On Sunday LCS, match-ups have parity relative to their previous 2020 Spring team rankings. However, there are plenty of individual player match-ups that are extremely unequal, and primed for generating massive amounts of points:

Captain

Nisqy ($12,000)

Nisqy is a solid option as a captain, he is against one of the weakest mid/jg combinations in LCS, and has Blaber to help him in the 2v2, who is the best jungler in the league. Nisqy is certainly on the pricey side, but the Captain position is worth spending money on: Zven may have had a higher KDA last season, but his lane opponent, Cody Sun, is much more of an even match up compared to Nisqy vs Ryoma. If you’re not looking for a pricey option, you could roll for TL Tactical, who had a solid showing in spring and is up against Golden Guardians, whose weakness has historically been their weak bottom lane.

Alternatives to consider: Tactical ($11,100)

Top Lane

Hauntzer ($5,400)

Hauntzer is a stable player in a stable lane, across is Impact, a player who is slightly better, but comes at a much higher price tag. Realistically, it’s not worth cashing out on a top laner in LCS since as a league they mostly prefer to play towards bottom side, and top laners are generally not good for substantial point generation. If you do want to gamble though, Broken Blade is your guy: he is one of the few true carry players, and across him is Viper, a player who was removed from his team last year due to his poor performance. Broken Blade is extremely expensive however, which has deterred us from making him our primary selection.

Alternatives to consider: Broken Blade ($6,800)

Jungle

Blaber ($7,600)

With Nisqy as our captain, our choice of Blaber makes the most sense. Blaber is the MVP of 2020 Spring and Nisqy and him have extremely strong synergy. The jungle role may not be the best role to cash out in considering their relatively low CS numbers, but with Nisqy as our captain it’s a gamble worth taking. Additionally, this worry is ameliorated by Nisqy having the highest CSP/M of any jungler in Spring, and Meteos being a weak competitor in comparison. For those afraid of spending big on jungle, we will suggest Akaadian, a player who almost turned Dignitas around in Spring and lended stability to the fledgling roster.

Alternatives to consider: Akaadian ($5,800)

Mid Lane:

Damonte ($6,000)

Damonte comes in cheap, extremely cheap. However, given his all-star performance in Academy, where he was either the best or second best mid laner indisputably, he is worth it. Furthermore, Damonte’s last LCS stint was above average, and his price tag is criminally low considering his performances in the past. The only issue is his opponent is Jensen, a player who has been flippy in the last few splits. Damonte has been shown to be capable of punching above his weight class at events like the 2019 World Championship, but for those who think Jensen is an opponent who might be too much to bear, we will point you towards Froggen, another mid laner that comes in cheap and is famous for his good stat line despite being on weaker teams. His opponent is a similarly strong Bjergsen, but Bjergsen is known for his inactive early games, allowing Froggen to pursue his trademark farm kingdom.

Alternatives to consider: Froggen ($6,600)

ADC:

Tactical ($7,400)

Our choice of Tactical is an echo of what we described in the Captain section: he’s had a good showing in Spring and against TSM, he comes in cheap, and was a fantastic player in academy. Furthermore, his support is a world champion, and his lane opponent is an import from Australia and a role-swapped mid laner. Tactical is extremely favored to perform well in lane. That being said, Tactical has been known to be a bit of a passenger in the past, and at the high price tag you certainly are not looking for an ADC who is willing to get carried. For those people, we will suggest Johnsun, who comes in much cheaper than Tactical. Johnsun can also be prone to being a passenger, but has proven consistency in Spring on Dignitas, and was given the Rookie of the Split award. His opponent is Doublelift, who is an accomplished player, but was considered one of the worst ADCs in Spring.

Alternatives to consider: Johnsun ($6,600)

Support:

Vulcan ($5,800)

Vulcan is the most expensive supports, but with most of the other good support players being stuck on bad teams or with bad ADCs, he is the best choice hands down: particularly since Zeyzal and IgNar don’t play on Sunday, and Hakuho has been put on the bench in favor of Gate. It’s hard to suggest an alternative, but if we chose a runner-up, we would definitely give it to CoreJJ, who looks much better than in Spring, and has been granted new life in the form of Tactical. TL is still a massive question mark, but if you’re dismayed by Vulcan’s price tag, CoreJJ can be a solid alternative

Alternatives to consider: CoreJJ ($5,400)

Team

Cloud9 ($5,800)

Cloud9 is one of the all time most dominant North American teams, and they crushed the league at a 17-1 finish in Spring. 100 Thieves aren’t a slouch, but when you’re talking about Cloud9, no other team even enters the competition. They end fast, they get every objective, there’s just no discussion to be had. The other team that’s worth examining for this spot is Team Liquid, who shattered TSM on Saturday and their form has been improving with the promotion of Tactical. Their opponents in Golden Guardians appears relatively solid too, but Golden Guardians’ acquisition of Damonte makes their mid/jg 2v2 a dangerous question mark compared to Broxah and Jensen: it’s a match-up that can go either way, but is the second best choice if you’re not convinced by Cloud9

Alternatives to consider: Team Liquid ($5,400)

Top Stacks:

Blaber & Nisqy

The best mid/jungle 2v2 in the league. They’ve crushed every opponent they’ve faced. Blaber in particular is the most winning-est player in the history of the league. There’s no better choice for straight forward brute strength. They both come in expensive, but for what they provide, they’re actually cheap.

Damonte & Closer

These guys are the Great Value Blaber & Nisqy. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both great players and their aggressive play styles will complement each other very well: one of Closer’s biggest issues in Spring was his inert laners, while Damonte is anything but inert. However, their opponents in Team Liquid make us a little gun-shy, since they’re not the favored team to win, and being on a losing team makes you more likely to die. Closer was a fantastic jungler in Spring and their 2v2 is very hyped, so it may just be a gamble worth taking

Tactical & CoreJJ

I think Tactical was an all-star ADC since his reception in TSM Academy. He’s been a monster at every point in his career relative to his competition. The issue is, he is young and raw talent. There’s no better way to develop that talent than to put him with superstar support CoreJJ, a world champion player. The lane is unproven yet, but TL has put their faith in this combination, and we will also cast our dice with the Team Liquid bottom lane.

Top Picks: Nisqy, Blaber, Vulcan

There’s no change here. Cloud9 are here to stay and these three have been amazing every step in the way. LCS is known as a “one team league” and that team is just Cloud9, no team has been proven to compete since they’ve assembled their championship roster.

Top Value: Damonte, Tactical, Johnsun

Each of these players are extremely young, and we believe have extreme upside relative to their assigned cost. Damonte was the most aggressive and explosive mid laner in the league in 2019, picking assassins when no one else was willing to, Tactical is a growing superstar ADC who the winning-est organisation in LCS history has put their faith into to restore their dynasty, and Johnsun is a new prodigy, who was plucked from solo queue and premiered in LCS with nearly no time in academy. Each of these players can assert themselves when needed and show up when their team depends on them.