League of Legends Championship Series
March 6th, 2022
(+260) Immortals v Team Liquid (-350)
(+265) Counter Logic Gaming v 100 Thieves (-385)
(+130) Evil Geniuses v Cloud9 (-174)
(-109) FlyQuest v Dignitas (-125)
(+140) Team Solomid v Golden Guardians (-185)
The North American pro scene has very clear stratospheres at this point. The class of the league has to be Team Liquid and Cloud9. Team Liquid shows their domination through macro play and game knowledge and Cloud9 can just outwork teams with superior skill. It feels like every other team is trying to figure out ways to play catchup with these two titans and they are doing a poor job of it. 100 Thieves seem to be struggling in their attempt to capture the magic that we saw at the end of 2021. Team Solomid continue to struggle while the majority of the league is treading water at the middle of the pack. With some easy locks and sneaky picks for this slot, you have tons of options for your lineup! Let’s dive in!
Fantasy Value Breakdown
Game #1: Immortals v Team Liquid
Game Breakdown: Team Liquid is just the best team in the league. I know they share the first place spot with Cloud9, but we have seen how that matchup plays out. Team Liquid has safe play in lanes and players like Bjergsen (32.3 FPPG) and Hans sama (41 kills and 45+ FPPG) end up taking over in the late game. The early game control of Santorin and CoreJJ help Team Liquid pick up early objectives and allows them to get leads that opposing teams struggle with.
Favorite Picks: Hans sama (TL: $12,000/$8,000), Bjergsen (TL: $11,700/$7,800), Team Liquid ($5,400)
Value Picks: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $6,200)
Cann’s Match Pick: Team Liquid
Game #2: Counter Logic Gaming v 100 Thieves
Game Breakdown: 100 Thieves need this game as a bounce back game in the worst way. The bottom lane of FBI and huhi got worked in the early game against Hans sama and CoreJJ on Saturday but they get the benefit of getting Luger and Poome for Sunday. Ssumday has had really good performances as of late and while I think he struggles to carry in later stages, he gets decent fantasy points which is good for your lineups. Palafox will have opportunities to punish the weak performing Abbedagge and that may make him a sneaky pick to slide into some of your lineups.
Favorite Picks: FBI (100: $11,700/$7,800), Ssumday (100, $7,000), huhi (100: $5,800)
Value Picks: Palafox (CLG: $6,000), Contractz (CLG: $5,600)
Cann’s Match Pick: 100 Thieves
Game #3: Evil Geniuses v Cloud9
Game Breakdown: This smells like the making of an upset but I am leaning towards the favorites in Cloud9. C9 has wild mechanical superiority in the top and ADC positions. Their mid lane (Fudge) and jungler (Blaber) seem to have a better understanding of how to support their two carries and that has limited some of the “throw” moments by Cloud9. Evil Geniuses have hot and cold moments. They had a solid win over Immortals on Saturday but there is such a huge gap in skill between Immortals and the co-first place team of C9. Danny will need to exert lane dominance with Vulcan to keep the C9 import Berserker down enough to give EG a chance in the late game. This should be a bloody game and one I think will be close through the early and mid game.
Favorite Picks: Berserker (C9: $11,400/$7,600), Summit (C9: $6,600)
Value Picks: Danny (EG: $10,200/$6,800), Evil Geniuses ($4,200)
Cann’s Match Pick: Cloud9
Game #4: FlyQuest v Dignitas
Game Breakdown: In a matchup of two teams who are just treading water, we get FlyQuest and Team Dignitas squaring off. Both teams are averaging out to where most analysts believed they would be at just above .500. Flyquest still sits at third place, but they are a whole 2 games behind the top two teams in the league. FlyQuest has a clear win condition with Johnsun in the ADC which I like for them on Sunday. Neo has been showing out for Dignitas and is averaging just over 28 FPPG and has 33 kills in his 10 games played. Johnsun has an entire kill per game average lead over Neo so I still give the edge to the FlyQuest side.
Favorite Picks: Neo (DIG: $10,800/$7,200), Johnsun (FLY: $10,500/$7,000)
Value Picks: FakeGod (DIG: $6,200)
Cann’s Match Pick: FlyQuest
Game #5: Team Solomid v Golden Guardians
Game Breakdown: I have a horrible feeling that this is going to be a sub 30 minute stomp on the side of Golden Guardians. Team Solomid is such an incredible disaster at this point. They have lost almost all of their top management and their owner is under formal investigation for mistreatment of players. They have swapped out Shenyi and put him back in after showing “disrespect” to the coaching staff and in that swap they decided to put in Takeover in the mid lane. We saw all of these changes amount to absolutely nothing on Saturday against Flyquest. I think the mid lane matchup of AblazeOlive and Takeover will be a crucial one. If AblazeOlive continues at the pace that he has been performing, Team Solomid can find objectives slipping away very quickly, regardless of having the reigning league MVP as their jungler.
Favorite Picks: Ablazeolive (GG: $10,800/), Pridestalker (GG: $6,800), Golden Guardians ($5,000)
Value Picks: Spica (TSM: $6,000), Tactical (TSM: $6,600)
Cann’s Match Pick: Golden Guardians
Cann’s Example Lineup
DraftKings Classic
$50,000 Salary Cap
Captain (x1.5): Bjergsen (TL: $11,700)
Alternate: Johnsun (FLY: $10,500)
Top: Licorice (GG: $6,400)
Jungle: Pridestalker (GG: $6,800)
Alternate: Inspired (EG: $6,200)
Mid: Fudge (C9: $7,400)
ADC: Danny (EG: $6,800)
Alternate: Tactical (TSM: $6,600)
Support: Olieh (GG: $5,400)
Team: Team Liquid ($5,400)