(+280) IW vMAD (-425)

(+210) PNG v PSG (-275)

(+210) IW v PSG (-285)

(+300) PNG v MAD (-450)

(-120) PNG v IW (-110)

(+130) PSG v MAD (-170)

With Group A decided (RNG and PGG) it is time for Group B to find their representatives for the Rumble Round. I think a safe shoo in for this would be the MAD Lions. You’ll hear almost nothing but MAD in this write up but it is safe to say that they have shown the most consistent play outside of the LPL’s RNG this entire tournament. The race for second will be tight and I expect some tie breakers as a possibility. For my projected second place team (IW), they are going to need an absolute miracle to get out of groups. Let’s dive in!

Game #1: Istanbul (fastpay) Wildcats v MAD Lions

Cann’s Pick: MAD Lions

Game #2: paiN Gaming v PSG Talon

Cann’s Pick: PSG Talon

Game #3: Istanbul (fastpay) Wildcats v PSG Talon

Cann’s Pick: PSG Talon

Game #4 paiN Gaming v MAD Lions

Cann’s Pick: MAD Lions

Game #5: paiN Gaming v Istanbul (fastpay) Wildcats

Cann’s Pick: Istanbul (fastpay) Wildcats

Game #5: PSG Talon v MAD Lions

Cann’s Pick: MAD Lions

Fantasy Value Breakdown

Captain

Favorite: Elyoya (MAD: $10,800) Elyoya is arguably in the top 3 players for this tournament. Unfortunately for him, the best player (Wei) plays his position so some of his thunder is stolen. While different players from MAD Lions have had an opportunity to shine, Elyoya has consistently shined game in and game out. He has a 6.9 KDA through their first three games and he has 14 kills (just over 4 kills per game) and only 7 deaths (2.5 per game) in that same time. I think there is a considerably wide gap between MAD and even the second best team (PSG) in the group and I just don’t see any of these teams able to beat MAD Lions in all three phases of a game.

Value Pick: tinowns (PNG: $10,800)

Top Lane

Favorite: Armut (MAD: $6,400): Among all top laners (excluding those who played more than 3 games) Armut has the most kills (15- 5 per game), by far the most assists (31- over 10 per game) and the best gold differential at 10 minutes (+481). There is no other top laner in this group that is even close to Armut and his ability to carry their team. The best part? MAD Lions don’t need to invest time from Elyoya to get him ahead. This team is a scary team to meet deep in the playoffs and there is a real chance they dont drop a game the entire group phase. .

Value Pick: StarScreen (IW: $6,000)

Jungle

Favorite: River (PSG: $6,800): After their first loss to MAD Lions, I had completely sold out on PSG Talon. I thought while they were dominant in their region, it was more of a reflection of how bad their region was. It does seem like PSG is a formidable opponent for the other teams in the group. They are 2-1 with River having 16 kills and 18 assists. Outside of his struggles with Elyoya, he has completely dominated CarioK and Ferret in their matchups. I like the aggression PSG had outside of the MAD matchup and I think there is a chance in the second matchup PSG could beat MAD.

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

Mid Lane

Favorite: Humanoid (MAD: $7,600): While reading about the favorites for every role must be annoying, it goes without saying how much of a gap is there between Humanoid and Maple, tinowns, and Serin. Now admittedly, I think Maple has had some better moments than Humanoid in this group stage, I just think the pressure MAD Lions can generate as a team is way better of a trade off. Humanoid has 3 less kills than Maple (14 to 11) but he has double his assist numbers (31 to 15). I am looking at what are the possible total number of points that Humanoid can rack up and I think the ceiling is just way higher for him here. 

Value Pick: Maple (PSG: $7,000)  

ADC

Favorite: Carzzy (MAD: $7,800) I have been so incredibly impressed with Carzzy in this tournament. There were a lot of questions about the MAD Lions bot laner at the end of the 2020 Summer split and even more doubt after Worlds 2020. He has the highest kill count among teams who have only played 3 games (28) and has a 40% team kill share percentage which is third in the tournament behind Xiaohu and Ghost. Which I think most would be pretty impressed by if you had told them a week ago before the tournament started. He has played super safe and allowed Kaiser to own the map with Elyoya and I expect them to continue to follow that same playbook

Value Pick: HolyPhoenix (IW:$7,400)

Support

Favorite: Kaiser (MAD: $5,800) Kaiser has performed so well, that you could almost justify taking him as your captain. In his last match alone he outscored his midlaner (Humanoid) in fantasy points dropping 27 points. He is very aggressive and I love watching him on his more aggressive picks like Nautilus, Alistar, and Leona. I think he benefits from the meta that pushes supports onto these picks and I think we will continue to see him succeed into the later stages even against the likes of Vulcan and BeryL. 

Value Pick: Kaiwing (PSG: $5,400)

Team

Favorite: MAD Lions ($5,200)  There is not a single metric that can be measured for a team where one of the other three teams rate higher than the MAD Lions. They are especially dominatent when it comes to the neutral objectives of towers (100% FTR and 100% of F3TR) and they had and early game rating of 81.4. They have struggled some in the late game but a lot of that comes from their near loss to paiN Gaming. That game was probably the closest they will com to losing in this first round robin and they should pretty easily win out on the rest of the matches tomorrow.

Value Pick: paiN Gaming ($4,400)

 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic

$50,000 Salary Cap

Captain (x1.5): Elyoya ($10,800)

Alternate: HolyPhoenix ($11,100)

Top: Armut ($6,400)

Jungle: River ($6,800)

Alternate: Ferret ($6,400)
Mid: Maple ($7,000)

ADC: Carzzy ($7,800)

Alternate: Doggo ($7,200)

Support: Kaiser ($5,800)

Team: paiN Gaming ($5,000)