in order to grab. If you are short on cash for some reason, I would also recommend Comp from Vitality. I think Patrik carries too heavy of a load, and so does Upset. Labrov and Comp is a superior bottom lane relative to Hyli and Upset, so I’d prefer the Vitality ADC.

Alternatives to consider: Comp ($7,200)

Support:

Trymbi ($5,600)

Despite being the clear weak point on Rogue, stats don’t lie: 2nd highest in KDA for the role is pretty solid. Add a pretty decent match-up against Misfits on top of that, and Trymbi looks like a solid pick. Vander may be a bit hard to stack up against for the new Rogue support, but I would imagine both bottom lanes would pursue their safe-r style and just handshake the lane while Rogue wins on the top side. If you’re short on cash, maybe gamble again on Vitality’s Labrov, who’s been playing quite well so far despite Vitality’s slow start. I wouldn’t recommend spending big bucks on Mikyx, even if he has the pop-off potential.

Alternatives to consider: Labrov ($4,800)

Team

Vitality ($4,000)

Not going to lie fellas: we’re broke since we put Hans and Rekkles on the same team. That being said, our points are going to explode faster than Gamestop stock. For “sack pick”, team is an obvious slot, but even with a pick like Vitality, you’re still pretty solid: FNC has not looked great, Upset’s skill has waned, Bwipo looks as lost as always, Hyli doesn’t work well at all with his new ADC, and Nisqy… well, he’s Nisqy. I firmly believe VIT will take the win against FNC. If you want a different choice, I’d either go with MAD or S04 since they’re relatively undervalued.

Alternatives to consider: MAD Lions ($5,000)

Stacks:

Hans Sama & Larssen

Rogue is crazy, Larssen may just be better than Caps this season and he’s been wrecking kids left and right. Hans on the other hand is likely still in Rekkles’ shadow, but calling him “serviceable” would be a disservice to the progress he’s made: he’s the 2nd best in the league; maybe 3rd if you’re a Patrik guy, but Hans has been insane for a while, despite his performance on the 2019 Misfits roster.

Rekkles & Mikyx

G2 bottom lane is just the best in the league. Mikyx+Rekkles is an insane combination, feels bad for Perkz but Rekkles was just the better ADC. G2 is a super team, I’m not going to waste time talking more about them: they’re expensive, but they’re likely worth it.

Comp & Labrov

If you’re looking for a low cost bottom lane to supplement a strong captain+top side, look no further than VIT’s bottom lane. While XL has a great ADC and a weak support, and MAD has an underperforming AD with a relatively good support, VIT are very balanced in that both players are quite good; whereas FNC’s bottom lane is woefully inconsistent. Don’t count these two out, they’re capable of punching far above their weight.

Top Picks: Rekkles, Hans Sama, Larssen

G2 and Rogue versus Astralis and Misfits respectively lends great potential for big points: Astralis are the weakest team in the league, despite Vitality’s fumble against the mediocre squad. G2 are the best: it’s just a recipe for success. Misfit’s top side has been lacking, and while Vander has been good, Vetheo has been hot-and-cold whereas Larssen seems like the successor to the throne of the European middle lane.

Top Value: Odoamne, Elyoya, Vander

Each of these players provide something different: Odoamne is just a straight up fantastic player, whereas HiRit seems lower mid tier. Elyoya is a solid jungler, and he’s playing against the worst jungler in the league in Dan, Vander is the ultimate KDA support player, and leads the position, and has a history of great KDA and point values despite being on a role that’s prone to die repeatedly throughout the game performing engage duty.