(-170) Immortals v Counter Logic Gaming (+130)
(-120) Team Solomid v Team Liquid (-110)
(+180) Team Dignitas v Evil Geniuses (-240)
(+210) Flyquest v 100 Thieves (-285)
(+220) Golden Guardians v Cloud9 (-300)
The LCS is heating up and every win/loss has huge implications on each org’s future. Teams are battling for positional preference and seeding in the Summer playoffs with the impending finals right around the corner. One playoff spot in the upper bracket is still open for the taking as 100 Thieves, Team Solomid, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, and Team Liquid are all locked for postseason play. How will the final seven games shape the LCS landscape? Let’s dive in and find out!
Game #1 Immortals v Counter Logic Gaming
Cann’s Pick: Immortals
Game #2: Team Solomid v Team Liquid
Cann’s Pick: Team Liquid
Game #3: Team Dignitas v Evil Geniuses
Cann’s Pick: Evil Geniuses
Game #4: Flyquest v 100 Thieves
Cann’s Pick: 100 Thieves
Game #5: Golden Guardians v Cloud9
Cann’s Pick: Golden Guardians
Fantasy Value Breakdown
Captain
Favorite: Jizuke (EG: $11,700) Jizuke should be considered for Summer Split MVP at this point. He leads mid laners in the LCS in kills (85), is second in assists (118), and is second in first blood participation (25%). He doesn’t need a ton of resources from his team to go off and if you are into watching the games he is absolutely electric to watch. He is facing Yusui mid who is also aggressive but when looking at his death numbers (39 in 17 games) it is obvious things will get bloody in the mid lane and you can profit off of it with this pick up. I also really like the sub $12k pick which most of the league leaders get slotted at when you get to this point in the season.
Value Pick: Ablazeolive ($8,700)
Top Lane
Favorite: Impact (EG: $7,200) This is still my king of the top lane, even with the return of Alphari and rebirth of Licorice’s career. Impact can play such a wide range of champions at a high level then I never really worry when I see EG slot in a pick for him. He has just as high productivity when playing a tank champion as when he is playing an aggressive brusier. He is three kills off the lead in the kill category for top laners (68) but has a total of 40 more assists than second most assists by a top laner (140). Evil Geniuses makes a point to fight around Impact which is maximizing his output far more than any other team he has played on in his career.
Value Pick: Alphari (TL: $6,200)
Jungle
Favorite: Closer (100T: $7,000) While Blaber reminded the LCS why you don’t let him play Olaf for free on Saturday (he went 9-0-8 on the pick) Closer put on a performance that was quieter but just as dominant. Closer faced off a much stronger team in Team Liquid and had 2 kills and 9 assists in his deathless performance. With 100 Thieves playing a much greener team in Flyquest, the ceiling is really high for this pick. I think 100 Thieves can outpace the Flyquest aggression and Closer should be able to have priority in the jungle over Nxi.
Value Pick: Xerxe (IMT: $6,600)
Mid Lane
Favorite: Abbedagge (100T: $7,400) A few weeks ago I was praising Abbedagge as the best mid in the LCS. While I do think that title belongs to Jizuke right now, I don’t credit it to Abbedagge playing worse. He is still on top of the league in kills (5th- 60), deaths (2nd- 35), and kill participation (3rd- 67.5%). With the skill discrepancy between 100 Thieves and Flyquest, this should translate into really safe points at a price that is really forgiving on your total salary cap.
Value Pick: Jensen (TL: $6,800)
ADC
Favorite: Zven (C9: $7,800) Zven is continuing his revenge tour by being one of two consistent members on Cloud9. Even in games where Cloud9 find creative ways to lose, Zven is still outputting high damage and cleaning up kills in teamfights. He is averaging 3 kills and almost 7 assists per game with just a touch over 1 death in that same time. While he doesn’t consistently drop huge kill games to justify being your captain, he is more than productive enough to be in the ADC role.
Value Pick: Stixxay (GG: $6,200)
Support
Favorite: huhi (100T: $5,800) For people who are just now getting into League of Legends and pro scene you may not know that Support was not huhi’s first role. In fact, he actually played mid lane professionally first. I think this may be one of the under discussed reasons for his productivity at support. He has a wildly high skill ceiling as well as having a deep understanding what goes into playing solo lanes in a professional setting. We see this most when huhi will move out of bottom lane and help put pressure in other lanes. You can see that his experiences gives him insight into how opponents will most likely play different situations. He has a 5.2 KDA and is averaging almost 8 assists a game but has limited his deaths to just over 1 death per game. Safe pick that is under my $6k threshold making this a steal of a pick for SUnday.
Value Pick: SwordArt (TSM: $5,200)
Team
Favorite: 100 Thieves ($5,400) They are the best team in the league. A lot of the slipping we have seen really should be chalked up to experimenting new champions and play styles so they are better prepared for playoffs in a few weeks. If you watch the 100 Thieves v Team Liquid game from Saturday, you can see that they are still in the drivers seat in this league. Starting through draft, their early game play, and how they played late game fights we saw 100 Thieves have complete control over the match on Saturday. I expect to see something similar on Sunday.
Value Pick: Immortals ($5,000)
Cann’s Example Lineup
DraftKings Classic
$50,000 Salary Cap
Captain (x1.5): Jizuke ($11,700)
Alternate: Insanity ($10,800)
Top: Licorice ($5,000)
Jungle: Closer ($7,000)
Alternate: Spica ($6,400)
Mid: Ablazeolive ($5,800)
ADC: FBI ($7,600)
Alternate: Tactical ($7,000)
Support: huhi ($5,800)
Team: Evil Geniuses ($5,200)