League of Legends DFS: All-Stars
The final Riot-run event of the year and 2015 League of Legends season kicks off today in Los Angeles at the North American League Championship Series Studio. Fan votes determined the players who would be attending the 2015 All-Star Event and the result is some intriguing mix of stars, legends and fan favorites.
The event centers around All-Star teams from two predetermined groups facing off against each other. Some of these games will not be found on DraftKings as they are not all going to be played in the traditional 5v5. Several games are 1v1 along with a few other unique formats that will be a blast to watch, but won’t have fantasy implications.
There should be contests each of the next three days as the 5v5 portion of the event unfolds.
The Teams
Team Fire:
LCK: MaRin, Faker, PraY, MadLife, Score
LMS: Bebe, Westdoor, Ziv, Karsa, Olleh – Note that Toyz did not attend. Do not roster him.
NA: Dyrus, Meteos, Aphromoo, Bjergsen, Doublelift
Team Ice:
CIS: Smurf, DimaJke, Kira, LeX, Dimonko
LPL: Uzi, Rookie, Clearlove, Koro1, Pyl
EU: Rekkles, Froggen, Huni, Amazing, kaSing
The three teams from each group will play each of the three teams from the other group. One game each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Thursday’s Slate
NA LCS (+131) vs. EU LCS (-160)
With one exception coming from teams who face the CIS All-Stars, you won’t likely see many heavy favorites throughout All-Stars. Teams have had very little preparation time and in general the event is geared around fun and fan enjoyment which gives the whole event an, “anything can happen” kind of feel. That said, Europe is still the favorite over North America and I’d expect them to win. NA’s lineup features retired Dyrus and a Jungler who could not avoid a permanent benching during the Summer Split. Again, in a format such as this, we know that nearly anything could happen, but I’m targeting any and all EU players in this game and feeling good about it. Huni ($6,500) in particular is quite a strong play laning against Dyrus.
LPL (-141) vs. LMS (+116)
This is certainly the tightest of the three games today. Both of these teams come from very strong regions and feature highly skilled and experienced players. As noted above, Toyz is not attending All-Stars and has been replaced by Westdoor who isn’t available to roster. When building cash game lineups this is a game to avoid if possible. For tournaments, I like options on either side. LPL players are safer options, but the upside is there across the board. Ziv ($5,800) is my favorite LMS option while Clearlove ($5,900) is my favorite Jungler on the slate.
LCK (-709) vs. CIS (+484)
CIS is the International Wild Card team at the 2015 All-Star Event. They won the Wildcard All-Stars event in Melbourne a few weeks ago for the right to attend the full event in California this week. Despite the fact that they have quite a bit more experience playing together than the other five All-Star teams do it doesn’t change the fact that they are likely to be outclassed on the Summoner’s Rift. Options on LCK won’t come cheap as PraY and Faker are the two most expensive players on the board. If you have the salary, they’re worth the price, but certainly consider Score ($6,700) and MadLife ($6,800) who are the only LCK players that can be had under $7,000. CIS can and should be picked on throughout the All-Star Event.