The third day of groups rolls in: North America stands 0-4 and are still clamoring for their first win: on the other hand, Korea stands undefeated so far, while China and Europe seek consistency. The day is full of great players to choose from, so let’s get into it.

Captain

Showmaker ($11,400)

Relative to other picks for captain, Showmaker comes in at a relatively cheap $11,400, which is astounding considering the match-up. Damwon has already eviscerated the two stronger teams in their group: JDG and RGE, and all that’s left for them is to pick up a win against the 0-2 PSG Talon. Showmaker is one of the strongest mid laners in the tournament, he played well against Larssen in the day prior, whereas Tank got curbstomped by Yagao, an opponent Showmaker already proved his superiority over. Showmaker is a safe bet against nearly any mid laner aside from Knight, and he’s a great pick up against a PSG destined for bottom of their group. If you’re looking for a different Captain, I’d actually recommend SofM. Broxah looked inert against MCX, and SofM is likely the first opponent Broxah has faced since Santorin who is indisputably world class. I think Broxah is going to have a rough time against the aggressive Vietnamese jungler.

Alternatives to consider: SofM ($10,500)  

Top Lane

Zoom ($6,600)

Zoom was the best top laner domestically in China, and while he’s challenged by Nuguri internationally, he is nearly unmatched in his top lane dominance. The best bet teams have are players like 369 who can hold back and resist his aggression. Finn is not one of those players. Finn is solid domestically in Europe, but he’s already cracked against Nuguri, and even domestically against players like Wunder or Bwipo. Finn likely is no match for a real world class top laner at this point: he is consistently down nearly 50 cs each game, even in relatively favorable match-ups against opponents much weaker than Zoom has had to face thus far. Aside from Zoom, I would recommend 369. Nuguri and Wunder are much too expensive, and Doran just hasn’t been a superb point for DRX. As stated before, 369 is a solid player and he absolutely stomped Solo when TES played FlyQuest on Saturday.

Alternatives to consider: 369 ($6,800)

Jungle

Santorin ($6,600)

Realistically, there are plenty of fantastic jungler to pick from, but Santorin’s first game against TES actually looked pretty solid, at least early game before Solo fell apart solo (ha) to 369. Matching Karsa is no small feat, and while the jungler isn’t the focal point for TES, he’s certainly no slouch. Santorin was statistically the best jungler in North America, and the meta of Nidalee and Graves matches him perfectly, alongside strong performances on Lillia and Hecarim makes Santorin a potent threat. AHaHaCiK is by no means bad, but the jungle side of the FLY vs UOL match-up is firmly in the favor of FlyQuest. If you’re looking for a different jungler, I would recommend the before mentioned SofM. Suning and SofM were absurdly close to toppling G2, and while they fell short, TL on the other hand lost to… MCX. Better luck next year, Team Liquid.

Alternatives to consider: SofM ($7,000)

Mid Lane:

Yagao ($7,200)

Yagao crushed PSG’s Tank, and while RGE did something similar (Larssen even looked competitive against Knight) the rest of the map is in the grasp for JDG: Zoom should slaughter Finn, Inspired shouldn’t be able to compete against Kanavi, and LvMao is one of the best supports in the world. Larssen will have to pull some seriously absurd magic in order to defeat JDG, and all of this is in mind with Yagao being a really solid mid laner, although not strictly better than Larssen. It helps that Yagao comes in relatively cheap compared to other mid laners on the day. Over all, the choice is just simple, Yagao gets to rest easy while the rest of the map wins the game for him. If you really want to gamble your life savings: Jensen looked really bad against M1ssion, and while Angel isn’t the big name on SN, I still think Angel is better than M1ssion, and if Angel is better than M1ssion, and M1ssion is better than Jensen…

Alternatives to consider: Angel ($7,400)

ADC:

Huanfeng ($7,600)

I really don’t want to bet against TL’s bottom lane, but in this situation I just think it has to be done. Tactical and CoreJJ looked good against MCX, but when you consider that MCX has one of the weaker bottom lane at worlds, and the Liquid bottom lane looked relatively inert against the rest of MCX, the entire situation doesn’t bode well for Liquid. Furthermore, Huanfeng, and bottom lane by an extension has been the strongest part of SN alongside SofM in the jungle. With TL’s weaker top side, the pressure is on for Tactical and CoreJJ to carry, which simply looks unlikely against SN’s superstar bottom lane. If you have the money to blow, Perkz is likely a better choice simply because he’s up against an inferior bottom lane and he himself looked really good against SN on Sunday.

