LPL/LCK Slate Jan 21st, 2021

LPL Spring Split Day 13 

ThunderTalk Gaming v Team World Elite 

Oh My God v JDG

LCK Spring Split Day 7 

T1 v Gen.G

DWG KIA v Fredit BRION

I feel like the LPL and LCK are the hardest leagues to get a grasp on. On Wednesday morning we saw two dogs in DRX and Liiv SANDBOX get upset wins and in the LPL Rare Atom took a win over Suning. Playing DFS over the course of these two seasons is a rollercoaster but it is important to note that when the dust settles, better teams will rise to the top. I think today should be more of what we expect as we see some pretty big gaps in overall team skill in this slate. This is also the first slate where we see DWG KIA being so highly valued that it is almost not worth putting them on your team. Let’s take a look at the slate and figure out the best values and safest picks for this slate.   

Game #1 TT v Team World Elite 

Cann’s Pick: Team World Elite

Game #2: Oh My God v RNG

Cann’s Pick: RNG

Game #3: T1 v Gen.G

Cann’s Pick: T1

Game #4: DWG KIA v Fredit BRION

Cann’s Pick: DWG KIA 

Fantasy Value Breakdown

Captain

Favorite: Ghost (DWG: $12,000) Ghost has one of the highest KDA’s in the LCK with a 6.9 and a team kill participation of almost 72%. Interesting note about this pick, Ghost is normally down early in gold and experience but finds his way to picking up kills and assists later in the match. He doesn’t pick up as many kills as his teammates but the key to Ghost is that he usually is the last to die on his team as well. He plays safe, will sacrifice damage to make sure he can stay up the whole fight which means you are saving points there. 

Value Pick: Gala (RNG: $11,400) There are a lot of players having a good split in the LPL. When you look at RNG, one of the best performers is Gala. While his mid (Cryin, another solid pick in this spot) has a higher KDA, Gala still has a 6.2 with 20 total kills on the year. Much like the Ghost pick, Gala is safe and I think that ADCs are in such a strong spot in the competitive scene right now.

Top Lane

Favorite: Breathe (TWE: $6,600) I like watching Breathe a lot. He works to make his own plays and the leads he makes are usually on his own, rather than trying to be reliant on his jungler setting up kills. Of the four LPL top laners, Breathe has the most kills and assists and has the lowest percentage of team deaths (12.5%). He takes care of himself, has been difficult to counterpick, and is a skill mismatch for TT’s top laner Chelizi who currently is 6-11-11 through 5 games. 

Value Pick: Canna (T1: $6,000) I want everyone to be on notice for how overinflated the Gen.G numbers are coming into this match. Gen.G has played 4 total games against Fredit Brion and KT Rolster. T1? They have played DWG KIA and HLE. Gen.G just hasn’t played a good team yet and I think we will get to see just how good Canna is when he goes up against Rascal. Any T1/Gen.G picks are coin flippy so go with your gut, but my guess it will be close and T1 comes out on top. 

Jungle

Favorite: Canyon (DWG: $7,200) I think of the top costing junglers on this slate, Canyon is the player who is the most gifted and the most likely to secure points himself. By that I mean, players like beishang, Wei, and especially Clid all heavily rely on the skill of their laners to give them opportunities. Canyon makes the opportunities for his teammates. He has 41 assists and is constantly up in gold, XP, and CS at 10 minutes against his opponents and will walk all over UmTi.

Value Pick: Elim (T1: $6,600) Much like my Canna pick, I think T1 is the better team that is undervalued here. Even with playing DWG KIA, Elim still has a 4.5 KDA. I almost think this may be the better pick here because he is so cheap and you get such a quality player. 

Mid Lane

Favorite: ShowMaker (DWG: $7,800) If I was making a ranking of the best mid laners in the world, ShowMaker would be in my top three and in no particular order. Through 5 games ShowMaker has 20 kills and a KDA of 10.4. Lava is coming into this match with 13 deaths and only 15 assists. 

Value Pick: Shanks (TWE: $7,600) I think TT is going to end up being the equivalent to Fredit BRION from the LCK. With that in mind, Team WE should keep rolling. I think the bottom will drop out from Team WE at some point this split and they will drop a few matches, but it shouldn’t be here. Shanks is a teamfight monster and has 60 assists through 8 games which is pretty impressive. He dies about twice a match which isn’t bad but has had matches where he has struggled CSing.    

ADC

Favorite: Jiumeng (TWE: $7,800)  I am picking the ADC from Team WE purly for the matchup. His lane opponent from TT (SamD) is struggling this season. In 5 games he has died at the same rate (16 times) played less games (5 for SamD and 8 for Team WE) and has 30 less kills (12 for SamD and 42 for Jiumeng). 

Value Pick: Gumayusi (T1: $7,400) This is an upstart player who is quickly making a name for himself. In 6 games he has 41 kills and 9 deaths. He is averaging being up 460 gold (where Ruler who is “leading” the league in KDA is DOWN 339 gold at 10 minutes) and is averaging 10.7 CSPM. Big pick up here with a great price tag. Big value here.   

Support

Favorite: Missing (TWE: $5,800) Missing hasn’t had the best season thus far, but the gap between Team WE and TT is wide enough to justify the pickup. Teeen (TT) has a 1.3 KDA  and only has 18 assists. Missing has 58 assists on the year  and has only been a part of 56% of his team’s kills. If he gets more involved, watch his FPPG begin to climb. 

Value Pick: BeryL (DWG: $5,400) If you think Ghost will pick up big points against BRI, it just makes sense to grab BeryL. Where Ghost goes, BeryL is there peeling for him. He has a 3.7 KDA this split which is above average and has 42 assists so far. There are some matches where he doesn’t get as involved which is why I believe he is as cheap as he is. 

Team

Favorite: DWG Kia ($6,000) These are the defending champs and they are playing a rag tag team of Challenger players. This should be enough of a breakdown.  

Value Pick: Royal Never Give Up ($5,400) I think this is a sneaky good pick here. OMG looks decent in the early game and then turn their monitors off in the mid to late game. RNG put together an exceptional series against Suning and should be able to handle the less than exceptional roster in OMG. 

Possible Stacks 

Cryin (Mid) and GALA (ADC): RNG should have a lot of success into OMG. Add that Wuming and Eric (their lane opponents) have had less that stellar performances. These are the two heavy carry lanes for this team and I expect them to show up on Thursday. 

Canna (Top) and Gumayusi (ADC) I think T1 puts Gen.G in their place on Thursday. Bdd (Mid laner for Gen.G) is the best player on the opposite side of the rift meaning the T1 win will need to come from the side lanes. Add in the fact that T1 has flexed between Clozer and Faker, these are the safer T1 picks. I love Gumayusi a lot and he brings back a lot of flare back to the ADC role. 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic 

$50,000 Salary Cap

Captain (x1.5):Gumayusi ($11,100)

Alternate: Ruler ($10,500)

Top: Canna ($6,000)

Jungle: Wei ($7,000)

Alternate: Canyon ($7,200)
Mid: ShowMaker ($7,800)

ADC: Gala ($7,600)

Alternate: jiumeng ($7,800)

Support: Keria ($5,000)

Team: T1 ($5,000)