Rare Atom v Bilibili Gaming

EDward Gaming v JDG

KT Rolster v Hanwha Life Esports

DRX v Liiv SANDBOX 
 

The LPL and LCK gods giveth and then they taketh away. I am sure everyone is still reeling from Fredit BRION putting DWG KIA in their back pocket on Thursday morning. But as any good showman would say, “The show must go on!” That is exactly what we are going to do. We see some teams (Rare Atom) trying out some new players while most are keeping with their same rosters as we have seen the past two weeks. 

Game #1 Rare Atom v Bilibili Gaming

Cann’s Pick: Rare Atom

Game #2: EDward Gaming v JDG

Cann’s Pick: JDG

Game #2: KT Rolster v Hanwha Life Esports

Cann’s Pick: KT Rolster

Game #2: DRX v Liiv SANDBOX

Cann’s Pick: DRX

 

Fantasy Value Breakdown

Captain

Favorite: FoFo (RA: $11,700) Rare Atom is coming off their best performance this year (out of two games I know) against Suning on Wednesday. In their 2-0 win, FoFo went 12-1-5 on Zoe for both games. FoFo performs well on game changing champions and has shown a fairly diverse champion pool. His opponent (Zeka) does have more kills on the split but also has more deaths. The biggest risk here is that it seems like Rare Atom will be trying out a new jungler for this match and that synergy can really shake up a performance for a mid laner.  

Value Pick: KT Rolster ($6,600)  I have been getting more and more onto the team as a captain bandwagon as of recently. When I look at this game something stuck out to me and it was how opposite the play styles are between the two teams. HLE (their opponent) is a fast team who plays for the early game while KT plays for the late game. The average game time is only about 3 minutes different for both teams but when you peel back the surface and look at how each team is rated through the game you get a better idea of what is going on. Both teams are middle of the pack in early game rating (48..2- HLE v 41.1- KT) while the late game rating KT Rolster is in the top 3 of the league. Now KT needs to make sure they can survive the early aggression of HLE, but the late game should belong to them. 

Top Lane

Favorite: DuDu (HLE: $6,000) I am going to be honest, I am not sold on this pick being the best even with the higher price tag. This is not because of DuDu’s skill (he currently is at a 9.0 KDA) but because they have two top laners. What gives me confidence in this pick is that the other HLE top laner (Morgan) is at a 2.7 KDA and 9 total deaths in two games. Not the safest pick up, but definitely a lot of skill to DuDu so the pay off is possibly there. 

Value Pick: Flandre (EDG: $5,600) This is the move right here. If EDG wins their match against JDG, It is coming from this man right here. JDG’s top laner, Zoom, just doesn’t fit into this meta. JDG went to the World Championship tournament last year off of the back of Zoom’s excellent tank/teamfight play. Flandre is a solo lane nightmare. He is at a 5.5 KDA and has 60 combined kills and assists so far this split. EDG needs to make a significant run this year with him because I could see him being scooped up by a bigger org is top laners continue to get the attention they are now. 

Jungle

Favorite: Pyosik (DRX: $6,800) I have slept on Pyosik for a few matched now. He leads the league in kills (26) and is second in assists at 44. Oh, and may I remind you that he is also second amongst his role in first blood participation at 44%. Pyosik racks up kills and assists which leads to points in your lobby. Now he is pretty pricey, but this slate should allow you to make cuts elsewhere.   

Value Pick: Meteor (BLG: $6,200) There are a lot of people who are still sleeping on Meteor. I know a few readers of my articles have already begun to pick up on the fact that I think he is a hidden gem. He has the LPL’s 4th highest KDA (5.1), third highest kills (36), and the HIGHEST first blood percentage at a profound 75%. This may be the biggest sleeper pick in LPL slates yet.  

Mid Lane

Favorite: FoFo (RA: $7,800) FoFo is a wildly gifted mid laner that is in the process of proving himself. Even in the 0-2 loss to TES, he still only died 3 times. He does rely on his team getting to the late game teamfights in a decent position for him to take over those fights. Like I said in my captain breakdown, my only concern for this pick (other than cost) is the switching of junglers. He is skilled enough to put up points but if his team falls behind, he will turtle and not make the same explosive plays.  

Value Pick: Ucal (KT: $6,400) For one of the cheapest pick ups on the slate, I am kind of shocked to see his stats this season. He is currently has almost a 5 KDA and has been up in gold, exp, and cs in all 4 of his games played. Even if KT Rolster loses to HLE, Ucal will not be blown out and Ucal will pick you up points. What I will say is that he a normally slow playing player and you will most likely not see him pick up first blood (he has been a part of 0% of KT Rolster’s first bloods) and he will wait until later game to make his impact felt. 

ADC

Favorite: Deft (HLE: $7,600) While I recognize that BAO actually has more kills than Deft (41 to 28) I think what makes Deft more appealing is the fact that Deft is so much safer of a player (13 deaths to 21).  Deft requires less resources to be successful and we have seen him be less of a presence early but carry team fights with 439 damage per minute. I think You could really choose either here, but Deft should save you a little bit of cash.

Value Pick: Viper (EDG: $7,200) It is no secret that JD Gaming is in a bit of a funk and this definitely includes their ADC, LokeN. LokeN has only about a 3.2 KDA which is fairly pedestrian while Viper is sitting around 4.6. Viper will get his second real challenge in this matchup but I think he will rise to the challenge here. 

Support

Favorite: Becca (DRX: $5,000) Becca will die a decent amount in this matchup. You have to just recognize that is the way he plays. He will put his scoreline on the backburner to make the right engages and win games. How does this apply to DFS? You need to be willing to take your lumps in the death column but he is going to get you assist points. Through 6 games he has over 70 assists and the next closest in the assist metric is at almost 10% less kill participation percentage comparatively. DRX plays through Becca and that means as much of a guarantee as you will get out of a support pick. 

Value Pick: Meiko (EDG: $4,800) The real value here is from the ADC he is playing with. I would say Meiko/Viper is a pretty savvy stack into JDG. Meiko actually has a better KDA than LokeN (ADC) which you don’t normally see and gives me a little more confidence in this pick. Mieko has almost double amount of assists as his counterpart LvMao which gives me hope for the points that he can earn. This will be a pretty big watermark for both teams on where they actually stand in the power rankings for the LPL. 

Team

Favorite: JD Gaming ($5,200) Regardless of who wins between EDG and JDG, this series should go the distance.  Vegas is giving JD Gaming a slim edge over EDG (-156) which gives me a little more confidence on this pick. JD Gaming is very neutral objective focused as well which should also net you more points in the towers/dragons/barons column as well. 

Value Pick: Bilibili Gaming ($4,200) If you are feeling spicy, this is a pick for you. Rare Atom is messing with their lineup in the jungle and that is the biggest strength for Bilibili right now. I am not sure they can win the series but I expect them to keep it tight and be able to control some of those points in the neutral objectives. 

Top Stacks

  • Flandre and Viper (EDG) These two players are where EDG finds their advantages and both are relatively cheap this slate.

  • BAO and Becca (DRX) These two are arguably the best performing bot lane duo in the LCK right now. 

  • Chovy and Deft (HLE) If HLE beats KT Rolster, it will because these two got early game leads and kept KT Rolster from scaling into the late game. 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic 

$50,000 Salary Cap

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

Alternate: Deft ($11,400)

Top: Flandre ($5,600)

Jungle: Pyosik ($6,800)

Alternate: Meteor ($6,200)
Mid: SOLKA ($7,200)

ADC: Viper ($7,200)

Alternate: Aiming ($6,800)

Support: Meiko ($4,800)

Team: Rare Atom ($5,600)