LCS finishes the week on Saturday, featuring FLY attempting to secure an additional win versus IMT, EG continue their resurgence against CLG, TSM try to reverse sweep the first-round robin against DIG, 100 Thieves try to rally against GGS, and a Lock-in rematch against C9 and TL. Let’s look into the picks.

Captain

Josedeodo ($10,200)

FlyQuest has finally entered the promised land of their easy schedule; they’ve already crossed through the more difficult teams and this weekend got the chance to play versus Golden Guardians and now Immortals. Yesterday, Josedeodo led his team to a great victory with a 5-0-7 KDA, and he’s been a standout on the squad despite being paired with inconsistent solo laners, and Josedeodo is likely to continue FlyQuest’s victory run into Sunday, when he gets to play against an inconsistent Immortals line-up. If you’d prefer a different captain and you’re willing to pay a price hike, I’d take Damonte versus Ablazeolive, as 100 Thieves will likely rally against the last placed squad.

Alternatives to consider: Damonte ($11,400)

Top Lane

Huni ($6,600)

Picking Huni is like playing Russian Roulette except 3 of the chambers are loaded, instead of only 1. Huni’s career wide inconsistency usually comes in waves: he was fantastic on FNC and IMT, spend some on-and-off time on SKT, came back strong on FOX, and looked mediocre for much of his time on Clutch, DIG, EG. On TSM, he once again is hitting one of his highs, he’s on a 6 game winning streak and is capable of matching, or beating, even fantastic top laners like Alphari. If Huni’s consistent inconsistency scares you off, I’d recommend going 180 for the most stable top laner in the league in Impact, but you may not reap the highs of Huni when his monitor is on.

Alternatives to consider: Impact ($6,800)

Jungle

Closer ($7,200)

Closer hasn’t been the most remarkable jungler in the league relative to his past performances, instead relying on the strength of his bottom lane to accomplish the victories 100 Thieves gained. On Friday and Saturday, 100 Thieves looked much weaker relative to in the past, despite securing the victory over IMT. I expect 100 Thieves to take the win against last placed Golden Guardians, and I think their defeat on Saturday against TSM to rejuvenate them and come back stronger. Closer is at a modest price point, and GGS’ jungler Iconic hasn’t been a strong point on the roster. If you want to pay a bit more, I’d suggest Blaber since Santorin has looked weak on TL.

Alternatives to consider: Blaber ($7,400)

Mid Lane

Damonte ($7,600)

Damonte has employed the same style he has throughout his career: a supportive, push-based mid lane style that aims to help facilitate his teammates. Against Ablazeolive, this is a recipe for success since the Golden Guardians mid laner routinely struggles to punish players in the early game, the part of the game Damonte is actually forced to lane. Playing against Golden Guardians gives 100 Thieves a massive advantage to rack up points, if you prefer a mid laner with more sheer laning power, you can’t go wrong with Cloud9’s Perkz, who gets the opportunity to play against Jensen who has been having a relatively weak season so far.

Alternatives to consider: Perkz ($6,800)

ADC

FBI ($8,000)

As mentioned before, 100 Thieves’ ADC FBI has been the MVP for the squad alongside support Huhi, and he’s in a great match-up against the worst ADC in the league, Stixxay. FBI is a complete gold vacuum and he is one of the best ADCs in the league as far as damage output, and Golden Guardians simply don’t have the tools to stop him. On the other hand, EG gets to match against CLG, who may have a relatively solid bottom lane, but Deftly’s solid laning phase should give him an advantage over WildTurtle and Smoothie, so take your pick of the two.

Alternatives to consider: Deftly ($8,200)

Support

Vulcan ($5,400)

Finally, while TL’s ADC Tactical has been a solid point on the squad, Cloud9 is #1 for good reason: their bottom lane looks like the best in the league with Zven and Vulcan, Blaber looks great, Fudge has improved, and Perkz finally looks integrated. Vulcan has been the piece fitting Cloud9 together for a while now, and he’s the most likely member to reap the rewards of his solid team against Team Liquid, and he comes in relatively cheap compared to the expensive supports. If you’re willing to spend more on support, you can’t go wrong with betting against Golden Guardians: Huhi is a good choice.

Alternatives to consider: Huhi ($5,800)

Team

FlyQuest ($5,000)

FlyQuest looked much better this weekend, likely attributable to their far easier schedule against teams like Golden Guardians, and they face another easy match-up versus Immortals, whos support Destiny is unlikely to punish the weak Diamond. FlyQuest comes in cheap too, which is to the advantage of a team pick. If you prefer a more premium option, EG vs CLG is certainly heavily EG favored.

Alternatives to consider: Evil Geniuses ($5,600)

Stacks

Damonte & FBI

I mentioned this in the mid lane section, but Damonte isn’t necessarily the type of player who will just smash you in lane, instead, he excels at translating his lead towards his side lanes, and in particular bottom lane to FBI. Picking mid and ADC from 100 Thieves gets you both parts of that process.

Impact & Jiizuke

The two solo laners for EG are complete opposites: Impact is the trademark steady and safe top laner, whereas Jiizuke is a complete wildcard and is the most volatile member on EG. Against CLG, picking up both is to your advantage since you can get that “ying and yang” that leads to many of EG’s wins.

Blaber & Vulcan

Cloud9 has a strong propensity for support-jungle synergy, Blaber and Vulcan work together very nicely to snowball the rest of the map. Blaber is an invade heavy jungler and is often supported by both mid and support, similar to Evil Geniuses. Santorin has looked way more passive on TL, so he’s susceptible to be ran over by the 3-core of C9.

Top Picks: Blaber, Closer, FBI

Blaber versus Closer is hard to choose between, since it’s hard to make a solid team while making one captain: Closer has the easier match-up and a solid mid laner in Damonte to help snowball him, but Blaber has the higher level of form right now. FBI is a no brainer though, he gets an easy lane and racks up points through most matches.

Top Value: Vulcan, Perkz, Josedeodo

FlyQuest’s resurgence is mostly due to their schedule combined with solid play from Josedeodo, who comes in cheap on Sunday. Perkz and Vulcan are undervalued members of Cloud9 who should do well against their TL counterparts, while CoreJJ in particular is a tall ask, I think Vulcan’s synergy with Blaber will deliver him good results.