(-1000) RNG v UOL (+600)

(-1400)DWG v DFM (+700)

(-600) C9 v INF (+375

(-350) MAD v PNG (+250)

(-285) PSG v IW (+210)

What a tournament. International events are so much more exciting than the regional tournaments because of the pride that goes into each region along with the feeling that you are getting to see the best of the best compete to see who is the best overall team in the world. In the first two days we saw the tournament heavyweights rising to the expectations and dominating the competition from the lower regions. We are getting closer to deciding who is making it out of groups so each game is meaning more than the last. So let’s get after it!

 

Game #1 Royal Never Give Up v Unicorns of Love

Cann’s Pick: Royal Never Give Up

 

Game #2: DWG KIA v DetonatioN FollowMe

Cann’s Pick: DWG KIA

 

Game #3: Cloud9 v Infinity eSports

Cann’s Pick: Cloud9

 

Game #4 MAD Lions v paiN Gaming

Cann’s Pick: MAD Lions

 

Game #5: PSG Talon v Istanbul Wildcats

Cann’s Pick: Istanbul Wildcats
 

Fantasy Value Breakdown

 

Captain

 

Favorite: Crazy (MAD: $11,400) I absolutely love this pick. Carzzy is so frequently slept on because when he plays fast and loose, he has a tendency to get burned by it. This has meant that people setting the daily lines have dropped his value. Add in the fact that with the addition of Elyoya and Armut, we see MAD shifting their bot lane focused strategy to a more jungle focused playstyle. Carzzy plays more conservatively now but still has the mechanical skill that we grew used to seeing. I love this new and more consistent version of Carzzy and in his first game against PSG Talon we saw it pay off with 9 kills, 9 assists, but only 1 death to his name. This makes the MAD Lions an extremely dangerous team to meet in the Rumble Round and beyond.  

 

Value Pick: Elyoya (MAD: $10,200)

 

Top Lane

 

Favorite: Khan (DWG: $6,800): I think what separates the Khan pick to the Xiaohu pick for me is their ability to safely play the side lane. We saw in the earliest games against UOL and PGG that RNG could jump out to a very early lead but we saw Xiaohu die because of over extending. Now we are splitting hairs on this one but you also have to take into consideration their price and limitations on how many of one team you can have on your roster. I like DWG into DetonatioN FocusMe because of the overall weakness of the Japanese representative. Even in their first game against Infitity eSports on Thursday (which needed to be a win for them to have a real hope of getting out of Group C) they looked slow and lost against their LLA opponents. Meanwhile DWG and Khan have looked absolutely dialed in and ready to play. I would imagine for Khan to continue the trend of being a little more assists heavy in the stat line, but his higher team kill participation should be enough to make it worth the price tag. 

 

Value Pick: Armut (MAD: $6,400) 

 

Jungle

 

Favorite: Wei (RNG: $7,600): What Wei and RNG did to UOL on Friday is borderline criminal. I mean there was almost no point in that match where UOL looked like they had a pulse. A majority of their kills were on Xiaohu who was over extended and not much else. In that match Wei went off with 6 kills, 7 assists, and no deaths and had almost a 5 thousand gold lead over the UOL jungler AHaHaCiK. The skill gap is enormous and I think in all honesty, you should keep Wei in mind when looking for cheaper alternatives for the captain role. 

 

Value Pick: Ferret (IW: $6,400)

 

Mid Lane

 

Favorite: ShowMaker (DWG: $7,800): ShowMaker has not had the same impact this tournament that was expected but I think the matchup is just too good. In his match against Cloud9’s Perkz he held his own and had no deaths and 4 assists but kept constant pressure in the mid lane and prevented him from leaving lanes. Aria is a decent player but if Perkz could not roll this lane I think there is very little chance for DFM to generate anything other than maybe going even in lane. I want to see them push ShowMaker on a more playmaking mid laner like a Lee Sin and allow him to win lane and roam with Canyon into the side lanes.

 

Value Pick: cody (INF: $6,200)   

 

ADC

 

Favorite: GALA (RNG: $8,400) What GALA did to Lodik in their matchup on Thursday was not only insulting but probably illegal in most countries. He was diving the poor guy 1v1 under his own tower with reckless abandon on his signature Kai’Sa pick. I would imagine that most teams are going to ban that pick away moving forward because there really is no answer at this point. Staying true to himself, he doesn’t really build early game leads but his ability to be in the right place at the right time throughout the game is really unmatched in this tournament. With only Ghost as the other player who really is as self sufficient as GALA, they allow their teams to use their supports elsewhere when it is needed and they don’t die as a result. Love this pick but he is very expensive. Dropping this much cash means you have to hit with him to win your lobby.

 

Value Pick: HolyPhoenix (IW:$6,800)

 

Support

 

Favorite: Vulcan (C9: $5,600) All the domestic memes from NA aside, Vulcan is as good as any support in the world right now. Even when we see Cloud9 struggle, Vulcan and Zven continue to play consistently. So much so that they quickly become the focus of opposing teams when it comes to playing against Cloud9. While Cloud9 struggled against DFM, Vulcan was a highlight. When he plays on an engage champion and can control the match he gives C9 a chance to beat anyone. Obviously the risk, as we saw in the DFM match from Friday, is that the rest of the team cannot fall behind. Picking the higher priced point supports may be safer but there is the trade off of the cost there as well. 

 

Value Pick: Kaiser (MAD: $5,400) 

 

Team

 

Favorite: DWG KIA ($5,800)  This is most likely either the best or second best team in the tournament. They play a controlled style that is so heavily focused on choking you out of resources and objectives that it is hard not to give them the nod here. DFM did come up with an impressive win over Cloud9 on Friday but there were glaring weaknesses in their late game macro play and if there is one area you cannot be bad in against DWG, it is late game teamfights. 

 

Value Pick: Istanbul (fastpay) Wildcats ($4,400) 

 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic 

$50,000 Salary Cap

 

Captain (x1.5): GALA ($12,600)

Alternate: Wei ($11,400)

Top: Fudge ($6,600)

Jungle: Elyoya ($6,800)

Alternate: Ferret ($6,400)
Mid: Serin ($6,600)

ADC: Carzzy ($7,600)

Alternate: HolyPhoenix ($6,800)

Support: Kaiser ($5,400)

Team: Istanbul (fastpay) Wildcats ($4,400)