LoL Grind Down: Sunday, February 21st
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!
Vegas odds come from pinnaclesports.com, team aggregate projections are the total AlphaDraft points projected for all five members, and team slot projections are projections for the actual team pick in AlphaDraft points. Efficiency is also mentioned, which is calculated as ( Projected Points / Salary ) * 1000, and represents how much bang you’re getting for your buck.
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Renegades vs. CLG
| Renegades | CLG | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 0.0 |  | Vegas Total | 0.0 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | +386 | Vegas Sprd | -532 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 0.0 | Team Proj. | 0.0 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.73 | Team Pace | 0.86 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Flaresz | Crumbzz | Alex Ich | Hakuho | Freeze | Players | Darshan | Xmithie | Huhi | Aphromoo | Stixxay | |
| Opp. Season | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Opp. Season | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
For Renegades, Saturday saw the now 1-10 team put forth one of the best efforts of the season against undefeated Immortals. It’s a reminder of a couple of things. Firstly, while Renegades remain the worst team in the league, their players didn’t stumble their way onto the LCS stage on accident. They’re professionals who have years of practice. Renegades and their coaching staff identified ways they could get at Immortals in the early game and it worked with far more success than anyone would have expected. So, the takeaway from that is that we should always consider the possibility of an upset in professional League of Legends. All that said, the other thing to remember is that these things happen and Renegades is still probably going to finish the split with a 1-17 record, so don’t go out of your way to look for an excuse to be contrarian with them in their games.
Speaking of early game leads, Team Impulse managed a small early lead over CLG on Saturday, only for CLG to flip the script in a hurry. Trailing in gold at the 9:00 mark, CLG had amassed a nearly 8,000 gold lead by 16 minutes. It was a strong rebound from CLG, who should comfortably turn in a 2-0 week with an easy win over Renegades.
Renegades
Elite Plays
None.
Secondary Plays
None.
CLG
Elite Plays
HuHi (AD: $8,300, DK: $8,300) – If anyone was CLG’s carry on Saturday, it was actually jungler Xmithie, who had quite a game. HuHi, however, is still the go to player on CLG right now. If I’m paying up for anyone against Renegades, it’s him.
Secondary Plays
Xmithie (AD: $7,600), Stixxay (AD: $8,200, DK: $8,300) – The main thing I’m noting here is that Xmithie is not a carry and games like yesterday’s are few and far between. His DraftKings price is too high.
Dignitas vs. Team SoloMid
| Dignitas | Team SoloMid | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 0.0 |  | Vegas Total | 0.0 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | +289 | Vegas Sprd | -377 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 0.0 | Team Proj. | 0.0 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.78 | Team Pace | 0.96 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | BillyBoss | Kirei | Shiphtur | KiWiKiD | Apollo | Players | Hauntzer | Svenskeren | Bjergsen | YellOwStaR | Doublelift | |
| Opp. Season | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | Opp. Season | 4 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | |
An epic loss to Cloud9 leaves TSM’s spot in the top two in jeopardy and they cannot drop a game to teams below them in the standings the rest of the way if they want to have a fighting chance at a first round bye. It would be a mistake to overlook Dignitas on Sunday in favor of overthinking their loss to C9. Still, it would take quite a collapse to drop this game. TSM pounded Dignitas across the map back in Week 2 for an easy 28 minute win. A little too easy, as Doublelift finished the game with a fantasy-tame 1/0/3 line. It would be ill-advised to be overly heavy on TSM in cash games.
There’s so very little to say about Dignitas on the other hand, who are the “just there” team of the league. I do think there is a possibility of this game becoming interesting, though. With Echo Fox taking off, Dignitas going to be locked into the bottom three without coming up with a couple of upsets of top tier teams. If there was ever a time to beat TSM, it’s now when they are coming off one of their toughest losses ever.
Dignitas
Elite Plays
None.
Secondary Plays
Shiphtur (AD: $7,300, DK: $6,000), Apollo (AD: $6,900, DK: $6,100) – Even in an upset of TSM, it’s unlikely that Dignitas players will all put up big scores. An upset of this size typically results off one big ace and a quick base destruction. Shiphtur and Apollo are fair enough one offs on contrarian teams.
