This article is part of our DraftKings League of Legends series.
DraftKings LoL LCS: Saturday Cheat Sheet:
Saturday's games seem clearly divided into one of two categories: games that should be a one-way stompfest, and hotly contested games that will help define the NA competitive landscape heading into the final weeks of the LCS. The most obvious winners of the week are Immortals who, true to their name, remain undefeated and now are staring down Renegades, who most consider the weakest team in the league by a reasonable margin.
The games that should be drawing attention, though, are the rerun of the traditional C9 vs. TSM matchup and TL's game against the finally reforged EF. Both C9 and TSM have had serious ups and downs this split, but despite that they're mired in a three-way race with CLG to be the next best team after Immortals. Whether TSM can overcome their perennial foe will demonstrate whether they're really starting to get a handle on their issues as a team, and will be valuable insight into what we can expect from them come playoffs. C9, on the other hand, will be trying to maintain the momentum from last week, where they truly looked like the second best team in NA, absolutely crushing the upstart Team Liquid before going blow for blow with IMT more effectively than any team before them.
The most pivotal team to watch in my estimation is, however, neither of these long-time NA veterans but rather a new face on the block, one who currently sits on the bottom end of the table and has only up to look: Echo Fox. Last week they exploded into relevance once again when they utterly obliterated both Renegades and NRG, bringing up serious questions about a team that many had assumed would face relegations. Beating TL, a team that has proven itself to be a very solid middle of the pack squad, would be a huge first step on their road to redemption, and if they show even a hint of the brilliance they brought to bear against NRG it should be a simple enough game for them. If they can pass up the struggling Dignitas, it will be their first step on the road out of the relegation zone and into playoff contention.
Daily Player Recommendations:
Top Lane
kfo (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $5,600): This number seems absolutely divorced from reality to me, as kfo's scoreline in the games he's actually been present in has been phenomenal. Last week saw him bring home a 6/0/14 KDA, which is enough for me to put my money on him. The only negative blip on his record is the underwhelming 0/3/0 score he found in EF's Week One loss to C9, but he's facing a much less tactical team on Saturday. While I don't expect him to go deathless again by any means, TL tends to win their games via brute force, which means tons of kills to go around. Considering how utterly EF won their skirmishes last week, it's not even a question to me which one I give the nod to. kfo is amongst the cheapest salaried top laners, so it's all but a no-brainer as long as EF plays like they did last week and in Wweek Oone.
Other suggestions: Darshan (Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team Impulse, $7,000), Hauntzer (Team SoloMid vs. Cloud9, $6,600), Impact (NRG eSports vs. Team Dignitas, $7,100)
Top Lane Player to Avoid
Lourlo (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $7,000): Speaking of numbers divorced from reality, we have Lourlo. As a reference point, he's commanding the same salary as Darshan while Darshan is in a matchup his team will almost certainly win. I've already made clear that I expect Team Liquid to lose this matchup, and even if I didn't, I would bet on the much safer and more consistent Darshan before I would the player who manages to get worse KDA's then his lane opponents even when his team wins. Unless you really think that TL will win by a larger margin than CLG will, I can't advice you do anything more with Lourlo other than leaving him on the bench.
Jungle
Reignover (Immortals vs. Renegades, $7,400): This might seem like something of a cop-out, as no one really questions that Immortals is going to crush Renegades, but there is a simple reason for this choice. More than any other role, the KDA of supports and junglers tend to be defined based on if their team wins a given game. Not only is Reignover almost certain to win, historically he sits at the top of the KDA charts for junglers going back even to Spring 2015 when his team wins. While he is wildly more expensive than other players in his role, his ability to sometimes bring home KDA's that are all but unbelievable in his role makes up for it. That being said, if you choose to take more expensive picks elsewhere, you might want to use another recommended player instead. As for myself and my Echo Fox stacked line-up, I'll be trusting in the consistency of Immortals to bring home the points, and I recommend any owner simply looking for good points do the same.
Other suggestions: Xmithie (Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team Impulse, $6,700), Rush (Cloud9 vs. Team SoloMid, $5,700), Moon (NRG eSports vs. Team Dignitas, $6,800)
Jungler Player to Avoid
Svenskeren (Cloud9 vs. Team SoloMid, $6,200): Whichever way you expect this matchup to swing, it's hard to bet on a jungler who has the misfortune of facing Rush, who is exceptional at denying his opposing jungler points. Add in that Svenskeren has very obviously been out of sync with his team, leading his results to slump considerably, and you get a mixture that could well explode in your face. While it's possible that he could put up a performance reminiscent of his time on SK Gaming in Spring, that seems like a far-fetched fiction at this point.
