Christopher Troeh - LEC DFS Playbook - 2/12/2021
Twitter.com/PrussianLoL


LEC picks back up on Saturday with two massively hyped match-ups: G2 versus Rogue and Fnatic versus XL. On the other hand, VIT and SK, S04 and MAD, S04 and AST each face off. Plenty of good players are tied up in rough match-ups, but it’s easy to find steals if you know what to look for.


Captain
Neon ($11,700)
S04 dropped an unfortunate game to Astralis on Saturday, but there’s no way you can understate what S04 have accomplished so far: beating both G2 and Rogue is absolutely insane for an underdog like Schalke, and behind them the entire time was ADC Neon who has been playing solidly the entire time. To the credit of Astralis, bringing on Magifelix was a nice curveball for the roster, and Jeskla has consistently been an “alright” ADC despite being saddled with a bad support. Neon is favored to bounce back against the weakened MAD Lions bottom lane, and I’m willing to forgive S04 getting overconfident versus AST. If you’re hesitant, I’d grab Kobbe who look to clap Misfits on Saturday.
Alternatives to consider: Kobbe ($11,400)


Top Lane
Broken Blade ($6,200)
Spoiler, but this won’t be the last of S04 we see on this list. I am uncomfortable reconciling S04’s loss versus AST and their victories against RGE and G2. That being said, Broken Blade being “coinflippy” is nothing new to frequent watchers of the North American LCS, where “Broken Brain” became a widespread meme. Broken Blade fell to Whiteknight, who did have his signature Gnar, but I favor Broken Blade’s volatility over Armut’s stability. BB has shown promise, he can take down Wunder and Odoamne, all he needs to do now is seal the deal by keeping focused and taking down Armut. If you favor a different top laner, I’d throw a light recommendation on Kryze; XL players are very cheap and I’m not convinced by FNC yet.
Alternatives to consider: Kryze ($5,000)


Jungle
TynX ($5,800)
Don’t be fooled: Skeanz’s good KDA betrays his true shortcoming, he has one of the lowest CSPMs and G/Ms for all junglers: in short, he’s a pushover who is capable of mitigating his deaths, but doesn’t stop the enemy jungler from running over his team. TynX on the other hand has been a solid point on SK alongside their bottom lane. SK look to be the next in line to grab a free win against Vitality, and I favor TynX in order to target Astralis’ weak jungle. If you want a more premium option for jungle, I’d recommend either Selfmade for FNC, or Razork for Misfits who both have pretty good match-ups, although I slightly favor Selfmade due to Dan being a weaker point on XL.
Alternatives to consider: Selfmade ($7,600)


Mid Lane
Abbedagge ($7,400)
Humanoid has been straight up lost this split, his laning looks as good as ever, but his propensity to get caught and die randomly has made MAD look dysfunctional, and that’s not even to mention their bottom lane… Abbe slipped against Magifelix, but he’s still an insanely talented player who has one of the most interesting career trajectories in the league, and his jungler Gilius lends him one of the only solid control mid jungle 2v2s in the league. Otherwise, I’d have to recommend either Rogue’s Larssen or SK’s Blue: neither options I want to look too far into, but I’d begrudgingly offer Larssen since he looks like the best mid laner in the league.
Alternatives to consider: Larssen ($6,400)


ADC
Kobbe ($7,600)
While Kobbe hasn’t topped my list for “most impressive ADC”, I still think he’s played solidly enough despite Misfits being the ultimate coinflip team. I think they’re a team that’s criminally undeserving of their 2-6 record, and they have the chance to prove it against Astralis on Saturday. Astralis’ Jeskla is a decent player, but Promisq needs no introduction and I won’t rant onwards about him. If you want a different choice for AD, I’d pick up Jezu who has been a standout on SK and gets to face an underwhelming Vitality. We have no clue what kind of an impact Crownshot will have on the roster, but I still favor Jezu due to his solid performances so far.
Alternatives to consider: Jezu ($7,000)


Support
Vander ($6,000)
Vander or Treatz is an impossible decision to make; both have good match-ups, but I’d recommend Vander since Promisq has looked so bad, whereas Labrov looks like one of the only functioning members on Vitality alongside top laner Szygenda. Vander has burnt me in the past, falling from his KDA kingdom but he’s still a great player on an underperforming roster. He is still defensive, and maintains a high KDA and therefore great point yield, and that sort of style is invaluable against Astralis.
Alternatives to consider: Treatz ($5,000)


Team
Misfits ($5,200)
Astralis bad. That’s all. While they did take a win off of S04, Schalke tripping on their shoelaces at some point is like making the prediction “at some point, it will rain”. Screw-ups happen, and Magifelix may be a decent player that may make them more competitive, but Astralis still has an underwhelming support and top laner most of the time, whereas Misfits have latent potential across the board that just needs to be realized. For me, it’s either S04 or Misfits for the team pick.
Alternatives to consider: Schalke 04 ($5,400)


Stacks:

Jezu & Treatz
SK’s bottom lane has been a stand-out on the rookie roster, being capable of smashing MAD Lions in the past and remaining competitive consistently even against lanes above their weight class. Luckily for SK, Vitality’s bottom lane is decent but incapable of punishing Treatz and Jezu, the pair is definitely worth examining for Saturday.


Abbedagge & Neon


The carry core for S04 has shown admirable highs: Abbe and Neon were underrated coming into the league and have a curious X-Factor about them, Neon is the more stable and consistent of the two alongside LIMIT’s improved form, Abbe benefits from Gillius’ relatively selfless style which allows him to soak up resources and scale up fast into being a carry for Schalke.


Vander & Kobbe


The Misfits bottom lane has been a solid rock on an otherwise unwieldy team of inconsistent solo laners and a Razork who clearly has a wealth of potential, but isn’t always capable of hitting his marks. Kobbe hasn’t returned to his 2019 or 2018 form, but he still looks better after an underwhelming 2020. Vander looks as good as ever, and is still a great support with clear leadership capabilities.

Top Picks: Abbedagge, Tynx, Neon


Three great players, three great match-ups: Humanoid, Skeanz, and Carzzy debatably look like candidates for worst in their overall role. MAD has completely fallen apart and it’s surprisingly been Elyoya and Armut who look like the better players on the team, whereas Skeanz just does not look capable and is more than willing to allow the enemy jungler to seize the game over his team.


Top Value: Larssen, Kryze, Hans Sama


Despite each of these players contending for best in their role, they’re criminally undervalued for one reason: they’re the new faces up against the old guard, and therefore, they’re cheap. Picking these guys isn’t like playing with fire; it’s like messing with nitroglycerine or manganese heptoxide, but they’re capable of delivering their weight in gold if they keep their heads cool and play the way they’ve been playing so far against the dynasties that have ruled the LEC in the past.