Team SoloMid
Elite Plays
Doublelift (AD: $8,600, DK: $8,200), Bjergsen (AD: $8,500, DK: $8,100) – It’s going to be tough for both Bjerg and Double to put up big scores in this game, but it’s also likely that at least one of them does. Whoever catches the first kill or two will be the snowball for the remainder of the game.
Secondary Plays
Svenskeren (AD: $7,900, DK: $7,000) – I still see Svenskeren as the ugly duckling on TSM, but Dignitas leads North America in deaths to junglers. Lack of awareness has been and will continue to be one of the biggest downfalls.
NRG eSports vs. Cloud 9
| NRG eSports | Cloud 9 | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 0.0 |  | Vegas Total | 0.0 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | +173 | Vegas Sprd | -214 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 0.0 | Team Proj. | 0.0 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.83 | Team Pace | 0.99 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Impact | Moon | GBM | KonKwon | Altec | Players | Balls | Rush | Jensen | Hai | Sneaky | |
| Opp. Season | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Opp. Season | 8 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | |
Most people will be looking at Immortals and Team Liquid as the game of the day, but I’m most interested in this game. In their previous game, Sneaky posted nine kills and Rush surprisingly pulled out the Nunu pick. On NRG’s side, oft maligned Moon was 0/5/2. It was the first of three straight losses for NRG. It was also the beginning of a streak of GBM trying to do too much. I’d expect a much closer game today.
NRG come in with a little bit of breathing room, especially with Liquid forced to play Immortals today, but are surely aware that both Liquid and Echo Fox are hot on their Ahri tails. A win here would not only be a dash away from the teams chasing them, but vault them into the territory of the three teams all tied for 2nd place. NRG’s focus against C9 should be on the bottom lane. GBM should be able to fend for himself as he often does, but if Moon doesn’t offer pressure into the bottom lane at opportune times, it will be a repeat of the last game.
Certainly on Cloud9 after an unbelievable comeback win against TSM yesterday, C9 are the league’s best hope of taking down Immortals once the playoffs arrive. This won’t be as easy of a win as it was last time though and I think it’s the most contested game of the day. C9 have shown off the best coaching in North America with former support LemonNation guiding the team, so I don’t expect any kind of let down after their big win yesterday.
NRG eSports
Elite Plays
Impact (DK: $5,800) – This is probably one of best punts of the day. NRG are a legitimate threat to beat Cloud9 and Impact is the, ahem, most impactful top laner in the region.
Secondary Plays
GBM (AD: $7,700, DK: $6,500) – If we’re hoping for this game to take off the way both of C9’s previous two games were, GBM will be in the middle of it. I’d like to see GBM allow the game to come to him and zap people like he showed off earlier in the season. I’m calling for GBM on Viktor for this game.
Cloud 9
Elite Plays
Balls (AD: $7,300) – It’s fair to call Balls’ performance yesterday against TSM an outlier. Balls accumulated more than 25,000 gold, putting on a show and ultimately being the biggest obstacle for TSM. His 9/1/11 line came just one kill short of the double bonus, but more importantly, he killed Doublelift’s Kogmaw in multiple key fights. C9’s upside as a whole is too high for Balls to not be an elite play at his AlphaDraft price, even though he’s generally not a particularly great fantasy option.
Sneaky (AD: $8,100, DK: $7,700), Jensen (AD: $8,200, DK: $7,600) – C9’s duo of damage dealers have taken their game to the next level. Now elite plays in nearly any matchup, Sneaky and Jensen are two of the top players for both fantasy and on the Rift.
Rush (DK: $6,600) – Significant price difference between AlphaDraft and DraftKings means he’s only elite on DK. One of the best, affordable plays of the slate on DK.
Secondary Plays
Rush (AD: $8,000) – Not a cash play on AlphaDraft.