Alternatives to consider: Perkz ($8,200)

Support:

SwordArt ($5,400)

Final player pick is the SN support SwordArt. Despite a middling performance against G2 and superstar Mikyx’s fantastic Bard, one cannot forget the fact that SwordArt’s stock shouldn’t fall simply because he lost against one of the best supports in the entire tournament (and worlds finalist last year). Similarly, there’s nothing wrong with previous world champion CoreJJ, but the real gap exists in a role that is integral to cooperate with as support: jungle. SofM is just way better than Broxah. Team Liquid, and North America as a region, look lost in how they progress through the game. Meanwhile, the Chinese teams historically have always played proactively and looked to fight with a purpose. Stylistically, Liquid are likely to simply be ran over by the more proactive Suning, especially when their jungler Broxah doesn’t have a clear idea on how to control the game. Meanwhile, SofM is the definition of decisive. Otherwise, like I suggested for ADC, I’d recommend Mikyx, he popped off on Bard against a stronger support, and Bruce and Koala didn’t look astounding for MCX like M1ssion did, he’s a safe bet against a weaker team and has already looked great against SN’s world class bottom lane.

Alternatives to consider: Mikyx ($6,200)

Team:

Suning ($5,200)

Suning’s cheap and they’re likely to win; there’s not much more though that needs to be done. I don’t really prioritize team picks super highly, but the only real contestable match-up on the day is UOL vs FLY since NA as a region haven’t shown anything positive so far. If you want the hardest stomp on the day, I definitely think it’ll be G2 vs MCX. Caps simply won’t let M1ssion do what he did versus TL unlike Jensen. DWG vs PSG is really close too, but I just think MCX will lose faster than PSG who have shown at least some resilience in staying in the game. It helps that G2 will simply run over teams, unlike DWG who tend to just play cleaner games through solo lanes (whereas G2 is more likely to exploit MCX’s weak bottom lane).

Alternatives to consider: G2 Esports ($6,000)

Top Stacks:

Zoom & Yagao

JDG are solid as a team, and while the LPL hosts mid laners that are simply better than Yagao like Knight and DoinB, Yagao is no means bad. It helps that Yagao always has great supportive members like Kanavi and LvMao to fall back on if he’s not capable of simply out muscling his lane opponents: JDG can’t simply be cracked through mid lane, which is the only place RGE have an edge over JDG. Otherwise, Finn is facing the unstoppable force that is Zoom without a strong supporting cast to prop him up. The solo laners for JDG are safe bets against a RGE that will find them impossible to snowball against.

Huanfeng & SwordArt

SN’s bottom lane pitched a solid game against G2, and are facing a TL bottom lane that were unable to significantly translate their early lead over MCX to a victory. If Jensen will struggle against M1ssion, then the mid 2v2 for TL will get crushed by SN, and they will not be able to stop SN’s traditional strategy of bringing their lead into the bottom lane, and turning Huanfeng into a monster. SofM is another great bet for jungle, but since he’s not the primary carry for SN, I’d prefer picks that will rack up points throughout the game such as Huanfeng and SwordArt.

Showmaker & Canyon

PSG are really screwed guys. Tank and River are actually worse than Kongyue and Uniboy, and Unified hasn’t been able to be impactful for the Hong Kong squad. There’s really not much else I have to say: PSG look really dead in the water, and are sitting at 0-2 against the freight train that is DWG with their fantastic solo laners and great jungler. PSG simply don’t have the bottom lane that is absolutely necessary to create a meaningful advantage against the force that is DWG’s top side.

Top Picks: Zoom, SofM, Perkz

Each of these is a combination of a great player and a weakness in their opponent: Finn’s lack of laning force, Broxah’s lack of direction, and Bruce’s lack of urgency. Meanwhile, each of these players have demonstrated their potency as a laning threat. Perkz may be too expensive, but SofM is a great choice for jungle and Zoom is likely a must have unless you’re going for a big name like Nuguri.

Top Value: Santorin, Zoom, Yagao

JDG players are generally undervalued on the game, to the point where SwordArt versus LvMao is personal preference: I simply choose SwordArt because I view the jungle-support pairing to overwhelmingly destroy Team Liquid, while Vander and Hans have been hard to punish on Rogue. Otherwise, Santorin is just really cheap despite being one of the best junglers in the tournament (I will stand by this, even when FlyQuest fails to escape groups). Each of these players are cheap, and they’re all really great picks relative to the overpriced players on G2.