LPL-LEC Play-off Friday

(-230) Fnatic v FC Schalke 04 (+175)

(-900) Suning Gaming v LNG Esports (+500)

Captain

Huanfeng ($11,700)

Despite Suning’s slow drought midway through the split, the squad finished strong courtesy of their outstanding ADC in Huanfeng. Support ON hasn’t looked consistently hitting the highs he’s had before; or, even filling the shoes of SwordArt, and mid laner Angel can be inconsistent domestically, but I still think SN is a team that’s good at breaking down teams that are below them. They’re a consistent squad that can still contend with the higher squads. Luckily for SN, LNG is about as bad as it gets for play-off LPL teams, and their weaknesses are glaring: top, mid, and adc are each extremely outmatched by their SN counterparts. If Huanfeng is out of your budget, grab Angel instead.

Alternatives to consider: Angel ($11,100)

Top Lane

Bin ($6,800)

As mentioned before, Bin is a top laner who crushes inferior top laners beneath him; he’s “the bar” for the elite. He can contend with Flandre, Xiaohu, and Zoom but he isn’t the consistent threat that the true greats of the LPL are. LNG got dragged into play-offs by Tarzan, and against SN their inferior laners will absolutely get exposed. For a second choice; and a foreshadowing on what's to come next, I have Broken Blade in his powered up form disintegrating Bwipo in FNC vs S04.

Alternatives to consider: Broken Blade ($6,000)

Jungle

Gilius ($6,000)

This is the hardest choice to make; my rationale for avoiding the LPL jungle match-up is SofM and Tarzan are both absolutely insane players, and likely both held the title of “best jungler in the world” at certain points. Gilius vs Selfmade? That’s hard. This season has been inconsistent for both junglers; but there is a specific reason why I prefer Gilius: his playstyle is more conservative and less likely to break down if his laners don’t get what they want. FNC and S04 are teams that are way different from each other, and I think Selfmade is more “high maintenance” relative to Gilius. If you aren’t down with Gilius, I’d grab SofM just based off him having the better team.

Alternatives to consider: SofM ($7,400)

Mid Lane

Angel ($7,400)

Angel vs Icon; Angel is a player who is capable of rising to the occasion internationally (and maybe in play-offs, too) but his biggest strength is just out edging those beneath him, and having strong synergy with jungler SofM. Icon has started off this split pretty solid, due to having a great jungler in Tarzan, and then LNG progressively got figured out by the other squads. In addition, power shifting away from the jungle role has harmed Tarzan, and by extension, LNG (same reason why I prefer Gilius). For a second choice, you’d have to match strong vs strong with Abbedagge vs Nisqy- do your best to stick with Angel.

Alternatives to consider: Abbedagge ($6,800)

ADC

Neon ($7,200)

S04’s bottom lane comes as a package on Friday. Upset is a good ADC, but Hylissang has just not looked good to me at all; while LIMIT has been performing like a top 3 support so far. I think FNC have hit a brick wall with this squad: their support is way too inconsistent, their top squad is too reactive, and Upset and Nisqy are left without a proper role on their team at times. The games are not theirs to decide, and I think that over a longer course of a bo5 against a team with really good highs like S04 (as long as they can hit them), their luck will run out.

Alternatives to consider: Huanfeng ($7,800)

Support

LIMIT ($5,200)

As mentioned before, LIMIT, and all of S04- especially Broken Blade, really step up when it absolutely matters. S04 made a solid sprint to play-offs, and they contended well with G2 and contended well until barely getting knocked down 2-3. The squad looks refined, with standouts being Broken Blade, Abbedagge, and especially support LIMIT. I want to target Hylissang on Friday, and LIMIT is a great support to do so.

Alternatives to consider: ON ($5,600)

Team

Suning Gaming ($5,600)

SN is the safe bet on friday: Bin, Angel, and Huanfeng just outclass their counterparts too hard, and jungle just isn’t the role it was early season 11. The gold nerfs have just stunted Tarzan’s ability to completely 1v9 and roll enemies by being the better jungler, and now Suning get to tear this impostor apart. I think S04 hold the upset for somewhat similar reasons, and just being a team that powers up when it matters the most.

Alternatives to consider: FC Schalke 04 ($4,800)

Stacks:

Bin & Huanfeng

I place Bin and Huanfeng together because while I think Angel is actually really good too, I think Icon just has enough of that inconsistency to make him maybe have slightly better odds (but still marginal at best) versus his opponent. Bin and Huanfeng stood up massive at worlds and I’m excited to see SN make a deep run at play-offs; their opponents in LNG are easy.

Neon & LIMIT

I’ve definitely been critical of Neon in the past, but I find him more inconsistent than terrible. He has had many good games, and while he ints others away, I’d rather have an ADC like him who can roll the dice and beat anyone than one that can only beat ADCs strictly worse than him; LIMIT has just been an insanely good and consistent support and is worth a spot.

Nisqy & Selfmade

While I don’t have FNC winning, I can’t deny that Selfmade was the best jungler in Europe last year, and I think Nisqy is a top 3 mid laner right now. Nisqy drags corpses of FNC game after game, and Selfmade spins a wheel between “unbearable” and showing the talent he’s had before. I think the jungle changes have negatively impacted FNC though, and I’m cautious about these two.

Top Picks: Angel, Bin, Huanfeng

SN win, it’s really just that easy. LNG’s counterparts have nothing on these three; I don’t think Tarzan has anything left in his tank for the series versus SN. Icon would have to do some sort of weird time travel to pull this one off.

Top Value: Broken Blade, Neon, LIMIT

S04 are cheap, and I think these three stack up the best into their relative positions: Gilius narrowly misses out, and while I think Abbedagge is actually the best all-around player on S04, I have too high of an opinion on Nisqy- he’s been their light in the dark, and Abbedagge can’t take that away from him.