LCS picks back up on Friday with eyes on 100 Thieves versus Immortals to see if IMT’s coinflippy success can compete against what seems like one of the more consistent teams in the league. TL looks to rally against the 10th place GGS, and Cloud9 will try to make a statement against 9th place CLG, whose jungle import Broxah may have just landed. TSM and EG will be a game to watch to see whether TSM has established legitimacy as a team, while Dignitas look to continue their success against FlyQuest.

Captain

Tactical ($12,000)

GGS’ bottom lane is in all likelihood the weakest in the league, and while TL has been suspicious, particularly to their wonky mid-jungle dynamic so far, they did win the preseason tournament. Tactical and CoreJJ have been monoliths on the Liquid squad, and present themselves as the best (or maybe 2nd best) bottom lane in the league. Stixxay and Newbie have been weak, so cashing in big on Tactical is a good choice for Friday. Otherwise, CLG’s jungler Broxah will likely come into week 1 jetlagged, or if they choose to continue with Griffin for one more week, he’d likely be even weaker judging by his past performances.

Alternatives to consider: Blaber ($11,400)

Top Lane

Impact ($6,400)

Similar story to Liquid, EG has had their own set of highs and lows, also mostly due to questionable mid-jungle synergy and questionable plays from Jiizuke, who is both a blessing and a curse on a team. Impact has been a consistent threat in the top lane, and is a standout even in a league with Ssumday and Alphari. Impact’s opponent on Friday is Huni, who has been a weak point even on TSM despite their strange propensity to clutch victory from the jaws of certain defeat; although TSM has yet to play DIG, EG, and 100T. Impact is a good pick-up against the intensely flippy Huhi, but if you want a different choice, Finn has been looking weak, and Fudge has looked much improved from his lock-in form, so he has a solid recommendation from me.

Alternatives to consider: Fudge ($6,800)

Jungle

Blaber ($7,600)

Blaber has hit the ground running and definitively looks like the best jungler in the LCS currently, and his opponent in Griffin or Broxah both look like easy pickings for the Cloud9 squad. Blaber has the highest gold share out of both LEC and LCS junglers, owing to his highly aggressive play style which lends him massive rewards from his calculated risks. If you don’t have the cash to shell out for the premium jungle option in Blaber, I’d recommend Santorin for the safe, stable option who should leverage his experience over the newcomer Iconic.

Alternatives to consider: Santorin ($7,200)

Mid Lane

Perkz ($7,400)

Similar to Fudge, Perkz looks so much better in the regular season despite a very poor performance in Lock-in. He has a deep champion pool, an insane mechanical ceiling, and a wealth of experience to draw from versus his opponent in rjs, who is a relative recent competitive swap to middle lane, despite playing the lane in solo queue and in the past in competitive. When his competition quickly changes from Ryoma in academy to Perkz, I think the level he will have to climb to remain competitive may be too steep for rjs. Similarly, I prefer Jensen into Ablazeolive for the same reasons.

Alternatives to consider: Jensen ($7,800)

ADC

Neo ($7,000)

Academy alumni Neo has impressed so far on the rift, perhaps owing to North America’s tradition of producing fantastic ADC talent. Neo has already shown fantastic performances against the lower tier LCS competition, and while Johnsun has been a solid player for FlyQuest alongside Palafox and Josedeodo, support Diamond has left much to be desired, which will play into our next pick. If you prefer a more veteran ADC with less wiggle room or chance to go “boom”, I’d recommend 100 Thieves’ FBI.

Alternatives to consider: FBI ($7,600)

Support

Aphromoo ($5,000)

Aphromoo is back on top, and I’m happy to see him return to the brilliance he once had in the league. He’s easily a top 4 support in the league and could climb even higher if he can show additional consistency to his fantastic performances, just last week he dominated GGS on Thresh and Evil Geniuses on his Tahm Kench. Against FlyQuest’s Diamond he has another easy match-up and I’m eager to see if he will continue his success. If you want a more evergreen player, I’d combine FBI with his support Huhi, or maybe split them up while picking up CoreJJ is another reasonable option.

Alternatives to consider: Huhi ($5,800)

Team

Evil Geniuses ($4,600)

EG isn’t a team I had coming in high due to ADC Deftly’s trend of being much too conservative and defensive in nature, I was surprised to see Jiizuke’s volatility being a negative for the squad in certain games; although I can commiserate this in combination with Deftly’s nature: if Jiizuke doesn’t flip heads, Deftly isn’t the sort of player who is capable of taking over the game. This leads EG to having very decisive wins, or very messy defeats since Deftly and Impact are both rocks, and the game is up to Jiizuke to decide. Against TSM, this should be good as long as Jiizuke doesn’t get overconfident: PoE doesn’t provide much resistance in the middle lane. If you have your doubts, Cloud9 is a safe bet all around.

Alternatives to consider: Cloud9 ($5,600)

Stacks

Neo & Aphromoo

The Dignitas bottom lane has been a breakout success; in fact, I think all of the DIG rookies have been playing well, maybe slightly less so Fakegod, but he’s no doubt still solid. DIG’s bottom lane has brought consistent firepower to the squad, and Aphromoo in particular looks like an underrated early season MVP candidate so far.

Perkz & Blaber

Cloud9’s mid jungle 2v2 has come a long way from Lock-in, Blaber and Perkz are the best jungle and mid laner statistically in the league, and Perkz’s European propensity to play for priority synergizes nicely with Blaber’s aggressive playstyle.

Tactical & CoreJJ

Tactical and CoreJJ need no introduction. Young, mechanically talented ADC combined with veteran, levelheaded Korean leadership. I don’t need to say anything more; I’ve talked about these guys on nearly every single article I’ve written.

Top Picks: Tactical, Blaber, Impact

Tactical versus Stixxay? Money. Blaber versus Griffin/Broxah? Money. Impact versus Huni? Money. Each of these guys have fantastic stylistic and skill differentials versus their opponents and are backed up by mechanically competent teammates. Great choices all around.

Top Value: Neo, Aphromoo, Impact

DIG’s players will be continued to be underrated for a while, FlyQuest’s strength is through their mid jungle and a “mid to bot” ideal playstyle, which is inhibited by DIG’s solid 2v2 in both mid jungle and ADC support. Impact is just a low cost option and is a great pick into the inconsistent Huni.