**Slate locks at 12pm ET on Friday, June 26**

In the LEC, standings are starting to normalize with clear divides between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Early into the mid-season is the primetime for bargaining for great players at low prices, and we are here to help you identify the best steals this week.

Captain

Patrik ($11,100)

A captain from a 1-4 team? Are you mad? Perhaps, but Patrik is likely the best absolute steal on the market right now. Patrik has been a long time gem surrounded by the manure pile that is XL. With a young top laner, a mediocre jungler, an absolute bottom tier mid, and a questionable support, Patrik has been an unshakable pillar of consistency that awarded XL’s first win this season: against a seemingly powerful SK line-up nonetheless! Patrik comes in cheap, criminally cheap relative to his performances. While his KDA is definitely low, make no mistake, Patrik has the most favorable match-up in the week against S04, whose both bottom laners are among the weakest in the league. Rekkles may look like a solid option, but you do not want your captain on a pick like Soraka, which was Rekkles’s day two pick last week. If you want a different option, by all means, select Caps against SK’s rookie mid laner in Zazee, but we will put our faith in Patrik.

Alternatives to consider: Caps ($12,000)

Top Lane

Wunder ($7,200)

Jenax is not a weak top laner by any means, but Wunder is likely one of the Greatest of All Time in EU top lane. He hasn’t been terribly consistent recently, but against Jenax, a top laner who just recently swapped positions from mid lane, we certainly will bet on him against the fledgling top lane neonate. The issue is, Wunder is expensive, VERY expensive. If this price tag deters you from his acquisition, we would refer you to Cabochard, who faces a similarly weak top laner in Dan Dan and comes in at a fraction of the cost. Cabochard has been experiencing a return to form, and while we hesitate as Cabo experienced a hiccup in his ascension last week, against Dan Dan, we have no doubts that Cabochard can come out on top and win big.

Alternatives to consider: Cabochard ($5,600)

Jungle

Jankos ($7,600)

Trick is one of the worst junglers in the league, putting up spotty performances whenever he is not placed on easy to execute picks. It’s legitimately up to G2 to realize this and force Trick onto something that isn’t Sett, but we have more than enough faith in G2 to force Trick to actually participate in popular game League of Legends. Trick has coasted to wins on SK in the past, but he will struggle against 2020 Spring MVP (and 2019 Summer MVP!) G2 Jankos. If the big dollar sign to the left of his name makes you skeptical, we will point you to FNC Selfmade, who has consistently been putting up terrific performances. However, against a true wildcard and fellow countryman in Inspired, we would prefer Jankos, who certainly has the easier match-up

Alternatives to consider: SelfMade ($7,200)

Mid Lane:

Humanoid ($7,000)

Humanoid has been playing out of his mind this season, and everyone has taken notice. While some of MAD’s other players have been questionable, it is without a doubt that Humanoid has been welcomed into the upper echelons of the prestigious tier-list that is LEC mid lane. Humanoid is also in a fantastic match-up against Nukeduck, a mid laner who has been struggling this season. If you want something a little more explosive, we can direct you to Larssen, a young, aggressive mid laner who faces Nemesis, another talented mid laner, but one that has been struggling this season relative to his other all-star performances. We love Humanoid, but can’t also deny that there’s real potential with Larssen to score big on Friday.

Alternatives to consider: Larssen ($6,400)

ADC:

Rekkles ($8,000)

I know we said Rekkles is a gamble, but he is stable, and that is more than we can ask for right now. Sure, he might just lock in Soraka against Hans Sama & Vander, but he did score a good KDA last week, despite not being the explosive threat we were promised. Rekkles is a good pick, a stable pick, but he is not the X-Factor that Patrik is. For that reason, we choose Rekkles as our ADC. The 45 KDA isn’t for show: Rekkles is an immortal on the rift, this guy just does not die. Furthermore, Hans & Vander are one of the weaker bottom lanes in LEC, so we are willing to cast our die with Rekkles. If you’re looking for something completely different, it’s a tough sell, but go for Comp if you didn’t already pick up Patrik. Kobbe has been questionable so far, and Misfits’ bottom lane has not been shining as they should be. There are a lot of other very outstanding ADCs, but they are all tied up in match-ups that are too even to recommend.

