LoL Fantasy Grind Down: Saturday, March 12th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders LoL Grind Down! These articles will cover everything you need to know for playing League of Legends fantasy including defense vs position, projections, vegas odds, and detailed analysis.
Also included is the RotoGrinders original statistic, pace — a higher pace means bloodier games, so when two teams with high pace play, expect a bloodbath!
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Team SoloMid vs. Team Impulse
| Team SoloMid | Team Impulse | |||||||||||
 | Record | 8-6 |  | Record | 5-9 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | -330 | Vegas Sprd | +257 | |||||||||
| Avg. KP | 64.6 | Avg. KP | 67.3 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.95 | Team Pace | 0.82 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Hauntzer | Svenskeren | Bjergsen | YellOwStaR | Doublelift | Players | Feng | Procxin | Pirean | Gate | Mash | |
| Opp. Season | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | Opp. Season | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | |
I’m buying in on TSM players for this slate and while I wasn’t overly impressed by TSM on the international stage at IEM, they may have slightly improved enough to make a late season push. The glaring issues of teamfight communication were still there for TSM and I know people want to give Yellowstar a pass because he’s a legacy player but I’m not keen on that. His play from a mechanical standpoint has been pretty bad. His decision making for the team, while we can’t know exactly what they are saying, has been only slightly improved. All that aside, I like the fantasy potential on for the carry players on this team and I’m hoping to see a refocused Bjergsen and Doublelift as they get back to regional play. Svenskeren was probably the most improved player at IEM Katowice so while I like other jungle options for this slate, I like what I’ve seen recently and I have no issue with anyone slotting him in their roster. On TiP side, there is literally nothing of note for fantasy. Seriously guys, I got nothing. Stay away. Sure TSM has proven they can lose to bad teams but as we near the playoffs, I see this Team SoloMid squad surging forward rather than faltering right now. As it stands right now, I’m grabbing as many Immortals and Team SoloMid players as I can while sprinkling in a few nice sleeper values.
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Team SoloMid
Elite Plays
-Bjergsen (DK & AD $8,000) – Only one team allows opposing mid laners to get more kills than Team Impulse but I have a feeling Bjergsen will change that figure by the end of the day tomorrow. He’s a stud in the mid lane with a great matchup and huge upside so I love this play.
Secondary Plays
-Hauntzer (DK $7,200, AD $7,600) – Hauntzer is just a solid player. Locking him in will likely get you the value for the investment but he isn’t likely to exceed that by a great amount. Stick with him in cash games.
-Everyone Else – I love TSM for this game and while I’d have Bjergsen and Hauntzer a notch above the rest of the team, I still think you can get good value across the board from Doublelift, Svenskeren and Yellowstar
Team Impulse
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
- None
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Immortals vs. NRG eSports
| Immortals | NRG eSports | |||||||||||
 | Record | 13-1 |  | Record | 6-7 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | -675 | Vegas Sprd | +466 | |||||||||
| Avg. KP | 67.5 | Avg. KP | 74.6 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 1.12 | Team Pace | 0.81 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Huni | Reignover | Pobelter | Adrian | WildTurtle | Players | Impact | Moon | GBM | KonKwon | LOD | |
| Opp. Season | 8 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 7 | Opp. Season | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Immortals finally fell last week losing to CLG in a crazy match that I highly recommend watching if you are new to DFS e-sports or if you just love wild League of Legends matches. The loss doesn’t really mean too much and it was only the solo laners that really suffered a dip in fantasy return in the loss so don’t let this scare you away from rostering IMT players. As a team they still have 20 more kills than the next closest team and 34 less deaths than the next lowest team. I’m on board with paying up for a carry top laner like Huni who leads his position in both KDA and damage share. You can make a good argument for other IMT players as well but the gap between Huni and the next best top laner is huge compared to the other Immortals players at their respective positions. For NRG all we have is more disappointment after they lost to Team Impulse this year. There is still a lot of buzz about the fantasy viability of mid laner GBM and I can buy into the idea but it’s a bit of a leap considering we have yet to see him consistently perform. Over his last 10 games he has 5 performances with 4 or more kills but he also has 4 performances with 1 or less kills during that span. Taking a look at him for the flex spot on DraftKings but that’s about it.
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Immortals
Elite Plays
-Huni (DK $7,600, AD $7,800) – Huni showed a glimpse of weakness against Darshan in the lone loss for Immortals but he should bounce back in a big way this weekend. Impact is a talented player but I almost consider this a 2v1 as Reignover spends so much time helping Huni, while Moon does….well I’m not quite sure I’ve yet to really see him do much of anything.
