League of Legends: Saturday, October 3rd
Saturday’s slate has by far the most interesting and difficult to peg matchups thus far in League of Legends DFeS on DraftKings. There’s been a few upsets already during the first week of the 2015 World Championship and it would be surprising if there weren’t more. Bangkok Titans are the only minnow in action on the day (and even they could win) and all five of the other games could conceivably be won by either team. It’s an exciting slate for tournaments with every position ripe with options that have high upside.
As a whole, I think the addition of eSports to DraftKings has been a huge success. The tournament sizes have been large, although the Critical Strike did drop from being a $25k down to $20k, but that may have something to do with the fact that tomorrow’s games unfortunately start at 5:00 A.M. pacific time. I cannot wait to see where eSports DFS is by the time the 2016 LoL season rolls around. On to the games. No support section. Supports don’t really have any individual consideration as they only score points when their teammates score points, so select supports who play on the same team as one or more of your players.
SK Telecom T1 (-180) vs. EDward Gaming (+147)
H2k Gaming (-600 ) vs. Bangkok Titans (+425)
LGD Gaming (-155) vs. KT Rolster (+127)
Origen (-150) vs. Team SoloMid (+123)
Invictus Gaming (-260) vs. Cloud9 (+207)
Fnatic (-300) vs. ahq eSports Club (+236)
Top
Acorn, LGD $6,200 – In the earlier days of LoL DFS it was common to pay down in the Top lane. Top laners were often left to fend for themselves and sometimes picked on by opposing teams (See Dyrus all year). However, the landscape of the game has changed and Top laners aren’t just picking tanky Champions, instead often becoming their team’s legitimate carry and racking up kills. This means we can pay up at Top, or even consider flexing a Top. Playing for LGD in what is an extremely important game for both teams as they try to get out of a tough Group D, Acorn has very high upside. There is also potential for a flop here, but with tough games across the board, risk aversion isn’t likely to be possible at every position.
Zz1tai, iG $6,500 – This is a player that I’m willing to go back to the well with. I’m not a Cloud9 believer. Zz1tai and iG were pitiful against Fnatic, but third place in the Chinese LPL is a significantly greater achievement than C9’s terrible seventh place finish in the North American summer split. C9’s upset of AHQ was impressive, but it’s extremely difficult to see them as a team capable of getting out of Group B. Zz1tai is worthy of a spot in both cash and tournaments. Don’t let the public outcry convince you that C9 has become a World’s threat overnight.
Jungle
Kakao, iG $6,300 – Invictus Gaming, and particularly Kakao, burned many of us back on Thursday. He was a complete non-factor and finished the game with an impressive 0/0/0 line. His 90 CS were his only points, good for a 1.8. Coming into the World Championships, Kakao was viewed by many as one of the few truly great players in the jungle along with Clearlove. Then there was Thursday’s game against Fnatic. FNC deserves credit for playing extremely well in that game, but for a Jungler known for his aggressive and well-timed play, you have to think he’s regretting the Skarner pick. Ten minutes in, Kakao had barely seen any action in any lanes whatsoever, and by 15:00 iG had lost control of its own jungle. It’s a pretty safe bet that Kakao will move off slow burn Champions like Skarner and be a little more aggressive in the early game.
bengi, SKT $6,000 – This isn’t a particularly exciting pick, but if you want SKT exposure on your team, bengi may have to do. His Kill Participation was amongst the lowest of junglers in the LCK this summer, but he’s still lining up with the best players in the world and is a clear favorite even against EDG. Still, bengi is capable of big games and it will need to be a full team effort by SKT if they’re going to put down EDG on Saturday.
Mid
Ryu, H2k $7,300 – We’ve been picking on Ryu and H2k for two days now, but against G4 and Bangkok Titans we’re on him. BKT has been played off the Summoner’s Rift in both of their games so far and while H2k sports the same 0-2 record, it’s fair to say they at least appeared to belong. Perhaps it requires a little faith to roster players from teams who are all but eliminated from the tournament and could be prone to mistakes and potential upsets, but the spot is hard to pass up. On a day with several fiercely contested games, H2k is a clear favorite to play BKT off the Rift just as SKT and EDG were able to. He’s cash game safe and likely to be highly owned in both cash and GPPs, which could be a reason to look elsewhere for your tournaments with hope that H2k wins with a minimal kill count.
xPeke, OG $6,700 –This pick may have been a little more off the board had OG not won Friday, but that win is going to increase their players popularity quite a bit. I do still think we can rely on TSM fans keeping their players at pretty high ownership despite going up against a team that just beat LGD. That isn’t to say TSM can’t or won’t win here, but you have to feel good about OG’s confidence coming into this game. xPeke in particular was much maligned coming into the tournament, but a quadra kill later against LGD and he’s suddenly looking like a big player for Origen.
ADC
Rekkles, FNC $7,500 – There were questions about how well Fnatic’s game would translate to the international stage after they ran the table in the EU LCS this summer, but asked and answered. FNC controlled iG from start to finish on Thursday and a 30:34 surrender by iG was the only reason Rekkles didn’t have a huge game. He finished with a 4/0/4 and it easily could have gone upwards of 7/0/6 if FNC had been able to clear Baron and score a game-ending Ace on iG. It was a different story for AHQ as they were dismantled by Cloud9 to the tune of a 24 minute loss. It was a shocking upset and may be indicative of what we can expect to see out of AHQ at this tournament. If that’s the case, and I believe it is, load up on Rekkles.
Imp, LGD $7,000 – Is imp the best ADC in the world? Wining the bottom lane and controlling the game in a tough matchup against Arrow and Piccaboo of KT Rolster would go a long way in solidifying that claim, especially after being upset by Origen yesterday. Pyl and imp are a superior pair to their opponents in this game and it isn’t particularly close. I was surprised to see that LGD isn’t a more significant favorite against KT in this game, but still feel confident in their ability to exploit small edges in the early game and snowball that into mid-game control. High upside tournament option with cash game consideration on a tough slate.