Rare Atom v Rogue Warrior

TOP Esports v JD Gaming

Afreeca Freecs v T1

Nongshim RedForce v KT Rolster  

With some pretty significant upsets in both the LPL and LCK this split so far, no team should be counted out. Teams like Fredit BRION, TT, and Rare Atom have all made plays against the top of the table. We are nearing the midway point of the Spring Split and we are seeing a clearer idea of who are the superstars in the LPL and LCK. In addition to that, we get to run back the LPL finals match with TES and JDG going head to head in the second match of the LPL slate. 

Game #1 Rare Atom v Rogue Warrior

Cann’s Pick: Rare Atom

Game #2 TOP Esports v JD Gaming

Cann’s Pick: TOP Esports

Game #3 Afreeca Freecs v T1

Cann’s Pick: T1

Game #4 Nongshim RedForce v KT Rolster  

Cann’s Pick:  KT Rolster 

 

Captain

Favorite: JackeyLove (TES: $11,700) JackeyLove is the kill leader from all LPL teams on this slate. Not only that he is 13 up on second place, JL- 60 kills and Haro- 47. This seems like a great pickup here. JDG has been struggling and much to the chagrin of JDG, TES seems to just live rent free in their head with only one series loss to them in the last year. JackeyLove is part of 71% of all of TES’ team kills which should mean some great opportunities for you to pick up

Value Pick: Cuzz (T1: $10,200) If you love living dangerously, this is the pick for you. T1 had Cuzz step in for Ellim who had a 42% win rate on the starting roster and with T1 at risk of not making playoffs Cuzz and Teddy stepped in. Cuz went 9-4-21 in two games so it is safe to say it worked out fine. If you think that Cuzz will start (or see that they are slotting him as a starter closer to match time) I would hammer this pick. He is cheap and showed a much better ability to create opportunities for T1. 

Top Lane

Favorite: Canna (T1: $6,400) Canna has done a pretty good job in laning phase thus far. T1 only has lower tier teams left on their schedule so I expect his 2.7 KDA to skyrocket. Canna is almost purely a laning player with only 57% KP but into Kiin who has 18 kills on the split, I think Canna should find some success and can put some really good pressure on the map for T1. 

Value Pick: Doran (KT: $5,800) This is such a sneaky good pick for this slate. Doran gets lost in the shuffle of big name top laners in the LCK but is just a touch under 4 KDA. Not only does he have 31 kills but also 73 assists to his name. NS has really underperformed with a lackluster roster specifically in the top lane with Rich. Doran is averaging 65 FPPG to Rich’s 46 FPPG.

Jungle

Favorite: Karsa (TES: $7,000) Spend money in this role. The world is realizing that a good jungler paired with a good team will dominate a game. Karsa has the best KDA amongst LPL junglers playing on Sunday with a 3.5 and has 60 assists. Kanavi from JDG is one of the best performing players on his team, but Karsa and TES seem to just be playing better at the moment winning their last two matches 4-0.

Value Pick: Blank (KT: 6,000) Blank probably isn’t your first guess on picks for the value pick but there are a few reasons to choose him. First reason is his ability to play safely within his team’s win condition as his priority is huge. He has a 78% WP with only 18 deaths while being part of 71% of KT Rolster’s kills. Now KT hasn’t played DWG, but they have faced most of the other splashy teams in the LCK so I think this is a pretty true view of who he is. The other reason to pick up Blank is more about a critique of NS and their jungler Peanut. You have to be honest when analyzing this team 

Mid Lane

Favorite: FoFo (RA: $7,800) I don’t like this match. Neither Rare Atom or Rogue Warriors seem that appealing to me. The only player I see as a possible light here is FoFo. I think this is the play not for his total kills through his 8 matches (8) but for the fact that the RW mid (Forge) has died 55 times in 13 games. FoFo may not be the nuttiest mid laner, but Forge just loves dying. Should be decent points if this trend continues. 

Value Pick: Knight (TES: $7,400) Knight and TES are not as dominant as they were last year but they are 3-1 up against JDG straight up last year. I think while TES has taken a half step backwards, JDG has taken a couple as well. Both JDG laners (in less games played) have more deaths combined at 18 versus Knight’s 16 and have 16 less kills. Knight could have a nice stat padding game here.    

ADC

Favorite: iBoy (RA: $8,000) Gah I hate playing people from RA. I really do. Especially with the inconsistency of the LPL in general, RA feels so much like a coin flip. This fact aside, you have to take into consideration that iBoy was at one point one of the top 3-5 ADCs in the LPL. While both RW ADCs have been on par with the numbers iBoy has put up, Rogue Warriors just know how to lose games that they get early advantages in. 

Value Pick: Bang (AF: $6,600) Bang only has 36 total kills through 11 matches. You are picking Bang here to not only spend money elsewhere but also because he has been playing safely through 11 games and only had 21 deaths. He has his work cut out against T1, but there has been follow through issues with T1 as well. There isn’t much of a need to cut corners with ADC but if you do choose to, this is a pretty good place to do it. 

Support

Favorite: Keria (T1: $5,400) With so many ADCs putting up huge numbers, there is no team that is so heavily driven by bot lane success as T1. Keria has 115 assists through 14 games and half of all of T1’s matches they try to give him counterpick. To pick up a core piece of a favorite’s win condition at a decent price in the support role should be a priority. 

Value Pick: Kellin (NS: $5,200) The bot lane could be an opening for NS to find some opportunities. Kellin has 87 assists to Lehends’ 83 which gives him a slight advantage. NS also moves into teamfighting a little earlier and Kellin benefits from this by being part of 74% of all of NS’ kills. KT will most likely win this match, but Kellin should get his in this matchup. 

Team

Favorite: T1 ($5,600) This is the largest gap in team matchup on the slate. T1 has 40 more kills this season and has a slight edge in the mid/late game rating (even though neither of them are great here. AF will look for advantages in the early game but late game team fights are a disaster while late skirmishes are the strength of the T1 lineup. 

Value Pick: KT Rolster ($4,800) While KT is the dog compared to NS ($5,000) there is something to say about how NS is averaging 33 FPPG while KT is almost at 42 FPPG. They have a focus on vision (over 4 wards placed per minute) and have 100% of all Elder Dragons (Strongest neutral objective in the game) taken in their matches. I think NS may sneak out to some early leads across the map but they will begin to lose 5v5 team fights later in the match after grinding out gold, turrets, and dragons through the mid and late game.   

Cann’s Example Lineup

The Example Lineups is meant to show roster construction using the players mentioned above. It is not simply made for plug & play.

Captain (x1.5): Cuzz ($10,200)

     Alternate: HyBriD ($10,800)

Top: Doran ($5,800)

Jungle: Blank ($6,000)

     Alternate: Karsa ($7,000)

Mid: Knight ($7,400)

ADC: JackeyLove ($7,800)

     Alternate: Gumayusi ($7,400)

Support: Keria ($5,400)

Team: T1 ($5,600)