Sunday LCS features a surging Golden Guardians facing a floudering CLG, FlyQuest punching down against EG, TSM rematching against longtime rival C9, and 100 Thieves looks for some form of consistency against a bottom tier IMT.

Captain

FBI ($11,100)

Upon taking down first (or, technically, 2nd) place Cloud 9 on Saturday, everyone knew: Golden Guardians are the real deal. Their line-up is slowly coming together, and leading his positions statistics is their ADC, FBI. Golden Guardians started the split cold, but quickly have ramped up as the weeks have gone by, and they look like a legitimate threat to the top 4 teams of FlyQuest, TSM, Cloud9, and Team Liquid. CLG should stand no match to this new challenger. If you’re hunting elsewhere, we’d recommend picking up PowerofEvil, whose standout performance against 100 Thieves on Saturday has cemented FlyQuest’s resurgence back onto the top four teams in LCS.

Alternatives to consider: PowerofEvil ($11,400)

Top Lane

Ssumday ($6,400)

Ssumday is the poor soul who is tasked with carrying the sinking ship that is 100 Thieves. He’s a fantastic player stuck in a broken household. That being said, if there is a chance that 100 Thieves has to steal a win away this weekend, it’s definitely against fellow bottom feeder Immortals. Immortals has been on the upside since their roster substitution earlier in the split, but there’s too many holes to patch, and a big one has been their top laner, Allorim. Allorim could look good on a different roster, but ultimately the lack of firepower from places other than mid lane has left Immortals swamped in last place. If you’re looking elsewhere for an option, we’d recommend Solo, but there’s no way of knowing which Huni will show up on Sunday.

Alternatives to consider: Solo ($6,200)

Jungle

Closer ($6,400)

Closer this season has progressed from “a good jungler in NA” to “the best jungler in NA?” to “the best jungler in NA!”. Closer striking down Blaber on Saturday has cemented his dynasty in North America alongside mid laner Damonte, together they comprise the most lethal 2v2 in the league. Golden Guardians have devised a recipe to snap the control style implemented by most of the top team’s mid jungle, and they look posed to stomp CLG on Sunday by utilizing their style. Closer is a player to watch, perhaps even a candidate for MVP. If you want a different option for jungle, we’d recommend Santorin, who has had a stable split and posts great stats each game.

Alternatives to consider: Santorin ($7,000)

Mid Lane

PowerofEvil ($7,600)

PowerofEvil made Ryoma look like a silver player on Saturday. On Sunday, he faces off against a similarly weak mid laner in GoldenGlue, alongside with a weaker jungler in Svenskeren. PowerofEvil should have a free lane against GoldenGlue, and he’ll be allowed to scale up in peace with little pressure exerted upon him. There’s not much else to it, but if you’re hunting for a cheaper option, we’d recommend picking up Insanity who gets his free ticket against Ryoma on Sunday.

Alternatives to consider: Nisqy ($6,400)

ADC

WildTurtle ($7,600)

We recommended him yesterday, and today is no different: The turtle has returned. I believe that the roles of FlyQuest and Evil Geniuses has swapped after the roster changes: FlyQuest with MasH had no teeth, and now after Jiizuke is out for Evil Geniuses, it’s Evil Geniuses with no teeth, except for the notorious coinflipper Huni. WildTurtle is the teeth for FlyQuest, and gives them the volatility that’s necessary to close out games. MasH and IgNar were oil and water, but WildTurtle unlocks IgNar’s aggressive playstyle. Against a weak bottom lane like Bang and Zeyzal, WildTurtle is poised to crush the game. If you haven’t picked up FBI though, now’s the right time to do it, he’s leading in so many statistics for a reason.

Alternatives to consider: FBI ($7,400)

Support

IgNar ($5,400)

As stated before, IgNar is the X-Factor of FlyQuest, and WildTurtle is the player who has the highest affinity to follow up on IgNar’s reckless engages. Without FlyQuest’s bottom lane, they play too safe and don’t have the explosive potential to close out games. IgNar shines when he’s capable of playing his engage heavy style, which is stylistically good into EG’s passive bottom lane. If you’re looking for someone else, we’d actually recommend Huhi, who has looked much better in recency. Huhi has been up and down across the split, but he’s definitely been performing well as of late.

Alternatives to consider: Huhi ($4,800)

Team

Golden Guardians ($5,400)

Rounding out the list is Golden Guardians as a team against CLG. Golden Guardians are coming off a win against Cloud9, and their roster is finally coming together. Counterlogic Gaming has had a falling stock for a long time now, and Golden Guardians have their chance to enter the upper echelons of LCS. If Golden Guardians don’t strike your fancy, we’d recommend picking up FlyQuest who are facing off against a weakened EG.

Alternatives to consider: FlyQuest ($5,000)

Top Stacks:

WildTurtle & IgNar

We’ve talked about them before, but these two are the ones who set FlyQuest over the top in the LCS and allow them to contest for the top spots. WildTurtle is notorious for flashing in aggressively, much to the chagrin of his teammates. Meanwhile, IgNar is known for doing the exact same thing: Apes strong together. While MasH looked promising with FlyQuest, they lacked the critical firepower necessary to bridge games to their conclusion, which is what WildTurtle provides for FlyQuest.

FBI & Closer

The dual threat of Golden Guardians, FBI has Huhi and Closer has Damonte. While Huhi is on the weaker sides of support, he’s certainly been brought to life as of late. Damonte has been consistently good, but his style has shifted in order to supply Closer with the resources he needs to run over the enemy jungler. These two are the showmakers on Golden Guardians, and lead them to their victories.

PowerofEvil & Santorin

In contrast to WildTurtle and IgNar are the more easy going Santorin and PowerofEvil. If these two were allowed to, they’d just farm all game until they were 6 items to run over the enemy team. There’s nothing wrong with that, but their advantages can often times be squandered by this playstyle being “too safe” in nature. They’re great for farming statistics, but not necessarily great for closing out games by themselves: they complement WildTurtle and IgNar well, a good team needs a balance of safety and chaos.

Top Picks: PowerofEvil, FBI, Closer

Each of these players are resource intensive carries, which are ideal for racking up points. It’s also spectacular that each of these players fulfill a different position in a team, so it’s ideal to include each of these into your line-up: we’ve discussed each of them at lengths before, but FBI in particular has especially arose to the occasion and has been outputting some fantastic performances as of late.

Top Value: Insanity, Closer, Huhi

Each of these players are absurdly undervalued: Closer and Huhi’s price has not yet caught up to their fantastic standings. Insanity is certainly the odd man out here on the last place Immortals roster, but as we’ve stated before, if anyone on the roster deserves his spot, it’s the young mid laner. He’s singlehandedly made Immortals a threat through his solid play, and against Ryoma, Insanity is one of the only other mid laners worth it on the day aside from Damonte or PowerofEvil. In any case, these guys aren’t to be doubted, but it’s typically not worth to be frugal on your mid lane choice.