LPL/LCK Thursday

  • (+190) KT Rolster v T1 (-260)
  • (+900) Victory 5 v Royal Never Give Up (-2000)
  • (-285) Damwon KIA v Nongshim RedForce (+210)
  • (+225) Bilibili Gaming v Top Esports (-310)

Thursday’s LPL slate features a somewhat T1 sided match-up against KT, due to their stronger bottom side, a V5 that will likely get blown out of the water by an RNG trying to find their form, a Damwon KIA who has finally found their win condition against Nongshim RedForce, and Top Esports who similar to Damwon, has a big advantage against Bilibili Gaming.

Captain

ShowMaker ($10,800)

Back to middle lane! With fanfare, Damwon’s resurging form has been due to the reintroduction of Ghost into the lineup allowing both Canyon and ShowMaker to return to their native positions of jungle and middle lane, respectively. ShowMaker’s opponent in Gori is actually a very strong mid laner, but ShowMaker is by far the best in the league- and he’s a world champion to add onto it. Your other option is Korean rank #1 ADC, Gumayusi. He’s an upstart ADC, and while Noah is a good ADC, Gumayusi is destined to be the next big thing out of Korea.

Alternatives to consider: Gumayusi ($11,100)

Top Lane

Qingtian ($6,600)

The TES rookie has been looking up, especially when he’s playing against a weak top laner like Biubiu. Qingtian has a diverse champion pool, and is capable of playing both strong and weak side, which has substantially shifted up the way TES has played as a squad. Integrating him has been so-so, but he clearly has the makings of a strong top laner. I’d say your other option would be Xiaohu- the RNG top laner was the best last split, and he can still make a resurgence, plus his opponent is extremely easy.

Alternatives to consider: Xiaohu ($7,000)

Jungle

Karsa ($7,200)

Combining the top side of TES against the weaker topside of BLG will be to your benefit- Biubiu and Weiwei, despite having good name synergy, are amongst the weaker points of BLG, who primarily rely of their strong ADC in Aiming to carry most of their games, leaving their top side vulnerable. Karsa is no stranger to playing the mechanically punishing junglers such as Lee sin, which can be used as a flex to effectively punish this weak top side.

Alternatives to consider: Canyon ($7,000)

Mid Lane

Faker ($6,800)

While I think Dove is a capable mid laner, T1’s Faker has something Dove just doesn’t with his team: teamwork. KT’s Dove is a solid individual player, but their team cohesion is out of whack, which Faker, well known for being a team player, can leverage over the enemy squad. Faker has been in solid form as of late, your other option is Knight, another player with highs that rank amongst the highest.

Alternatives to consider: Knight ($7,800)

ADC

Gala ($8,000)

While RNG hasn’t been on fire as of late, V5’s bottom lane is one of their weakest links, and aside from SamD, Kelper is probably the worst ADC in the league, and none of V5’s supports are much better- ADC talent isn’t really explosive on Thursday, many of the good ones are in contested match-ups too. I’d say your second best option is Gumayusi if he isn’t your captain, although Noah and Harp isn’t necessarily a bad bottom lane either.

Alternatives to consider: Gumayusi ($7,400)

Support

Beryl ($5,200)

Damwon’s bottom lane is up against Deokdam and Kellin on Thursday, which is a solid bottom lane- although Ghost as AD for Damwon will allow Beryl greater maneuverability across the map due to Ghost being comfortable on the weak side. This would allow Beryl to pick up substantial assists from Damwon’s better solo laners. Keria is the other option, for similar reasons as Faker, although he’s substantially more expensive.

Alternatives to consider: Keria ($5,600)

Team

Top Esports ($5,400)

TES is a much better team relative to BLG, who doesn’t have much in the line of tricks up their sleeves past just getting Aiming just straight carrying their team to victory. Zeka is a decent mid laner, but Knight will blow him out of the water. Likewise with Qingtian and Karsa versus Biubiu and Weiwei respectively. Damwon KIA is another safe bet versus Nongshim, 

Alternatives to consider: Damwon KIA ($5,200)

Stacks

Showmaker & Beryl

DK’s mid support is a solid option into Nongshim, Beryl is unlocked around the map by virtue of his less resource intensive ADC, furthermore, ShowMaker versus Gori is favored towards ShowMaker by virtue of DK’s superior jungle  match-up, allowing ShowMaker to get a greater resource share relative to Gori.

Gala & Xiaohu

RNG isn’t necessarily on an upswing, but they always have the potential to flash back to the #1 team in the world. Gala and Xiaohu are the best players on their squad, especially with a weaker Cryin as of late, and Ming not being worth his price point. Both of these players are likely to score big against their weak opponents.

Faker & Gumayusi

The carries for T1 are a safe bet against KT, T1 should have a decent match-up against KT, as they both play for teamfights although T1 are generally better at picking up early game leads in the laning phase.

Top Picks: ShowMaker, Gala, Xiaohu

While RNG hasn’t been hot lately, against V5 they should absolutely obliterate one of the last placed teams in V5. ShowMaker is a great mid laner too, and he doesn’t break the bank either- even against a good player like Gori, he should score big.

Top Value: Beryl, Qingtian, Faker

All 3 of these players are way cheaper relative to the highest ones of their roles- Faker has the better team relative to KT’s Dove, Qingtian is a relatively expensive top laner, but worth the price versus someone like Xiaohu, Beryl is a solid support that comes in cheap too, and he has a lot of room to make plays across the map.