(-155) JD Gaming v FunPlus Phoenix (+120)

(-150) TOP Esports v Suning (+115)


We are now deep into the LPL Spring Split playoffs now. Each winner of this series is guaranteed to have a redemption run through a losers’ bracket but they need to take down their opponent on Monday/Tuesday first. Both of these series were decided by the LOWER seed beating the higher seed 2-0 in the regular season so it will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Suning continues to be a thorn in the side of TES while JDG is hoping to slow down the oncoming freight train that is FPX. So let’s dive in! 

 

Game #1 JD Gaming v FunPlus Phoenix

Cann’s Pick: FunPlus Phoenix

Cann’s Comments: This is my “upset” pick here. Like I noted in the intro, FPX did 2-0 JDG in the season though admittedly that was the first week back from the New Year’s break. From that loss JDG went 6-0 in their last 6 games including a win over league leader RNG. The other wins were against the bottom of the league (ES, LGD, and V5). FPX has more skill on paper but they need to string some consistent play together to start proving that this lineup is a team who can compete on the World’s stage.  

 

Game #2: TOP Esports v Suning

Cann’s Pick: TOP Esports

Cann’s Comments: About midway through the first half of this split TES began their redemption arch. This team was praised as the only real competition for DWG in a World’s perspective and they are now starting to play like that again. Suning have begun to close the team performance gap from the departure of SwordArt to TSM this offseason but unfortunately I just don’t think the comparison of JackeyLove/Zhuo versus huanfeng/ON is anywhere near equal. This could be a 3-0 series. 

Fantasy Value Breakdown

Captain

Favorite: Knight (TES: $11,100) Knight has had one of his best splits this spring with him racking up 157 kills and 230 assists in 35 total matches. He carried TES through their early growing pains and owns almost 27% of all TES kills. Angel only was able to pick up 6 kills in their 3 game sweep of WE on Sunday which tells us a lot about Suning. Angel is a game manager, which means Knight should have a completely free laning phase to scale into the mid game menace he is. 

Value Pick: Lwx (FPX: $10,500)

 

Top Lane

Favorite: bin (SN: 6,000) Admittedly TES’ top laner (369) has gotten better over the course of the split, it also should be noted that the meta has shifted to a point where he can blend in more. The Suning top laner has a more versatile play style and create enough pressure to force the TES jungler (Karsa) in responding to him and allowing his team to scale. Bin has a 64% team kill participation and had almost 20 less deaths (67 v 85) in the regular season as compared to 369. 

Value Pick: Nuguri (FPX: $5,800) 

 

Jungle

Favorite: Kanavi (JDG: $7,000) This is the opening that JDG needs to expose in this series to win. FPX has cycled through 3 different junglers this split and there hasn’t really been consistent play out of any of those 3. Kanavi is the jungle kill leader from the regular split on this slate with 134 and tacked on 242 assists to his name as well. If FPX continues to struggle in the jungle role in this series, watch out for Kanavi to post huge points in this matchup. 

Value Pick: SofM (SN: $6,400) 

 

Mid Lane

Favorite: Yagao (JDG: $7,200) I am on record for being a huge Yagao doubter. I feel like he will have some of the highest highs but also some of the lowest lows. That being said, JDG did clean up a lot of their early game play which then also helped raise Yagao’s game. He ended the Spring split with 110 kills and 214 assists. He also was able to average a 100+ gold differential in lane which shows huge growth from him hard losing lane from early on in the split.  

Value Pick: Doinb (FPX: $7,000)    

 

ADC

Favorite: JackeyLove (TES: $7,600) This will be the hard carry for TES on Tuesday. It is one thing for Huanfeng to beat up on Light (LNG) and Jiumeng (WE) but it will be entirely different playing JackeyLove. This is a World Champion who creates so much pressure that enemy teams have to fully invest resources to try and slow him down. He had 30% kill share percentage for TES and averaged the biggest gold differential at 10 minutes among all ADC’s on the slate with +417. Look for this to be TES’ focus for this series. 

Value Pick: huanfeng (SN: $7,200)

 

Support

Favorite:  Zhuo (TES: $5,200) Double down on the TES bot lane here. In true TES fashion, if they win, they will win in a bloody landslide. Zhuo had 346 assists in spring (second highest for this slate) and had the highest gold differential with +93 gold at 10 min. Even more so, his opponent (ON) is the weakest link for Suning and something they have had to work to address throughout the split. 

Value Pick: Crisp (FPX: $5,400)

 

Team

Favorite: TOP Esports ($5,200) This is a team no one wants any part of. They are the most violent and fast paced teams in the LPL and they are back in the form that put them on the same level as the LCK kings of DWG Kia at the end of last year.  While Suning took the series against them in the regular season, that was week one and both teams had two very different paths to playoffs. Suning struggled to get back on track all split while TES flipped a switch around week 5 and never looked back. They averaged a +2269 team gold differential at 15 and the LPL’s best early game rating. This will be explosive and possibly VERY fast. Don’t hit snooze on your alarm clock for this one.  

Value Pick: FunPlus Phoenix ($4,800) 

 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic 

$50,000 Salary Cap

 

Captain (x1.5): Lwx ($10,500)

Alternate: huanfeng ($10,800)

Top: Nuguri ($5,800)

Jungle: Karsa ($6,800)

Alternate: Kanavi ($7,000)
Mid: Knight ($7,400)

ADC: JackeyLove ($7,600)

Alternate: LokeN ($7,400)

Support: Crisp ($5,400)

Team: FunPlus Phoenix ($4,800)