League of Legends Championship Series - Lock In Tournament Day 3

January 16th, 2022

 

(+335) FlyQuest v 100 Thieves (-500)

(-650) Team Liquid v Counter Logic Gaming (+400)

(+275) Team SoloMid v Cloud9 (-415)

(-240) Evil Geniuses v Immortals (+180)

(-200) FlyQuest v Golden Guardians (+150)

 

We have seen two days of LCS play now and we have gotten a good look at some really exciting rosters. WE have the storyline of the reigning LCS champions 100 Thieves look almost untouchable. We see a hodgepodge Cloud9 roster that is missing many of their superstars looking like a real danger for this tournament as well as a little taste at what a possible Hans sama and CoreJJ bottom lane could possibly look like if CoreJJ can figure out his green card issues. Teams like Golden Guardian and FlyQuest still have a lot to prove, and we look at which players across the slate will be making the biggest difference today! Let’s dive in!

Game #1: FlyQuest v 100 Thieves

Cann’s Pick: 100 Thieves 

Game #2: Team Liquid v Counter Logic Gaming

Cann’s Pick: Team Liquid

Game #3: Team SoloMid v Cloud9

Cann’s Pick: Cloud9

Game #4: Evil Geniuses v Immortals

Cann’s Pick: Immortals

Game #5: FlyQuest v Golden Guardians

Cann’s Pick: Golden Guardians

 

Fantasy Value Breakdown

Captain

Favorite: Bjergsen (TL: $11,400) In his return to the LCS, Bjergsen reminded the league of his consistency and his ability to be the steady hand for his team. Even in their loss to EG, Bjerg was a constant point of pressure for TL and kept them in the game even with multiple losing lanes. The current meta (or strongest strategy) includes his best champions including Orianna and Viktor. CLG’s mid laner (Palafox) is a very hot and cold player which should mean he will struggle into Bjerg who won’t be swayed if the game turns sideways. 

Value Pick: Abbadagge (100: $10,800)

Top 

Favorite: Darshan (C9: $6,600) Now that we have a better understanding of the actual C9 roster for this tournament, we can accurately pick C9 players. I like the Darshan pick because of his veteran status. Darshan has been in the pro scene for so long and has played in some of the biggest international tournaments. He is playing an academy roster in TSM and in most matchups like this, the veteran experience is the difference. The young TSM lineup are mechanically skilled, but the in game awareness should prove to be the difference here. 

Value Pick: Impact (EG: $6,000) 

Jungle

Favorite: Santorin (TL: $7,000) This won’t be a huge kill number pick, so I would understand fading him. WHy I chose him for this spot is his presence and how the team plays through him. Santorin has always been the field general type and has filled the role his team needs him to fill. He will play tanky or skirmish heavy champions. He can prioritize ganking and fighting or securing vision around objectives. Santorin provides to the team the glue to hold many of their drafts together. He has a 79% team kill participation rate and a 5,5 KDA to boot. He doesn’t take unnecessary risks while navigating late game macro decisions/team fights. 

Value Pick: Xerxe (IMT: $6,400) 

Mid

Favorite: Fudge (C9: $7,400) There is a level of unpredictability with Fudge mid. He is a top laner who has switched to the mid lane for the 2022 season and the league is going to take time trying to peg down his playstyle and champion pool. This gives him a massive edge when picking champions and throwing teams off balance. He is averaging over 4 kills and 11 assists in two games which is a really impressive pace. He gets involved early and often across the map which should translate to points for your lineup. 

Value Pick: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $6,600) 

ADC

Favorite: Zven (C9: $7,600) When I used to coach League of Legends, I would point my ADCs to model their play after pros like Zven. He doesn’t take unnecessary risk but he doesn’t play scared either. Most ADCs tend to fall into one of those two categories; overly aggressive and risky or completely safe and lacks in damage output. He has 12 kills and 20 assists in two games which is otherworldly, especially considering the fact that Cloud9 is not playing with their entire starting roster. Love this pick into the academy roster of Team SoloMid today. 

Value Pick: FBI (100: $7,400) 

Support

Favorite: huhi (100: $6,000) He is simply the best. 100 Thieves look like they are just on another level compared to the rest of the field in this tournament. If TL cannot figure out their import slot/green card issues, I think 100 Thieves could run through this tournament mostly untested. The bottom lane of 100 Thieves are their core and the most constant part of their output. Love when I can pick up thie duo.  

Value Pick: Isles (C9: $5,600) ***There are two possible supports for C9, choose wisely or wait until lineups post later this afternoon!*** 

Team

Favorite: 100 Thieves ($5,400) Like I described with my huhi breakdown, it is hard to watch the games over the last two days and see a team you would take in a 5 game series over 100 Thieves. They may drop a game or two on their way to the finals, but the level that they are playing at makes it seem like they haven’t taken any breaks since the returned home from Iceland in November. In two games played they have an average gold differential of +4000 with the next closest team at +2600 (Evil Geniuses). 

Value Pick: Immortals ($4,800) 

 

Cann’s Example Lineup

DraftKings Classic 

$50,000 Salary Cap

Captain (x1.5): Closer (100: $10,200)

Alternate: WildTurtle (IMT: $10,200)

Top: Bwipo (TL: $6,800)

Jungle: Santorin (TL: $7,200)

Mid: Abbedagge (100: $7,200)

Alternate: PowerOfEvil (IMT: $6,600)

ADC: Danny (EG: $7,200)

Alternate: Zven (C9: $7,600)

Support: huhi (100”: $6,000)

Team: Cloud9 ($5,200)