League of Legends Championship Series

March 5th, 2022 

(+150) Immortals v Evil Geniuses (-200)

(+132) Team Solomid v Flyquest (-176)

(-175) Team Liquid v 100 Thieves (+135)

(+200) Golden Guardians v Cloud9 (-275)

(-174) Team Dignitas v Counter Logic Gaming (+130)


Big changes coming into week 5, especially for the league’s bottom team, TSM. The TSM squad has endured weeks of punishment after they benched their imported support, Shenyi. Coming into Week 5 they have decided to bring him back into the lineup along with the replacement of Keaiduo with Takeover. This new lineup could bring a new life into this struggling team who mathematically has not been eliminated from Spring playoffs yet. A big match to look out for is the TL versus 100 Thieves matchup. 100 Thieves won the first matchup, but TL is getting CoreJJ back into the lineup and their bot lane should match the power of the FBI and huhi bottom lane for 100 Thieves. How do teams respond to their results from Superweek? Time to find out! Let’s dive in!

 

Game #1: Immortals v Evil Geniuses 

Game Breakdown: This is a classic place for an upset in the LCS. Most fans would just look at the two names of teams and instantly pick Evil Geniuses. EG has become the LCS’ biggest trap pick. They are 4-5 and ended their super week with a loss. Immortals are also at 4-5 but have looked better in recent weeks. Xerxe has been able to play with more consistency, especially around his bottom lane. PowerOfEvil will be an X-Factor here. Immortals gives him counterpick 89% of the time and EG’s mid-laner (jojopyun) has shown that if he gets limited somehow in lane, he loses almost all ability to make an impact in the late game. The Impact versus Revenge matchup will be fascinating to watch on Saturday as well. Impact has the higher skill ceiling but we have seen Revenge get put on carry picks and show out.  

Favorites: Danny (EG: $12,000/$8,000), Inspired (EG: $7,200)

Value Picks: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $9,000/$6,000), Revenge (IMT: $5,200)

Cann’s Game Pick: Immortals  

 

Game #2: Team Solomid v Flyquest

Game Breakdown: FlyQuest had a free fall type of weekend during super week. They went 1-2 and dropped from first in the LCS to third. Teams have begun to limit the impact that their ADC (Johnsun) can have during a match and we are seeing them place more bans and jungle attention to that lane. Johnsun is still one of the highest performing ADCs (37 kills) but he is facing a team in TSM who is also very bottom lane focus. FlyQuest will pour resources into the bottom lane early, but I think it will be Spica and Huni that will run over the late game. Putting Huni onto a pick in which he can apply heavy amounts of pressure onto the struggling Kumo will be the game decider here. 

Favorites: Johnsun (FQ: $11,700/$7,800), Tactical (TSM: $10,500/$7,000), Aphromoo (FQ: $5,800)

Value Picks: Huni (TSM: $5,400), Spica (TSM: $6,400) 

Cann’s Game Pick: Team Solomid 

 

Game #3: Team Liquid v 100 Thieves

Game Breakdown: This is a statement game for both teams. 100 Thieves look incredibly mortal after the past two weeks. They have fallen from grace and it feels like the rest of the league has passed them by. Ssumday will get a lead in the top lane and have struggles converting it into tangible advantages in the late game. Hans sama and FBI are in lockstep in almost every single metric but I think the game changer in this matchup is the introduction of CoreJJ. In their first meeting, Hans sama was supported by Eyla and while the rookie has played well, no one tops the former world champion. The strongest performer in the game will most likely be the TL mid-laner, Bjergsen. 100 Thieves mid-laner, Abbedagge, has looked like a shell of who he was in 2021. He is being constantly bullied out of lane and we see him give up some of the worst solo kills this year. 

Favorites: Bjergsen (TL: $11,100/$7,400), Hans sama (TL: $10,800/$7,200)

Value Picks: FBI (100: $9,000/$6,600), CoreJJ (TL: $5,400)

Cann’s Game Pick: Team Liquid 

 

Game #4: Golden Guardians v Cloud9

Game Breakdown: My thought here is that this will be a closer game than it should be in the mid game. One of C9’s biggest weaknesses is that they will constantly make that one choice that seems to put them back for the next 15 minutes. They then have to work to undo some of the gains the opposing team have gotten and then close out the game. Blaber is usually where we see these mistakes but I have been impressed to see how his top-laner (Summit) and ADC (Berserker) have been able to hold stable game states regardless of what is going on. I would expect Berserker to be the biggest performer in this matchup. His KDA (5.9) is best in the matchup and he has 37 kills in his 9 games played. That 4 kill per game average is solid and should make a difference. The Golden Guardians win condition is their jungler, Pridestalker. He took his name from the assassin jungler Rengar and models his gameplay off of him. He is bloodthirsty (hea leads all junglers with 27 kills) and loves to gank. I would imagine that he is going to path top and bottom to put pressure on the stable lanes of Cloud9. 

Favorites: Berserker (C9: $11,400/7,600), Summit (C9: $6,800), Cloud9 ($5,600) 

Value Picks: Pridestalker (GG: $5,600)

Cann’s Game Pick: Cloud9 

 

Game #5: Team Dignitas v Counter Logic Gaming

Game Breakdown: The last game of the day will be the worst to watch. Neither team has solid map movement or macro play. This is only the second game where both teams are averaging less than 20 FPPG and have a sub .500 record. The carries of Dignitas (Neo and Blue) should have a skill gap advantage as long as DIG do not give Luger a hyper carry. CLG’s ADC, Luger, has shown now on multiple occasions that if you allow him to get one of the hyper carry champions (Zeri specifically) he will own the game on his own. CLG’s mid-laner (Palafox) has more deaths than any other LCS mid-laner with 28 total and only has 25 kills in their 9 games played. Dignitas is probably a 7th or 8th place team but they should have no issue taking care of CLG. 

Favorites: Blue (DIG: $10, 800/$7,200) Neo (DIG (DIG: $11,100/$7,400) Team Dignitas ($5,000)

Value Picks: Luger (CLG: $6,800), Contractz (CLG: $6,000)

Cann’s Game Pick: Team Dignitas 

 

DraftKings Example Lineup

Captain (x1.5): Bjergsen (TL: $11,100)

Alternate: Luger (CLG: $10,200)

Top: Huni (TSM: $5,400)

Jungle: Santorin (TL: $7,000)

Mid: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $6,000)

ADC: Hans sama (TL: $7,200)

Alternate: Tactical (TSM: $7,000)

Support: Destiny(IMT: $4,600)

Team: Cloud9 ($5,600)

 

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