Team Impulse vs. Echo Fox
| Team Impulse | Echo Fox | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 0.0 |  | Vegas Total | 0.0 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | +175 | Vegas Sprd | -217 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 0.0 | Team Proj. | 0.0 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.85 | Team Pace | 0.70 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Feng | Procxin | Pirean | Gate | Mash | Players | kfo | Hard | Froggen | BIG | KEITH | |
| Opp. Season | 5 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 5 | Opp. Season | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |
Suddenly a real force to be reckoned with, Echo Fox shouldn’t have any problems with Team Impulse, even if they actually have the same 4-7 record. Echo Fox’s win over Liquid was both impressive and extremely important for their playoff hopes. It was certainly a close game as the teams battled for nearly an hour, but a Keith Quadra Kill in his own base was enough to seal the win. It will be hard to not roster as much Echo Fox as possible against Impulse, who should be nicknamed Nopulse, because they aren’t even getting a paragraph here. Exploitable all over the map, TIP is simply a poor team who won’t be able to handle anyone on Echo Fox.
One other thing worth noting is that in Echo Fox’s first game of the season, which was before Froggen was forced out of play, they easily defeated Impulse.
Team Impulse
Elite Plays
None.
Secondary Plays
None. This is partially because Echo Fox isn’t getting enough credit, so TIP prices simply aren’t appealing even from a contrarian standpoint.
Echo Fox
Elite Plays
Everyone – This is sort of the opposite of the above note on Impulse’s prices. Because Echo Fox isn’t being recognized as a good team by either site, their prices are extremely low. Just as an example, in Froggen’s five games this year, his scores on DraftKings are: 27, 7, 31, 42 and 46. He’s the fifth highest priced mid laner and gets to play one of the worst teams in the league. Lock and load.
Secondary Plays
None.
Team Liquid vs. Immortals
| Team Liquid | Immortals | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Total | 0.0 |  | Vegas Total | 0.0 | |||||||
| Vegas Sprd | +402 | Vegas Sprd | -560 | |||||||||
| Team Proj. | 0.0 | Team Proj. | 0.0 | |||||||||
| Team Pace | 0.82 | Team Pace | 1.18 | |||||||||
| Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | Matchup – Opponent DvP Ranks | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | DvP Rks | Top | Jng | Mid | Supp | ADC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Lourlo | Dardoch | FeniX | Matt | Piglet | Players | Huni | Reignover | Pobelter | Adrian | WildTurtle | |
| Opp. Season | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Opp. Season | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | |
The so called game of the day may not be much of a game after all. Although Immortals were tested by Renegades, they still pulled it together and continued their undefeated streak. A couple of good games and some huge fantasy scores lifted Team Liquid into the elite team conversation a few weeks ago, but they’ve proven to be anything but. Despite several games with leads, they’ve often fallen apart somewhere throughout the mid and late game and have lost their way to a 5-6 record.
Yesterday we talked about how NRG’s playoff spot could be contended for by Echo Fox, but really it’s a three team race for two slots. Liquid’s inability to find even the slightest bit of consistency in the mid game has doomed them repeatedly. Dardoch’s prowess in the early game is no longer catching anyone by surprise and without more cohesiveness as laning phase ends, Liquid will continue to drop games it shouldn’t. This is one they can be expected to drop, though.
Team Liquid
Elite Plays
None.
Secondary Plays
Dardoch (DK: $4,800) – DK only play as Dardoch isn’t priced as if he is playing against Immortals on AlphaDraft. There are worse punts.
Immortals
Elite Plays
WildTurtle (AD: $8,600, DK: $8,300), Reignover (AD: $8,200, DK: $7,200) – This pairing is the elite pairing of elite pairings in North America. Liquid love to fight, as does Immortals, and these are both nearly must plays if they can be reasonably fit into your lineup.
Secondary Plays
Pobelter (AD: $8,400, DK: $8,300) – As a primary damage dealer for a team in a game with a potentially high amount of kills, Pobelter has to be in the conversation. Given that I’d prefer to have one or both of Turtle and Reignover, he’s tough to fit, but still a very strong option.