Alternatives to consider: Comp ($7,000)

Support:

LIMIT ($3,800)

We will be straightforward: LIMIT is not a reasonable investment and is not a good choice in any other circumstance. But there are some reasons why LIMIT is useful here: SK’s bottom lane is by far their strongest lane. While they are in a nightmare match-up against G2, it’s likely that SK’s bottom lane will be the one thing that will not be stomped. Furthermore, LIMIT is the cheapest support of all, which allows us to play with power elsewhere on the roster. Support is a role that’s not worth big spending in because they’re liable to dying a lot: they are the sacrifice on the alter that is the teamfight. Over all, LIMIT will not give you points, but generally supports will not give you points anyway, so why bother dumping cash into them? If you want to gamble on a support that does give you points and you’ve been frugal elsewhere, go for Kaiser. Kaiser is the support we would choose if we had the money to do so, but we are more than satisfied with LIMIT. The price tag may not be worth it in our eyes, but if you want to gamble on a position like support, Kaiser is the guy to do it with.

Alternatives to consider: Kaiser ($5,800)

Team

Excel ($5,000)

Excel is bad. That’s it. But S04 is the kind of trainwreck that you cannot look away from. It means something when your team is so bad, you need to rely on your top laner to carry every single game with conventional carry positions occupied by players who likely should not be in the league to begin with. Excel are cheap, and they will almost certainly win. That’s all we need in this situation, and winning has never been so easy. This season, Königsblauer is beginning to look like a shade of brown.

Alternatives to consider: G2 ($5,000)

Top Stacks:

Jankos & Caps

Jankos has gotten off to an unconvincing start this season, but SK v G2 is the match-up where G2 will really be able to show what they’re made of. ZaZee may be no push over, but Caps is a different creature entirely compared to the young German. Trick is likely one of, if not the worst jungler in the League, so this is the time for Jankos to return in dramatic fashion. Additionally, Caps and Jankos are known for an extremely lethal 2v2. Now is the time for them to strike hard.

Rekkles & Selfmade

We put these guys together last week, and while FNC dropped both games last week, we can’t deny that they still looked good. Rekkles is at the top of the KDA charts for a reason: he doesn’t die. Selfmade is a similar case, except he brings a bit of dashing daringness with his play. Selfmade is an X-Factor that a lot of teams miss out on, and we appreciate that.

Kaiser & Shad0w

Jungle is one of those “too many cooks” situations in Europe. I love both Kaiser and Shad0w, but can’t reasonably suggest picking up either due to their price tags and roles. That being said, Shad0w is an underrated pick you can consider for a favorable stylistic match-up. I’ve seen paint dry quicker than Xerxe play, and Shad0w is a surgical jungler with a propensity for striking fast and abusing the slower players. Kaiser is a fantastic support and likely one of, if not the best in Europe at this point. Is he expensive and likely not worth it? Yes. Will he get you points? Yes. It’s your judge on whether that’s worth it or not.

Top Picks: Rekkles, Jankos, Humanoid

Each of these players have outstandingly favorable match-ups on Friday. Only Hans Sama is a player worth being slightly afraid of, but as we’ve said many times before: Rekkles simply does not die. It is as though his health bar is unable to go below 1 HP. Jankos has been spotty, but faces notorious paycheck stealer Trick, and Humanoid is against old man Nukeduck. These guys are going to farm points like there’s no tomorrow.

Top Value: LIMIT, Patrik, Crownshot

In the bargain bin, we have the SK bottom lane and Patrik. Patrik we selected as our captain due to his explosive gameplay and extremely favorable match-up against Schalke 0-5, who are unlikely to pick up a win in the first round robin at all. SK’s bottom lane is a tough sell, but they are absurdly cheap as they’re up against spring champions G2. These guys are pennies and nickels, and are likely top 3 bottom lanes in LEC right now. We can’t deny that G2 is a massive threat, but these two cannot be counted out. Crownshot in particular is one of the best ADCs in the entire league, and it wouldn’t be a hot take to say he’s been the best out of all of the ADCs in summer. However, their opponents are just too big to recommend picking up conventionally. He’s cheap, he’s amazing, and he will likely lose.