Saturday presents the most notorious match-ups in both EU and NA: el classico, TSM vs C9 and G2 vs FNC. Often, these teams are the ones meeting in finals. In EU, that may very well be the case, but the North American teams meet in less than ideal circumstances in the loser’s bracket. In any cases, there are clear divides in each team’s strengths.

Captain

Caps ($11,400)

FNC’s massive upset against Rogue was surprising, but not impossible: while Rogue hadn’t experienced the decline that MAD did, there was evidence that their dominance was built on shaky foundations. FNC’s strategy was further predicated in advancements in the meta game that Rogue failed to adapt towards. On the other hand, G2 is a team full of innovators, and none more-so than the inventor of picks like Vayne mid lane, Caps. While Rekkles and Selfmade stepped up on the day, FNC’s weak points were still clear, but did look relatively improved: their solo laners (while Nemesis is off Lucian). Meanwhile, G2’s solo laners have been on top since 2018, with Caps specifically being a world’s runner-up two times consecutively. Caps is heralded as the best western player of all time, and against a Nemesis who has had a mediocre season, we’ll take him as our captain hands down. If you’re looking for a different captain, we’d recommend Bjergsen, who posted an insane performance against GGs last week to clutch the reverse sweep. Either way, you’re taking both of these guys.

Alternatives to consider: Bjergsen ($10,500)        

Top Lane

Wunder ($6,400)

Wunder’s Neeko plowed through Orome, and while Bwipo is a fellow mad scientist top laner, Wunder has the full force of his team behind him. Selfmade took full advantage of the scaling heavy magic damage junglers in order to outfarm the relatively slow Rogue, but G2 has strictly superior players in their positions: team work isn’t necessarily a factor like it was for Rogue. Furthermore, Wunder has been the undisputed king of top lane for a while now (aside from a particular unlucky Brit). While Finn is a stable Gangplank, tank, and weak side player in general, Wunder provides a strength in his versatility. I completely expected for Wunder to continue his tank play into the post season, but his picks against MAD proved me otherwise: Wunder is ready to utilize the unconventional to his advantage, while Bwipo is more than comfortable taking the loss for Selfmade to scale. If you’re looking elsewhere for a top laner, we would recommend Licorice; it’s hard to choose between Broken Blade and Licorice, but Licorice tends to have a better time on the weak side if he is forced to do so, while Broken Blade is more exploitable.

Alternatives to consider: Licorice ($6,200)

Jungle

Spica ($6,000)

While Blaber put old man Svenskeren out of his misery, Spica has been quietly having a very impressive play-offs. First set against GGs? He lost, who cares; Closer had a bad day. Second against DIG? Dardoch is bad, 8th place team, it’s whatever. But Spica proved instrumental in TSM’s reverse sweep against GGs, and his Game 4 Nidalee stole the show with an astounding 7/0/10 score line. His other games were nothing to scoff at either, against one of the best junglers in the league no less. Closer even had a relatively solid set against Broxah the day before, so it’s not as though he’s losing form. Spica is growing his legitimacy, and while Blaber has been a good player on Cloud9, Nisqy’s loss of form has hurt their 2v2 synergy. This one goes to TSM, hands down. If you’re looking for a different choice, I gotta recommend Selfmade, he completely stole the show in FNC’s match against Rogue and pulled out some unorthodox jungle picks for competitive.

Alternatives to consider: Selfmade ($6,400)

Mid Lane

Bjergsen ($7,000)

Bjergsen killed it in TSM’s reverse sweep against GGs. As a matter of fact, he’s been crushing playoffs in general. Speaking of Spica’s score line in Game 4, we can see the exact same score line transposed for Bjergsen: 7/0/10. Better yet, Bjergsen has come back into this split with a vengeance and has stolen the show for mid lane, alongside Jensen and PowerofEvil. On the other hand, Nisqy’s loss of face has been a large factor contributing to their decline. While he pulled the red card against EG on his Twisted Fate, it’s going to be much harder to avoid Twisted Fate’s bad laning phase against a punishing opponent like Bjergsen. That being said, if you didn’t take Caps as your captain, pick him up here, you’ll likely want both of them.

Alternatives to consider: Caps ($7,600)

ADC

Perkz ($7,800)

ADC is literally impossible to choose from on the day, but there is a method to picking Perkz. While Rekkles in theory has the better KDA, it’s much harder to justify playing safe against a team like G2. Furthermore, Rekkles’ lane partner is Hylissang is known to be hot and cold, while Mikyx looks strongly in form as of late. Perkz vs Rekkles is a classic match-up at this point, and Perkz has historically gotten the upper hand over Rekkles. On the other side of the pond, both bottom lanes are… okay I suppose? Doublelift played Ashe against FBI to secure the reverse sweep in the most boring fashion I’ve ever seen, and Biofrost both looked like an upgrade and a downgrade relative to Treatz at the same time. On the other hand, Zven and Vulcan have also been… okay. Zven & Vulcan both still held second in KDA per their position at the end of the split, but they lacked the fierce dominance they displayed earlier. Overall, I definitely think Perkz is worth it here, especially since money isn’t an issue on the day: I’d rather take the safe bet, but if you really want to gamble it, throw money to Rekkles. FNC is a two horse team, and Rekkles is definitely right there with Selfmade putting up numbers.

