(-525) Fnatic v SK Gaming (+340)

(-900) G2 Esports v FC Schalke 04 (+500)

LEC Friday and Saturday showcase winner’s round 1 and loser’s round 1: FNC and SK face off in the losers bracket as FNC looks to try to make the climb back up to their former throne, while G2 faces an S04 that barely qualified for play-offs in the last minute, but find themselves in the winner’s bracket against tournament favorites. Let’s get into the picks for the days.

Captain

Jankos ($10,500)

Jankos is the best jungler in the league after the fall of Selfmade, and he’s reclaimed his crown at a great time as the meta has shifted into his favor; while farming is still effective, the movement towards ganking junglers that he has historically preferred will allow him to impact the map in the early game and snowball his laners. For a value captain, I’d highly recommend picking up Wunder, as money is an issue for these two matches, even with a relatively cheap jungle captain like Jankos.

Alternatives to consider: Wunder ($9,600)

Top Lane

Wunder ($6,400)

Similar situation to Jankos; while Wunder was at worst #2 top laner in LEC regular season; similar to Jankos, the progressive shift towards tankier top laners like Sion and Cho’gath is great for Wunder. Not to say he’s bad at Camille, but Wunder thrives in weak vs weak match-ups, and allows G2 to fully leverage their star-studded bottom lane. On the other hand, I really do not want to recommend him, but I would not pick Broken Blade or Jenax. Bwipo is the odd man out even though I think he’s performed quite poorly throughout the regular split.

Alternatives to consider: Bwipo ($6,600)

Jungle

Selfmade ($7,000)

As opposed to Bwipo mostly being bad, I just think Selfmade has been inconsistent, although he has shown his past promise. He’s a top 5 jungler in the league and should play well enough versus Tynx, particularly due to his tremendous advantage in the middle lane with Nisqy versus Blue. If he’s not your captain, you can grab Jankos here also.

Alternatives to consider: Jankos ($7,200)

Mid Lane

Nisqy ($7,200)

I love Caps, but Nisqy vs Blue is one of the most one sided match-ups of the weekend. Blue has been the weaker point on SK and Nisqy is one of the only players on FNC that has consistently stepped up to the plate with a diverse champion pool and relatively flexible playstyles. Blue, despite achieving play-offs, has not impressed me and hasn’t cracked my list of top 5 mid laners. Nothing wrong with Caps, but I greatly prefer Nisqy.

Alternatives to consider: Caps ($7,600)

ADC

Rekkles ($7,800)

ADC is a pick-your-poison kind of deal; S04’s bottom lane can be difficult to punish at points, but SK has a strong support with Treatz. I think Upset actually has potential to gain more points due to his higher variance and relative weakness of SK (particularly on the top side when Upset rotates). Rekkles has the best consistency value though; Rekkles has been firing on all cylinders since joining G2 and there’s 0 chance he’ll get stumped by Neon and LIMIT.

Alternatives to consider: Upset ($7,600)

Support

Hylissang ($5,400)

$400 is a big ask for a support upgrade; and while if you have the money to throw I’d say it’s worth it, I’m fine with sacking on Hylissang and playing the coin just to save elsewhere. Treatz is undoubtedly the superior support this split relative to Hylissang, but Treatz has a massive disadvantage everywhere else on the map. FNC is very inconsistent, but I have them taking the win over SK due to the difference in middle lane. As I said before though, Mikyx is worth if if you can afford it.

Alternatives to consider: Mikyx ($5,800)

Team

Fnatic ($5,200)

FNC vs G2 are both favored to win; G2 moreso but I don’t think FNC will fail to take down an SK that’s been way too variable for my taste. I’d feel comfortable saving cash by picking up FNC over G2; if you don’t have enough to upgrade from Hyli to Miky, but still have a bit left over, feel free to choose G2 over FNC.

Alternatives to consider: G2 Esports ($5,400)

Stacks

Nisqy & Upset

The carries on FNC are their most consistent pieces by far; while I think FNC’s bottom lane doesn’t necessarily 100% outmatch their opponents in SK (in particular due to the support match-up) I do feel as though the consistency of Nisqy alongside Upset’s mechanical strength gives them a big edge in the mid to late game.

Rekkles & Mikyx

G2’s bottom lane is the best in the league, hands down. Mikyx and Rekkles are a fantastic pairing, and arguably (god bless my soul) better than Perkz and Mikyx were. G2 will crush S04’s bottom lane, without even needing to kill them; Rekkles is more than capable of surmounting a massive farm lead.

Wunder & Jankos

Similarly, despite Broken Blade’s resurgence, he’s just short of Wunder as far as strength. I’d feel comfortable putting Broken Blade as far as #3 as far as LEC top laners are concerned when he’s hitting his highs, but he’s still not better than Wunder or Odoamne. Jankos similarly will crush the 1 dimensional Gillius, and Caps can match Abbedagge in the mid lane at minimum.

Top Picks: Nisqy, Wunder, Jankos

Nisqy vs Blue is a match-up to cash in on. He’s a solid player and has shown he’s more than just Doinb v2 this split. Wunder and Jankos work well enough together, and the G2 warmachine looks revved up to secure LEC’s spot for MSI.

Top Value: Nisqy, Selfmade, Upset

All FNC value: I would prefer to not take Caps into Abbedagge due to Nisqy’s superior match-up, Selfmade versus TynX is solid for Selfmade, and while Upset has a challenging bottom lane to contend with; even after losing lane, he’s shown to be able to shrug off that dragging in team fights and come up big. I strongly think FNC will beat SK.