With the first day of MSI in the books, we were able to get a better feel for the competition across the regions. Big teams like T1 Esports, Royal Never Give Up, and G2 Esports had strong showings in their first day of play. Teams like Evil Geniuses and PSG Talon showed promise at times but ended up having disappointing results. Coming into Day 2, we have a singular slate so finding the best value for our heavy-hitting regions will be key, so let’s dive in! 

 


League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, Slate 2

May 11th, 2022

 

Matches:

  • (+575) Order v Evil Geniuses (-1000)
  • (+150) Saigon Buffalo v Detonation FollowMe (-200)
  • (-5000) T1 Esports v Team AZE (+1400)
  • (-125) RED Canids v Istanbul Wildcats (-104)
  • (-700) PSG Talon v Royal Never Give Up (-700)

 

Fantasy Value Breakdown

Game #1: Order v Evil Geniuses

Game Breakdown: As a fan of the LCS, I don’t love that this match will follow up EG’s second match against G2. On Tuesday, we saw a lot of the weaknesses in their game. Their ability to respond to different issues in-game has really been put under a microscope. This is particularly scary when playing against a minor region team, that has a tendency to play an untraditional game to gain an advantage. What will save EG will be the talent ceiling of their ADC Danny. Danny should be able to win the early game by a wide enough margin that EG can scale into team fights more smoothly. 

Favorite Picks: Danny (EG: $12,300/$8,200), jojopyun (EG: $7,800), Vulcan (EG: $6,000)

Value Picks: BioPanther (ORD: $4,800), Kisee (ORD: $6,200)

Cann’s Match Pick: Evil Geniuses  

 

Game #2: Saigon Buffalo v Detonation FollowMe

Game Breakdown: I think this could easily be the trap game of the slate. Admittedly, I didn’t have a lot of faith for DFM for Tuesday, and they pretty soundly beat Team AZE. That being said, AZE did themselves absolutely no favors in that match. Their early game was terrible and they continued to opt into questionable scraps and poor rotations. SGB actually had a little measurable success against T1. While they lost in 26 minutes, they were able to get a few punches in against the heavy favorites. I am playing this as a possible upset because the skill gap should be relatively small. 

Favorite Picks: Yutapon (DFM: $11,400/$7,600), Steal (DFM: $6,800), Evi (DFM: $6,400)

Value Picks: Shogun (SGB: $7,200), Hasmed (SGB: $5,600), Saigon Buffalo ($4,800) 

Cann’s Match Pick: Saigon Buffalo  

 

Game #3: T1 Esports v Team AZE

Game Breakdown: This match should get ugly very quickly. Team AZE showed the world the biggest flaws in their game and possibly in the entire LAM region, lack of macro-map awareness. DFM was able to run the map the entire match and they capitalized on really bad rotations by AZE. T1 could win this game without the use of Keria and Oner rotating around the map, but with that jungle/support moving around, T1 should win this match handedly. I actually think we could see a flashier game out of T1’s mid laner, Faker. He had a 2 kill, 5 assists, and 1 death game on Tuesday against a tougher SGB squad. AZE’s mid laner, Aloned, should be an easier opponent to exploit. 

Favorite Picks: Gumayusi (T1: $12,600/$8,400), Faker (T1: $8,000), Oner (T1: $7,600)

Value Picks: Lonely (AZE: $4,400)

Cann’s Match Pick: T1 Esports  
 

Game #4: RED Canids v Istanbul Wildcats

Game Breakdown: After a huge win on Tuesday, I was hard pressed to pick against the Brazilian squad for Wednesday. What gives me pause about this squad is the fact that they had a commanding lead (13-0 kills by the game’s end), but they still had one of the longest games played at 28 minutes. IW didn’t have a great showing on Tuesday, but I actually thought their jungler (Ferret) did a really good job staying relevant into the mid-game. The RED Canids are a volatile team still and will struggle if they fail to gain early game advantages to snowball into the late game. 

Favorite Picks: Ferret (IW: $6,400), HolyPhoenix (IW: $7,800)

Value Picks: TitaN (RED: $6,800), Jojo ($4,800), RED Canids ($5,000)

Cann’s Match Pick: Istanbul Wildcats  

 

Game #5: PSG Talon v Royal Never Give Up

Game Breakdown: There is no team that is looking more in form than RNG. The reigning champions made such fast work of IW on Tuesday that if you were watching from the beginning, you could have easily missed this match altogether. PSG had a really disappointing match against the RED Canids and I think there is a good chance Wednesday will look worse for them. I am particularly interested in what Xiaohu is able to do in this matchup. PSG’s mid laner, Bay, had absolutely no agency on the map. If he struggles to keep Xiaohu in the middle lane, RNG could run away with the advantages he can make in the early game. 

Favorite Picks: Xiaohu (RNG: $12,300/$8,200) Gala (RNG: $8,000), Royal Never Give Up ($)

Value Picks: Hanabi (PSG: $5,000), Unified (PSG: $6,600)

Cann’s Match Pick: Royal Never Give Up  



 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic / $50,000 Salary Cap

Captain (x1.5): jojopyun (EG: $11,700)

Alternate: Oner (T1: $11,400)

Top: Hamsed (SGB: $5,600)

Jungle: Ferret (IW: $6,400)

Mid: Serin (IW: $7,600)

ADC: HolyPhoenix (IW: $7,800)

Alternate: Yutapon (DFM: $7,600)

Support: Vulcan (EG: $6,000)

Alternate: Ming (RNG: $5,800)

Team: Saigon Buffalo ($4,800)

 

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