Christopher Troeh - LCS DFS Playbook - 2/5/2021
Twitter.com/PrussianLoL
 
LCS hits day 2 on Saturday: the Immortals’ Australians have landed, and have immediately impressed against Team Liquid, 100 Thieves gets a free match against CLG, and Cloud9 looks to crush a severely underwhelming TSM. FLY vs EG is worth avoiding, and I’m skeptical about Team Liquid’s strength out the gate; but it should be enough to crush DIG.
 
Captain:
 
Raes ($10,200)
We’re going to get the surprises out fast: Raes is a great player and showed up massively at the World Championship this year despite his team falling a bit flat, losing to Chinese representative LGD in play-ins. Raes himself already has shown his strength, and got his revenge against Team Liquid alongside what was supposed to be the “best bottom lane in North America”. Immortals’ next opponent, Golden Guardians, looks like a free ride to an early 2-0 courtesy of their novice roster. If you are looking for a player who wields a little more consistency, I’d recommend either Santorin or Damonte, with a leaning towards Damonte due to how great he showed up day 1 against Evil Geniuses.
Alternatives to consider: Damonte ($11,400)
 
Top Lane:
 
Ssumday ($7,000)
100 Thieves’ solo laners stood out against Evil Geniuses’ counterparts. Impact in particular was rated astronomically high entering the split, but Ssumday made quick work of him. Ssumday throughout his time in LCS has been a great top laner with what was for the most part an underwhelming team behind him. Finally, he has a team worth its salt again by integrating 4 of the 5 2020 Golden Guardians players. His team has innate synergy, and he’s an extremely strong player in the top lane. The other player immediately on my radar is Alphari, who can redeem himself against Fakegod after an underwhelming performance against Immortals.
Alternatives to consider: Alphari ($7,400)
 
Jungle:
 
Closer ($7,400)
The two biggest choices I’d push forward for jungle would be Closer and Blaber, two junglers with somewhat similar styles; Closer is a bit more of a carry style jungler while I’d say Blaber mostly plays as a means to an end, to translate his advantage to his bottom lane. For that reason, I’d give a slight edge over Blaber, and the fact that on paper CLG should be a vastly weaker team relative to TSM. 100 Thieves players are underrated, and especially their mid/jungle. Don’t miss out on the Closer/Damonte synergy, but if you want to pursue a Cloud9 3-core, grab Blaber.
Alternatives to consider: Blaber ($7,200)
 
Mid Lane:
 
Damonte ($7,600)
Mid laners who actively look to make moves on the map in the early game is relatively uncommon in North America, but surprisingly, the best player at that sort of style is a North American himself- not an import. Rjs, or Deus, CLG’s mid laner has not shown any sort of excellence in CLG’s match against Dignitas. While I don’t think he’s bad, I’d certainly take Damonte, who’s basically been born in the crucible of fire in the North American mid lane, during an era where NA teams would try as hard as possible to not have a native mid laner. If you want an upgrade, I’d recommend picking up Jensen who gets a freebie against DIG.
Alternatives to consider: Jensen ($8,000)
 
ADC:
 
Zven ($7,600)
Cloud9’s bottom lane showed up great against Golden Guardians in game 1; and while it’s not a high bar to set, the consistency that Zven and Vulcan have displayed has been remarkable. Cloud9 went from an underperforming team, all the way to the finals just through Zven, Vulcan, and a bit of Blaber carrying the weight of their sleeping solo laners. Zven went through a good chunk of 2020 Spring deathless, and so far, he may even look to repeat that trend this split since he started out game 1 without a single death. If Zven isn’t for you, I’d try to grab FBI: a solid ADC, but his opponent is pretty strong in WildTurtle, despite the rest of CLG looking lackluster.
Alternatives to consider: FBI ($7,800)
 
Support:
 
Vulcan ($5,600)
Completing the aforementioned Cloud9 bottom lane is support Vulcan. While Cloud9 was collapsing last year due to some inconsistent solo laners, Blaber being coinflippy, etc. Vulcan stood relatively consistent, he played extremely well at the lock-in tournament just before the split began alongside adc Zven. Against Golden Guardians, Vulcan’s Galio looked quite good, and Smoothie shouldn’t be a harder opponent than Newbie. If Zven’s sidekick doesn’t interest you, complete the Immortals bottom lane who is projected to smash Golden Guardians with support Destiny.
Alternatives to consider: Destiny ($5,000)
 
Team:
 
Immortals ($4,600)
I don’t think Immortals is likely to be a top tier team, but right now I definitely think they’re better than CLG, Dignitas, and, of course, Golden Guardians. Golden Guardians had a few promising moments at the lock-in tournament, although, many teams had been playing with substitutes due to visa delays. Immortals was one of those teams, and with Raes, Destiny, and Xerxe, they suddenly shot way ahead of the competition and caught TL by surprise. Golden Guardians don’t have the firepower to compete on Saturday, so I recommend picking them up. If you want a premium option, I’d snatch Cloud9 for a free win against TSM.
Alternatives to consider: Cloud9 ($5,200)
 
Stacks:
 
Zven & Vulcan
The Cloud9 bottom lane is worth their weight: they’re spring 2020 domestic champions and led one of the most dominant domestic runs a LCS team has ever seen with a 17-1 record, only slipping one game to Bjergsen’s Zilean. Zven and Vulcan have barely skipped a beat since, and they’ve remained a formidable bottom lane even when their top side is on a downward trajectory. They carried their team to the lock-in finals, and they’re within the top 2 of NA bottom lanes.
 
Raes & Destiny
Immortals’ Oceanic bottom lane is severely underrated, and while I think they’ll end up around middle tier, Golden Guardians is decidedly low tier. Raes is an absolute unit of an ADC who’s capable of hoisting his team far above their weight, all one needs to do is to watch the 2020 World Championship where Raes was in attendance with Oceanic team Legacy. Destiny is coming off an underwhelming run on Origen, but an improved environment in Immortals could be just what Destiny needs to get back to top form.
 
Closer & Damonte
I’m talking about these two again, but for a good reason: CLG’s mid jungle is the weakest part of their team on Saturday, and that’s saying something. 100 Thieves’ 2v2 comprises one of the best in the entire league, it’s simple maths; and it helps 100 Thieves players are a bit on the cheaper side too. Don’t miss out.
 
Top Picks: Closer, Zven, Damonte
Closer, Zven, and Damonte are each up against weak opponents in Griffin(Wiggily), Lost, and Rjs respectively. I think all three of those players, even Griffin, have potential left within them, although you can’t mess with who’s on top right now. Damonte and Closer played a great lock-in tournament but unfortunately fell to Zven, Vulcan, and Blaber who dragged their team to a narrow defeat in finals. These three are bright points on their team, and are mostly in good company as far as match-ups and who surrounds them on their own teams.
 
Top Value: Xerxe, Raes, Destiny
It’s a bit of a similar principle to Astralis in LEC, the team that plays against GGS has a bit of an advantage, and it helps that Immortals is rated relatively low so their players come in cheap. Xerxe is a great fit into rookie jungler Iconic, Raes and Destiny are a powerhouse OCE bottom lane which levels out to upper mid tier in North America, and should be capable of running over Golden Guardians’ Newbie and Stixxay who have looked underwhelming in North America so far.