LCS finishes up their superweek on Sunday. TL look for a pretty easy win against FLY, and EG against GGS. IMT looks completely inconsistent: beating TL but dropping against GGS and we have no clue what to expect when they play against C9. TSM and CLG will likely be a barn burner, and 100 is likely to beat DIG, but after nearly dropping to CLG, it’s unclear. Let’s figure out what works on Sunday.

Captain

Santorin ($11,100)

Team Liquid’s Santorin was the one player who looked solid in their upset loss versus Immortals, and he followed that up with another solid performance against Dignitas on Saturday. I recommend Santorin with a bit of a cautious hesitation since he rolled Udyr on both matches. While Santorin is a great player, Udyr is the equivalent of Twisted Fate or Galio on middle lane: not great point champions. I think against a team like Flyquest and a player like Josedeodo, Santorin is more likely to pick a champion with a bit more agency against the Argentinian Champion. If you are unconvinced that Santorin can make you bank, I’d feel comfortable making either Jiizuke or Damonte your captain, with a slight leaning towards Jiizuke due to his more selfish playstyle.

Alternatives to consider: Jiizuke ($11,700)

Top Lane

Alphari ($7,000)

The Team Liquid top laner showed up great during LCS Lock-in and yesterday against Dignitas. He got surprised by Immortals top laner Revenge, but I like Alphari can continue his success against FlyQuest’s Licorice, who had a rough time against Evil Geniuses on Sunday, getting solo killed early by Shen as Camille; considered to be the best champion in the game right now. Granted, Impact’s Shen is a work of wonders and is considered a “must ban” against the player, which was ignored in order to grab the overpowered Camille. Alphari is likely to run through Licorice the same way Impact was, but why take a replacement if you can get the real thing? Impact is another great choice on the day, too, although he’s extremely expensive.

Alternatives to consider: Impact ($7,200)

Jungle

Svenskeren ($7,200)

For the first time in a long while, I recommend Svenskeren for the jungle pick. Sven had a rough 2020, especially once GoldenGlue came in for middle lane, but with the revitalized EG roster, Sven looks back on his feet. While EG lost, Sven played a fantastic game against 100 Thieves on Friday, played well against FlyQuest on Saturday, and remained consistent throughout the lock-in tournament; only dropping against Team Liquid in semifinals; the eventual winners. Sven looks like he’s back to his previous form, and EG’s next match against GGS pits him against Iconic, not a bad jungler but definitely a more than capable match-up for Svenskeren. If you’re looking elsewhere for a jungler, I’d grab Santorin if he isn’t your captain, he should play fantastically against FlyQuest.

Alternatives to consider: Santorin ($7,600)

Mid Lane

Jiizuke ($7,800)

Evil Geniuses mid lane is like Damonte in the regard that he plays his own style of League of Legends: while Damonte is willing to sack waves for his jungler, Jiizuke shows an insane aptitude to playing side lane, he hits crazy farm numbers such as in their game versus 100 Thieves where he hit 400 CS as Azir. Alternatively, he can be fearsome and aggressive, like how his LeBlanc terrorized FlyQuest on Saturday. Jiizuke is set up brilliantly to do the same thing versus Golden Guardians on Sunday. However, if you prefer a more conventional mid laner, you can’t go wrong with TL’s Jensen, who should fare well against Palafox.

Alternatives to consider: Jensen ($8,000)

ADC

Deftly ($7,600)

Deftly is a player who always has a good KDA, even on the bottom tier Golden Guardians, Deftly’s KDA was atop the league despite being dead last in DPM. This causes Deftly to be a fantastic choice against lower tier competition, and against a team like Golden Guardians, who have a relatively weak bottom lane. I like Deftly in situations like this; where he isn’t threatened by the enemy bottom lane and won’t get outmuscled easily. If you want a more “muscle” based ADC, I’d pick up either Zven or Tactical, especially Tactical since Zven’s opponent Raes has looked solid upon his arrival to North America.

Alternatives to consider: Tactical ($8,200)

Support

IgNar ($5,400)

Wrapping up our EG stack is support IgNar, the face of the “roaming support”, and that sort of face-paced playstyle will likely work very well into Golden Guardians whos inexperience may leave them more open to IgNar’s cross map plays, which remain effective even into relatively veteran and cool-headed squads. This pairs well with Deftly’s mostly defensive play style, IgNar is a great pick-up for support on Sunday, but if you’d prefer someone with more pure laning power, choose CoreJJ who forms a formidable bottom lane with Tactical.

Alternatives to consider: CoreJJ ($6,000)

Team

Immortals ($3,600)

For Immortals, I think it’s likely they’ll get slaughtered against Cloud9. They fell against GGS although it was definitely a close game and should have been free for Immortals. That being said, this is a sack pick. I think Cloud9 is the most likely team to get upset for the fact that IMT already got a win against Team Liquid, and IMT looked alright against GGS despite tossing the game. Their bottom lane is solid, and the team is dirt cheap. If you’re looking for a legitimate team pick, I’d grab either EG or 100T who both have good match-ups on the day.

Alternatives to consider: 100 Thieves ($5,200)

 

Stacks

Tactical & CoreJJ

With world champion CoreJJ and mechanical superstar Tactical, Liquid’s bottom lane is absolutely stacked. FlyQuest aren’t bad players, but they lack critical leadership whereas Liquid is led by the strong mind of their MVP support. These two are a great option if you’re relative to spend big.

Jiizuke & Svenskeren

EG’s mid-jungle is one of the strongest in the league when they land heads on the coin they flip. Fortunately, those kinks seem to be a bit more straightened out as of late: Jiizuke’s return to EG has looked really solid, and he is a great resource recipient by virtue of his fantastic side laning, and Svenskeren has looked much better this split, EG looks solid.

Alphari & Santorin

The top side for TL looks great too; Alphari has been a beast so far in North America, despite a screw-up against Revenge. Santorin too looks great, coming off a fantastic worlds performance on FlyQuest and an amazing 2020 making domestics finals twice. Santorin is likely the best jungler in the entire league, and Alphari contending with Impact for best top laner.

Top Picks: Santorin, Alphari, Deftly

Alphari and Santorin are described above; just solid players for their roles that are strong throughout the game. Deftly is fantastic against low tier competition due to his defensive playstyle, which limits his deaths and raises his point value. Any one of these guys are good captains, but especially Santorin since he’s cheap as a jungler.

Top Value: Perkz, Ssumday, Damonte

The 100 Thieves solo laners have great match-ups against Dignitas’ weaker solo laners. Dardoch and DIG’s bottom lane looks solid, but Soligo and Fakegod are untested whereas Ssumday and Damonte have been playing relatively well. Perkz is on-and-off, but if there’s weak points on IMT, it’s likely their solo laners. Insanity hasn’t spent much time out of academy, and from his steepest competition being Palafox to it now being Perkz is an absolutely massive jump.