Secondary Plays
-Reignover (DK $7,300, AD $7,900) – With a wide selection of viable junglers in this slate, I’ll avoid calling Reignover an elite play, but his fantasy potential is still as high as anyones. Anytime you see a KDA nearing 10 for a player this late in the season, you know just how strong they can perform.
-WildTurtle (DK $8,400, AD $8,500) – If I go with a one-off for Immortals and decide to go with TSM/TL I think WildTurtle is a pretty good option because of his insane upside. NRG is weakest in their bottom lane so Adrian and WT could have a field day racking up kills.
NRG eSports
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
-GBM (DK only $5,600) – I don’t love this play for most cash games but that is just so cheap for a solid mid laner with fairly high upside so I’m willing to take the bait and flex GBM or just go super cheap in the mid lane and spend elsewhere.
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CLG vs. Team Liquid
| CLG | Team Liquid | |||||||||||
 | Record | 10-4 |  | Record | 7-7 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | -199 | Vegas Sprd | +162 | |||||||||
| Avg. KP | 65.6 | Avg. KP | 73.7 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.93 | Team Pace | 0.84 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Darshan | Xmithie | Huhi | Aphromoo | Stixxay | Players | Lourlo | Dardoch | FeniX | Matt | Piglet | |
| Opp. Season | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Opp. Season | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
Of all the teams we saw at IEM Katowice, Counter Logic Gaming may be the team we learned the least new information on. They did what they have been doing all year long which is trying to enable the splitpush by Darshan and fight as a four man unit creating plays on the back of Aphromoo’s god-like support plays. I expect more of the same which means the value on Darshan will continue to suffer as will his opposition Lourlo who will be on babysitting duty in the 1v1. For fantasy purposes, Darshan is basically the “Revis Island” idea where you just want to stay away from the guy lined up across from him. Not necessarily saying Darshan is that high caliber type player, but his job is often to take the opposing top laner out of the fight via the splitpush. A player I love for this slate is the ADC for Liquid, Piglet. He is among the top 4 at his position in KDA, kill participation, and damage share. He will be almost a lock for my lineups on both AlphaDraft and DraftKings and his salary on DK allows you to potentially slot him into the flex spot. CLG and TL both average fairly long games with high kill totals so this game will not only be one of the closer matches, but potentially the fantasy gold mine for the day but more on the Team Liquid side. Dardoch is another interesting player but he has fallen off a bit while Xmithie has really been starting to shine. I think he’s a solid play but I will be targeting the bottom lane for Team Liquid primarily. I still like CLG to pull out the victory but I think this matchup could be tough and the only glaring advantage I see on CLG is their shotcalling and the top lane battle.
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CLG
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
- None – It’s not that I have a problem with rostering CLG players, I just see more fantasy value in players on other teams around the same price point. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that Team Liquid could pull off the upset.
Team Liquid
Elite Plays
-Piglet (DK $6,300, AD $7,900) – I absolutely love this play and he will likely be my go-to at this position for cash games, especially on DraftKings. Piglet trails only WildTurtle in KDA.
Secondary Plays
-Matt (DK $4,300, AD $7,300) – On DraftKings Matt is a guy I’m targeting like Piglet but I may fad on him on AlphaDraft.
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Renegades vs. Cloud 9
| Renegades | Cloud 9 | |||||||||||
 | Record | 2-12 |  | Record | 9-5 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | +453 | Vegas Sprd | -650 | |||||||||
| Avg. KP | 69.4 | Avg. KP | 66.2 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.76 | Team Pace | 1.06 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Seraph | Crumbzz | Alex Ich | Hakuho | Freeze | Players | Balls | Rush | Jensen | Hai | Sneaky | |
| Opp. Season | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Opp. Season | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
Starting this week, the Renegades are no longer your classic cupcake opponent. That’s not to say they aren’t a bad team any longer but the roster changes they made look like they will be for the better. Top laner RF Legendary and mid laner Alex Ich will be taking their 2.0 KDA’s elsewhere while Seraph and Ninja sub in for those respective positions. Seraph has bounced around this year with mixed, but decent results. Ninja is the real unknown so for those unfamiliar here is a cliff notes version of what we can expect. He came over from Korea last year but was unable to start for TDK until the last few weeks of Spring 2015. He and ADC Emperor, you know the guy tearing up the EU LCS for G2, took the consensus worst team TDK from one of the all-time worst teams to a decent, but still bad position. I don’t think Ninja will have nearly the impact we have seen from Emperor this year but he is probably an upgrade from a skills standpoint over Alex Ich. Due to the nature of C9’s gameplay, aggressive dives and teamfights, I can see some punt value in this game for Renegades. Top laner Seraph will be the target if you are looking to punt in the top lane.
