League of Legends Championship Series
March 20th, 2022
(+118) Evil Geniuses v 100 Thieves (-152)
(+115) Golden Guardians v Dignitas (-150)
(-325) Team Liquid v FlyQuest (+235)
(+340) Counter Logic Gaming v Cloud9 (-550)
(-134) Immortals v Team Solomid (+105)
In the most unlikely of outcomes from Saturday, Team Solomid beat the first place Cloud9 convincingly. This keeps all LCS teams in the running for the playoffs with four games to go and key matchups still to be played. Huge performances across the slate with especially strong showings from Tactical, Santorin, and Pridestalkr leading the pack. There are no easy games on this slate and as TSM showed on Saturday, no team should be taken lightly. Let’s dive in!
Fantasy Value Breakdown
Game #1: Evil Geniuses v 100 Thieves
Game Breakdown: Of all the matchups on Sunday, this one gives me the most pause. Neither team is super reliable nor have they had a great 2022 showing. The biggest place to watch in this matchup has to be the midlane. Both Abbedagge (100 Thieves) and jojopyun (EG) have had a really underwhelming split but when they have shown up to play, their team looks so much better. While both teams won on Saturday, Abbedagge picked up 7 kills in his performance while jojopyun only had one kill. I think 100 Thieves probably win if the game plays out more traditionally but there is an angle for EG’s jungler (Inspired) to escalate the early game faster than 100 Thieves’ ADC (FBI) can scale into a late game carry. If Inspired can accomplish that, EG can take this game.
Favorite Picks: FBI (100: $7,600), Ssumday (100: $6,800), huhi (100: $5,800)
Value Picks: Danny (EG: $7,000), Inspired (EG: $6,400), Evil Geniuses ($4,400)
Cann’s Match Pick: 100 Thieves
Game #2: Golden Guardians v Dignitas
Game Breakdown: This match is like the first match of the day, but just worse. Both of these teams are slow, really grindy in their playstyle, and somewhat unimaginative. I see this match most likely being decided on how well can Dignitas can protect Neo (ADC) from GG’s jungler, Pridestalkr. Dignitas almost solely lost their match against Evil Geniuses on Saturday because Neo constantly was under fire and Inspired was constantly looking to interrupt his DPS in fights. I doubt that Dignitas gets outskilled in the laning phase as we saw on Saturday which gives me hope they will have a better showing against GG on Sunday.
Favorite Picks: Neo (DIG: $10,800/$), River (DIG: $6,600), Dignitas ($5,200)
Value Picks: Pridestalkr (GG: $6,000), Licorice (GG: $5,600), Lost (GG: $6,800)
Cann’s Match Pick: Dignitas
Game #3: Team Liquid v FlyQuest
Game Breakdown: I can’t imagine a world where TL lose this match. I know I am probably jinxing them by saying that, especially after the wild Cloud9 loss to TSM on Saturday, but the trajectory of these two teams couldn’t be any more different. FlyQuest is floundering at best, especially limited when teams can isolate and neutralize Johnsun in the bottom lane. What is TL’s biggest strength as a team? Hans sama and CoreJJ in the bottom lane. This duo is one of the best duos I have seen in the LCS and their skill gap is the main reason behind Hans' impressive 57 kills and 89 assists this split. If TL controls the bottom lane, it really won’t matter what goes on in the top half of the map.
Favorite Picks: Hans sama (TL: $11,700/$7,800), Bjergsen (TL: $7,600), Santorin (TL: $7,200), Team Liquid ($5,400)
Value Picks: Johnsun (FLY: $6,200), aphromoo (FLY: $4,400), Josedeodo (FLY: $5,800)
Cann’s Match Pick: Team Liquid
Game #4: Counter Logic Gaming v Cloud9
Game Breakdown: Dropping random games in the LCS is usually not worth much in the grand scheme of things. If the C9 versus TSM series had been played in the LPL or LCK where a 3 game series had been used to determine the winner, C9 most likely takes it 2-1. In this matchup, Cloud9 have to win the bottom lane battle. In Saturday's loss, Berserker fell entirely too far behind TSM’s Tactical and could never recover. The same thing will happen Sunday if they Allow CLG’s Luger to get onto a hyper carry pick and get an early lead. There are a lot of factors that will need to be in play for CLG to generate a lead like this, so I am doubting it happens but the blueprint to beat C9 is there. Limit the impact of their high skill import players and play through hyper carry champions.
Favorite Picks: Fudge (C9: $7,800), Blaber (C9: $7,400), Berserker (C9: $8,000)
Value Picks: Luger (CLG: $6,000), Poome (CLG: $4,200)
Cann’s Match Pick: Cloud9
Game #5: Immortals v Team Solomid
Game Breakdown: Before yesterday’s win by TSM, I was actually picking them to win this game. We have seen TSM as a raw team that lack direction and identity but they have had good performances. IMT on the other hand we have seen them get blown out time and time again. Comparing the players directly against their counterparts, the only advantage I see for IMT is in the middle lane with PowerOfEvil. POE is a control mage player and there aren’t many games where he is irrelevant. TSM’s jungle and top lane duo of Huni and Spica will be critical in preventing Xerxe (IMT jungler) from having an impact around objectives.
Favorite Picks: Xerxe (IMT: $6,800), PowerOfEvil (IMT: $7,400)
Value Picks: Spica (TSM: $6,200), Tactical ($9,900/$6,600), Team Solomid ($4,600)
Cann’s Match Pick: Team Solomid
Cann’s Example Lineup
DraftKings Classic
$50,000 Salary Cap
Captain (x1.5): Hans sama (TL: $11,700)
Alternate: Neo (DIG: $10,800)
Top: Huni (TSM: $5,800)
Jungle: Santorin (TL: $7,200)
Alternate: Spica (TSM: $6,200)
Mid: Blue (DIG: $7,000)
ADC: FBI (100: $7,600)
Support: CoreJJ (TL: $6,000)
Alternate: Biofrost (DIG: $5,600)
Team: Team Solomid ($4,600)
Alternate: Counter Logic Gaming ($3,600)
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