League of Legends DFS: NA LCS - Sunday
The first half of the North American season is over with Immortals having defeated all nine other NA LCS teams. CLG, Cloud9 and TSM all sit in a three-way tie for second place with 6-3 records. Games between these teams take on new importance for the second half of the season as wins and losses could be the difference between a bye or a low seed in the playoffs.
Froggen’s return to the Rift for Echo Fox was perhaps the biggest story of the day. Echo Fox climbed out of last place and will have a chance to try to fight off relegation now that they feature their full roster. Keep an eye on them for the occasional sneaky play for the remainder of the season.
Odds & Matchups
NRG eSports (-391) vs. Echo Fox (+298)
Team SoloMid (+120) vs. Counter Logic Gaming (-146)
Immortals (-330) vs. Cloud9 (+257)
Team Liquid (-306) vs. Renegades (+240)
Team Dignitas (+111) vs. Team Impulse (-135)
Top
Hauntzer, TSM ($6,200) – A very well-played game by Hauntzer against Impulse on Thursday was one of the biggest factors in TSM staving off a contested game. Hauntzer has been the second most consistent top laner in North America behind Immortals’ Huni. Darshan and CLG are one of the league’s top teams, but even in a loss to CLG way back in the first game of the season, Hauntzer still had more than 20 DraftKings points.
Feng, TIP ($6,400) – The Feng play is never exciting, but I want to save salary in the top lane on Sunday. Dignitas is a poorly coordinated team and Team Impulse has shown improvements throughout the season. Feng’s @10 numbers are less than impressive to say the least, however I would still consider ranking him above lane opponent BillyBoss. Impulse’s nasty habit of giving up early leads should be mitigated by Digintas’ lack of ability to manufacture anything across the map. Feng’s 72.4% KP is strong for a top laner and should be enough to post a solid score in a potentially close game.
Jungle
Dardoch, TL ($6,800) – The fade of the day yesterday with his over 40% ownership is the play of the day today. There’s little positive to say about Renegades who managed to make the train wreck that has been Echo Fox’s season look like it could be salvaged. Renegades have died 27 more times than any other team in North America. In fact, if Renegades takes their average amount of deaths and Dardoch holds true to his very high KP of 85%, he will be in on around 13 kills. We can’t predict how games will play out and champion selection matters a lot, but Dardoch has one of the highest expectations of anyone on the day, even including most ADCs.
Reignover, IMT ($6,900) – Immortals players do carry some risk against a Cloud9 team that suddenly looks like a very good team, but Reignover was one of the best players in the region through the first half. He’s been so good in fact that he has yet to score under 20 points in any game. Both Immortals and Cloud9 are very different teams than the ones who faced off in their first game, but Cloud9 are probably not quite at a point where they can be considered a big enough threat to knock of the undefeated IMT.
Mid
GBM, NRG ($8,200) – Admittedly, GBM’s play has been less than perfect in the last week and Froggen won’t make that any easier. Still, Echo Fox have been back together for a single game and NRG can’t afford to lose this game if they want to keep pace with the 6-3 teams. GBM still leads the league in damage share and has continued to show a desire to be the one to make plays and put his team in positions to win. I like Echo Fox’s potential, but a chance to turn things around may have to wait until next week.
FeniX, TL ($7,900) – Old man Ich just doesn’t have it anymore and there’s no reason to think FeniX won’t have a lead coming out of lane phase. FeniX has been unlucky to score just 23 kills with his 31% damage share and nearly 80% KP. His kills per game should rise in the second half. Alex Ich and Renegades certainly won’t be much of an obstacle. We still haven’t seen the best the the current Team Liquid has to offer and as we get closer to their peak, their numbers should become more consistent.
ADC
Mash, TIP ($7,200) – It’s not often that we are granted the pleasure of a genuinely favored ADC at the depths of $7,200 and there is no reason we shouldn’t take advantage. DraftKings is telling us that they see Impulse and Dignitas as more evenly matched teams than I believe that they really are. Impulse defeated Dignitas in just 26:59 back in week three. Although that was when Impulse still had Seraph as their top laner, Feng has stepped up his play enough to no longer be a weak spot. World-beater Gate has also had a few weeks without having to change roles and the team has finally had a chance to get real practice time in with their full roster. All of that together is enough that it’s difficult to fade Mash at this price, against this opponent.
Stixxay, CLG ($7,200) – I don’t think it will surprise anyone to hear that Doublelift is better than Stixxay, it’s not a secret. Stixxay, however, has proven to be a worthy replacement for the former CLG ADC. Stixxay is here to show people that he is very much in play and does not need to be avoided just because he will be laning against a superior opponent. CLG as a team have been stronger than TSM this season and clearly that’s how the books are viewing it as well. I think this game will boil down to a few key plays and is a virtual coin flip, but CLG and Stixxay have earned our faith and should be in consideration for your roster.
Team
The favorite: Team Liquid ($5,600) – Next team up on the Renegades one way trip to relegation.
The upset: Team SoloMid ($4,500) – I actually don’t view this as much of an upset, but I also think the favored team is going to win each of the other four games. TSM is the best option under $5,000.