Middle Lane
Froggen (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $6,200): Once again, we find numbers that are totally disconnected from reality. Froggen, the player absolutely instrumental in every Echo Fox victory, is somehow available for the same price as players like Pirean and Shiphtur, even after coming off of a week where his combined KDA was 9/0/17. There's nothing more to even look at here for me. Froggen is ludicrously underpriced, and even in the one game Echo Fox has lost with him on the team his score wasn't hideous, and that was against a team now competing for second place.
Other suggestions: Froggen (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $6,200), Froggen (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $6,200), Froggen (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $6,200)
Middle Lane Player to Avoid
Bjergsen/Jensen (Cloud9 vs. Team SoloMid, $7,300/$6,700): This is a matchup I can't recommend taking sides in. Either one of these players could make it big, or implode, and it will almost certainly come down to how the rest of the team around them plays. In a medium in which consistency is key, that's a terrible combination. Still, if you want to live on the wild side, you can always bet on one of them completely going off, but it's impossible to know how this will go until both teams load into the Rift. Invest only if you dare, though it's worth noting that if you were to choose one of these two I recommend Jensen. His salary cap is lower and his potential point ceiling is essentially the same as his counterpart's, giving him an easy nod.
ADC
KEITH (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $6,400): Seeing a theme yet? Keith scores well when he has his full roster around him, and is priced equal with such stalwarts as Mash and Apollo, both of whom are quite likely to lose. While KEITH technically had one of the worst KDA's on his team last week, that had more to do with none of the other carries dying, while he was sent to the spawn pool once over the weekend. For a staggering $2,200 less than WildTurtle, KEITH seems like a steal.
Other suggestions: WildTurtle (Immortals vs. Renegades, $8,600), Stixxay (Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team Impulse, $7,900)
ADC Player to Avoid
Altec (NRG eSports vs. Team Dignitas, $7,900): This might seem a bit odd, as most everyone expects NRG to win their match against Dignitas, as do I. My objection is the salary, $7,900, a number that Altec shares with Stixxay. Stixxay tends towards a much higher proportion of his team's kills stats, while Altec has found himself under quite a bit of criticism this split due to his lack of a significant impact. Moreover, while NRG certainly is favored to win, of the "sure thing" matchups this week, theirs is easily the least sure. Considering Altec tends to do little to impact games his team loses, it makes him look like an even less attractive prospect when compared to Stixxay, who certainly doesn't have that issue.
Support
Hai (Cloud9 vs. Team SoloMid, $4,900): While I'm hesitant to bet the salary of a mid laner on the outcome of this highlight match, I'm much more willing to bet the value of a support, especially in the case of Hai. The joke that Cloud9 could more accurately be named Team Hai is a joke that's very much planted in reality; he has a higher kill participation in each game than nearly every other support in the league. Hai is the king of Cloud9, and his teammates are the pawns he arrays around himself. As such, he's always in the heat of action, inflating his kill participation. Considering this game is quite likely to be either a Cloud9 stomp or a long, bloody Team SoloMid victory, it seems all but certain that Hai will rack up quite a number of kills and assists, regardless of who the inevitable victor is. While he might be a bit more expensive than someone like BIG, it's money that will almost certainly be well spent, assuming Cloud9 doesn't totally collapse on Saturday or, worse, decide to hinge their hopes on Bunny FuFuu.
Other Suggestions: BIG (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $3,800), Adrian (Immortals vs. Renegades, $6,500), Aphromoo (Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team Impulse)
Support Player to Avoid:
Hakuho (Immortals vs. Renegades, $3,800): Hakuho tends to have the worst KDA on his team, constantly putting himself in positions where he dies for seemingly no reason. Against Immortals, I expect this to be exploited to the point where I think it's extremely likely he will be worth negative points. Stay away from him at all costs, unless you believe in miracles.
Team to Use:
Echo Fox (Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid, $3,800): At this point, did you really expect to see any other team here? Enjoy the high probability of success for the price of a team doomed to lose.
Team to Avoid:
Renegades (Renegades vs. Immortals, $2,900): As harsh as it might sound, I seriously doubt that Renegades will even succeed at killing a turret outside of a lane swap. The best thing that I can say for them is that the algorithm used to determine team value makes it impossible for them to score in the negatives, so at least they won't waste your money if you decide to bet on the insane longshot.
