Into the weekend means we are diving into the LCS! A few matches between top-of-the-table teams today with 100 Thieves v Team Liquid and Cloud 9 v CLG. Some shakeups will take place in the standings as most of our teams are clustered next to each other and players are getting more and more comfortable. I am looking at players like Inspired, Blue, Bjergsen, and FBI to be keys to their teams pulling off huge wins while players like Abbedagge, toucouille, and Tactical must be feeling the pressure of needing to prove themselves today. With tons of matchups, let’s dive in!
(+250) Team Solomid v Evil Geniuses (-350)
(-145) FlyQuest v Dignitas (+110)
(+120) 100 Thieves v Team Liquid (-155)
(-185) Golden Guardians v Immortals (+140)
(+156) Counter Logic Gaming v Cloud9 (-200)
Game #1: Team Solomid v Evil Geniuses
Game Breakdown: In this matchup, I would emphasize how wild things could get. Both of these teams are pretty unpredictable and have won their games by being aggressive and loose. The key matchup and what will determine the match will be between the junglers. Spica (TSM) has had a pretty polarizing career. He has had moments of brilliance and has had comparisons to Blaber as NA’s next great domestic talent. The next game though he will be counter-jungled or take a bad path and become a nonfactor the entire game. This lack of in-between will be where EG’s Inspired will thrive. While he is best known for his LEC Veigo Penta Kill game, Inspired’s value comes in the small benefits he picks up for his teammates throughout the game. An enemy summoner blown here or a stolen buff there. The small advantages help snowball players like Danny and jojopyun and rocket EG into their late-game team-fighting where they thrive.
Favorite Picks: Danny (EG: $12,000/$8,000), Inspired (EG: $7,600), Vulcan (EG: $6,000)
Value Picks: Maple (TSM: $6,200), Spica (TSM: $5,400),
Cann’s Match Pick: Evil Geniuses
Game #2: FlyQuest v Dignitas
Game Breakdown: FlyQuest lost a lot of faith with me last weekend. They had a massive, nearly impossible to lose, lead over Team Liquid. Through a series of terrible team-fights and horrible objective prioritization they squandered their huge lead and ended up losing that match. FlyQuest heavily relies on their bottom lane (Johnsun/Aphromoo) to not only win their lane but also lead the team through the late game. Any pressure put onto Johnsun instantly puts them at risk of losing the game. There is also an argument to be made for Dignitas not being actually a 1-4 team. They have faced four top tier teams (100 Thieves, Cloud 9, CLG, and TL) and played a few of those matchups closely. They have a good lineup and I thought their imported mid-laner (Blue) was a really positive force on their team. This won’t be a particularly exciting game if I were to guess but some potential for decent scores.
Favorite Picks: Johnsun (FLY: $11,700/$7,800), Philip (FLY: $6,000)
Value Picks: Blue (DIG: $6,600), Dignitas ($4,800)
Cann’s Match Pick: Dignitas
Game #3: 100 Thieves v Team Liquid
Game Breakdown: If you have been a reader for a while, you have probably figured out I am a Team Liquid fan. Since their loss to 100 Thieves in the Spring Splayoffs, I have had this day figuratively circled. Team Liquid had a 2-0 lead over 100 Thieves in a best-of-five series. One win away from making the championship, TL completely fell apart and we saw the flaws in having too many options in how to play the game. Team Liquid will fall into the trap of believing that they can run any type of game style and at times they crash and burn pretty hard. 100 Thieves have the opposite problem where they have a single approach and they will run that strategy almost to a fault. FBI is their late-game insurance and they hope that Closer can get him and Ssumday ahead enough to win those final fights. The edge for TL in this matchup will be the middle lane. 100 Thieves mid-laner (Abbedagge) has some of the worst laning stats and has nearly no impact on their matches. Bjergsen has shown this year that he is still one of the best players in the LCS and with his jungler (Santorin) he could break this game open in the laning phase.
Favorite Picks: Bjergsen (TL: $11,400/$7,600), Santorin (TL: $7,000),
Value Picks: Ssumday (100: $5,800), FBI (100: $7,000), 100 Thieves ($5,000)
Cann’s Match Pick: Team Liquid
Game #4: Golden Guardians v Immortals
Game Breakdown: I know I am one of the only League of Legends writers who believes in this Immortals team. Most people look at this lineup like they are the equivalent of toys from “The Land of Misfit Toys” or something. Players like PowerOfEvil, IgNar, and Lost have had successful careers and been on some of the best domestic teams in NA/EU/OCE/KR. This team has a wealth of experience paired with some exciting young talent in Revenge and Kenvi. I look at Golden Guardians and outside of Licorice and Olleh, I fail to see the same veteran upside. Some may point to Stixxay and his MSI run with CLG but people fail to recall how much veteran support he had on that run. Immortals’ early game losses look more like a lack of coordination which can be worked through. The Gold Guardians have many times where they just misread the game and that is much harder to overcome consistently.
Favorite Picks: Licorice (GG: $6,200), Pridstalkr ($6,800),
Value Picks: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $7,000), Lost (IMT: $6,400), Immortals ($4,600)
Cann’s Match Pick: Immortals
Game #5: Counter Logic Gaming v Cloud9
Game Breakdown: It is time for CLG to come back into orbit. Noone can take away from the fact that they are 4-1 and in first place in the LCS for the first time in the last 5+ years but they have found a very specific way to win and began their campaign against some of the worst teams in the league. If they were playing the C9 roster from week 1, I would give them the nod here but with the Berserker/Zven bottom lane online there is almost no chance. The disaster that was Cloud9 in the first split combined with the excellence of Summit, many people have overlooked how good Berserker is as an ADC. Cloud9 has a player who can lean into an aggressive laning style with Zven if needed or can be more passive and focus on gold acquisition. Cloud9 has angles where they can call on their bottom lane early to take over a game or use them as a tool to jump out to an early lead. The mid/jungle duo of CLG (Palafox/Contractz) have been playing really well together this split and they may be able to expose C9’s reintroduction of Jensen into the lineup. Jensen was the mid for C9 when Blaber (aka Blaberfish) but there has been some misplays in their few games this split that I would guess has come because of a bit of rust. I personally don’t expect this to be a close match though but if you believe in the CLG magic, this may be a great game to jump on!
Favorite Picks: Berserker (C9: $10,800/$7,200), Fudge (C9: $6,400), Zven (C9: $5,600)
Value Picks: Palafox (CLG: $6,400), Contractz (CLG: $5,600),
Cann’s Match Pick: Cloud9
DraftKings Example Lineup
Captain (x1.5): Bjergsen (TL: $11,400)
Alternate: Blue (DIG: $9,900)
Top: Gamsu (DIG: $5,200)
Jungle: Blaber (C9: $7,200)
Mid: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $7,000)
ADC: Berserker (C9: $7,200)
Alternate: FBI (100: $7,000)
Support: Vulcan (EG: $6,000)
Alternate: CoreJJ (TL: $5,800)
Team: Evil Geniuses ($6,000)
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