Alternatives to consider: Rekkles ($7,400)

Support

Mikyx ($5,600)

Yeah, this one is easy. Relative to each of the other supports, Mikyx has the highest highs and doesn’t have the same lows as the other contestants. Support was known as a pretty weak role in Europe, and at times only Mikyx was considered truly “world class” from the region, particularly when players like Hylissang were slumping. While EU support talent has grown with players like Denyk and Kaiser, Mikyx is still king for a reason: Hylissang has never posed a significant threat to him before, and it’s unlikely to start. Furthermore, even in the series against Rogue, Hylissang didn’t look exemplary relative to his regular season form. If you’re looking for a different support, we would recommend Vulcan; while he’s been put on Yuumi duty, he’s still one of the most mechanically proficient supports in North America, something that Biofrost demonstrated issues playing against in their series Golden Guardians.

Alternatives to consider: Huhi ($5,000)

Team

Team SoloMid ($4,600)

FNC’s victory against Rogue makes me hesitate giving G2 the absolute win on the day. The breaks have been eased on the hype due to FNC completely mixing up their style against Rogue and it paying off big time. Realistically, it will be up to the players on G2 to prepare for Selfmade’s new additions in the jungle. On the other hand, C9 have just been off a cliff, they looked hopeless against FlyQuest, and their victory against EG wasn’t much of a consolation. Meanwhile, while TSM did need to complete a reverse sweep to escape Golden Guardians, I wouldn’t be surprised if they won another five games against them if they were to play more, hypothetically. Something looked like it just clicked in the TSM players’ heads, particularly Spica, who completely stepped up game after game. Spica is on the fast track to stardom, and Bjergsen is a legendary mid laner against an ailing Nisqy. You may choose G2, but I recommend TSM.

Alternatives to consider: G2 Esports ($5,200)

Top Stacks:

Bjergsen & Spica

If you told me a few weeks ago that Bjergsen and Spica is a 2v2 to get excited for, I’d call you nuts. While I thought the players were individually good, I thought they didn’t complement each other at all. However, after watching the two play together against Golden Guardians, I do believe that these two have legitimacy. While Nisqy and Blaber used to be the NA 2v2 to talk about, Bjergsen and Spica have made a name for themselves. Blaber may be individually better than Nisqy, but Bjergsen is likely better at enabling his jungler than Nisqy is at this point.

Rekkles & Selfmade

I definitely talked about these two last week, despite by absolute conviction that Rogue would crush FNC. That being said, no one could have expected the shenanigans FNC would pull against Rogue in that series: Lucian mid, Eve/Karthus jungle, et cetera. While the question in people’s mind is “will it work again?” the answer I give in the regards to these two players is “does it need to?” Rekkles and Selfmade have consistently been the two players on FNC that pushed them over the edge into relevancy this split. While their other players have consistently fumbled, Rekkles and Selfmade stand as pillars to support their team and deliver them through close games. FNC realistically had no business beating RGE, but they played to their strengths and crushed the higher seed without any issue.

Caps & Perkz

I talked about these two last week also, and while I’ll recite a lot of my speaking points, I do it for good reason. How often do two of the best mid laners in the world hold positions on the same team? Never, unless said team is G2. Caps and Perkz are the studs of this team, and while Wunder, Jankos, and Mikyx make for a good supporting cast, Perkz and Caps are the clear stars of the show. I’ll go as far as to say that one of these two winning the world championship at some point is an inevitability, it just will take the correct time for them to seize the moment. They’ve already won MSI together, and they were only one series off of already doing so (twice for Caps!) These two are the definition of “world class”.

Top Picks: Caps, Bjergsen, Mikyx

Easy, mid lane is the largest gap between the teams. The issue is, Nemesis’ power level is pretty unknown at this point, but once he didn’t get his hands on Lucian, he did seem much more uncomfortable. Bjergsen is in much better form than Nisqy right now, and Mikyx has historically had Hylissang’s card each time they’ve crossed paths in the past.

Top Value: Rekkles, Selfmade, Spica

Rekkles being a KDA leader and coming in this cheap is pretty nuts to me, but obviously the prices are distorted due to being up against Perkz. Similar story for Selfmade, but he definitely gets the “toppest value” for his versatility. Rekkles is seemingly willing to lose quietly, but Selfmade really knows how to pursue kills and utilize opportunities that other junglers are oblivious to. While Rekkles and Selfmade are something special, Spica is just a solid option who’s dirt cheap, not much to say about him: he’s looked great in play-offs, and has been improving steadily over time.