As for Cloud 9, this one is looking like a fade for me. Even though C9 usually produces solid fantasy totals across the board, the salaries are very high especially on DraftKings. Going with one of the carries like Sneaky or Jensen is a solid play with high upside but you can’t afford to stack much more than 1 or 2 players for C9. For the record, I prefer Sneaky over Jensen but only by a narrow margin. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the matchup for Cloud 9 players but I the value elsewhere leads me towards fading this matchup. Also worth noting Freeze who leads all ADC’s with a 79.8% kill participation. Hey may be worth a contrarian flyer in a GPP lineup but I’m staying away in cash games because of how dangerously low his floor is.
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Renegades
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
-Seraph (DK $5,000, AD $7,100) – This is strictly reserved as a punt play for me because Top is a decent position to punt if you are going to do so. Seraph has only played in 3 games this season but he has 12 kills and 19 assists in total over those games. More preferable in GPP formats.
Cloud 9
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
-Sneaky (DK & AD $8,400) or Jensen (DK $8,400, AD $8,500) – This is one you will likely have to choose as rostering both of these guys will be pretty tough especially on DraftKings. I think Jensen is the safer play for cash but Sneaky still has very high upside.
-Rush (DK $7,300, AD $8,000) – Rush continues to be the playmaker for the team and he boasts a strong 71% kill participation to prove it. He’s averaging over 10 assists per game over his last 4 matches and I expect he has a good shot at exceeding that total yet again versus Renegades.
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Echo Fox vs. Dignitas
| Echo Fox | Dignitas | |||||||||||
 | Record | 5-8 |  | Record | 4-10 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | -290 | Vegas Sprd | +229 | |||||||||
| Avg. KP | 74.6 | Avg. KP | 63.5 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.71 | Team Pace | 0.79 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | kfo | Hard | Froggen | BIG | KEITH | Players | BillyBoss | Kirei | Shiphtur | KiWiKiD | Apollo | |
| Opp. Season | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | Opp. Season | 4 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | |
The final match of the day won’t feature any playoff teams but it has the potential to be a good game. Obviously there is a lot to like in Froggen and Co. but they have started to slow down after the surge they had when he returned. One thing I like about this Echo Fox team is they seem to know how to handle inferior opponents. In victories, Froggen is averaging 5 kills and 8 assists. Astonishingly enough, he has failed to net a single kill in any of their 3 losses with him in the lineup. I think Echo Fox should win this game so I like Froggen a good bit. Kfo is another name to note because, like Froggen, his numbers in wins are pretty good but he does next to nothing in losses. He’s almost like a boom or bust deep threat receiver because you’re always gambling on if he can capitalize on the ones thrown his way. His opponent BillyBoss has an abysmal 1.6 KDA and he leads NA top laners in deaths so I think there is some potential for Kfo. The problem for that play is I would just rather have someone with a higher floor and maybe even a higher upside in Hauntzer for TSM. Kfo is really more of a play on AlphaDraft where his salary is a tad lower than the likes of Hauntzer and Darshan. Dignitas is a lot like Team Impulse for fantasy. There just isn’t much there to comment on. The two players that have produced well at times are Apollo and to a greater extent, Shiphtur. The man in the mid lane for DIG had a stellar game against Echo Fox last time but that was against their lineup full of substitutes and this team now has shown they are much different animal. Neither of these teams tend to have extremely bloody games so stacking Echo Fox is not highly advised but you can grab a couple of their key players and they should provide solid value against a floundering Team Dignitas.
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Echo Fox
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
-Froggen (DK $7,900, AD $7,700) – This is a play I would prefer on AD but I still think he is perfectly viable on DK. As I stated above, the numbers on this guy when Echo Fox wins are outstanding.
-Kfo (DK $7,200, AD $7,300) – I made my case for him in the game summary but I pretty much think he will be a decent risk/reward play in tournament games or as a punt play for the top lane position.
Dignitas
Elite Plays
- None
Secondary Plays
- None
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