LCS resumes on Friday with matches that have solid parity: EG faces Cloud9, IMT and DIG both try their best to look relevant, an uncertain TSM faces off against GGS, 100 Thieves try to remain undefeated versus FlyQuest, and Team Liquid looks to keep CLG winless. Let’s get into the picks.

Captain

Alphari ($10,200)

Top laner Alphari is a solid choice for captain on the 12th; CLG top laner Finn is alright but underwhelming. Even in the LEC, Alphari looked better than Finn despite being on a worse team, Alphari had a rough time against IMT’s Revenge but has looked way better in the following games, and his match-up is more than good for him. The other obvious option for captain would be teammate Santorin, the jungler for TL, who has a great match-up against Griffin. Jensen is another option, but he likely comes in at a price point that’s too high, so I would favor Santorin.

Alternatives to consider: Santorin ($11,100)

Top Lane

Ssumday ($6,200)

KDA 1st and 3rd: Fudge and Impact respectively, are locked in a match against each other, and their statistics have been skewed due to their schedules. Ssumday is my favored top laner alongside Alphari, he hasn’t had the strongest run recently, but Licorice should be a relatively easy match-up and much of Fly’s resources should likely be diverted towards the bottom lane in order to quell FBI and Huhi, allowing Ssumday to stand unchallenged in the top lane. If Alphari isn’t you captain, pick him up here, but Ssumday is an excellent option for cheap.

Alternatives to consider: Alphari ($6,800)

Jungle

Santorin ($7,400)

Two options for jungle: Santorin, or Blaber? Blaber has been likely the best jungler this split so far, but being tied up against Svenskeren alongside his high price tag deters me from simply selecting him; Santorin, on the other hand, has been solid even in TL’s bad games and continues to show his strength as a player even after leaving FlyQuest. Jensen and Santorin may not be a prolific mid jungle 2v2 (Has Jensen ever worked exceptionally well with any particular jungler?), Griffin and RJS look bottom tier, and are a primed target for Santorin to demolish.

Alternatives to consider: Blaber ($7,600)

Mid Lane

Jensen ($7,800)

RJS has not been a good replacement for Pobelter, I’m not saying that Pobelter would suddenly make CLG competitive; just that RJS is likely the worst mid laner in the entire league, whereas Jensen is an evergreen player who has consistently been world class since 2015. CLG hasn’t picked up a win yet, and it’s even more unlikely they will against TL. If Jensen isn’t striking your fancy, I’d consider Damonte who faces Palafox, who has a good advantage courtesy of the jungle 2v2 advantage, pre-established synergy, and veterancy.

Alternatives to consider: Damonte ($7,600)

ADC

Zven ($7,800)

Deftly is a great player to choose against low tier competition courtesy of his defensive play-style, but Zven shares a relatively similar style, and is more than capable of punishing bad play in his own right. Deftly has not struck me as overly impressive, whereas Zven has looked astonishingly good since 2020 spring. Cloud9 look restored, and their bottom lane is a massive factor in this. If you want more TL, I’d choose Tactical for ADC although I think Wildturtle is a good player in his own right; take your choice between the two, but Zven’s match-up is stylistically great.

Alternatives to consider: Tactical ($8,200)

Support

CoreJJ ($5,800)

I hesitate to pair Zven with his bottom lane buddy Vulcan for the reason that IgNar may be capable of pulling his strings across the map. Core, on the other hand, only has to deal with Smoothie, who may just be the worst support in the league at this point. CoreJJ is a decisive force on the rift, and has been a consistent MVP candidate since his return to NA in 2019. There’s not enough good things I can say about CoreJJ, it’s likely the best support in the league up against the worst.

Alternatives to consider: Vulcan ($5,400)

Team

Cloud9 ($4,800)

The best thing about this sort of roster is that your team pick isn’t even a sack; EG will very likely fall to Cloud9 courtesy of Fudge getting used to his new promoted position, Perkz being better integrated into the team, and Blaber firing on all cylinders. EG is a solid team, but Cloud9 will likely only be challenged by TL and maybe 100 Thieves again. If you have a bit more money, feel free to grab TL, but don’t strain yourself for a team pick.

Alternatives to consider: Team Liquid ($5,600)

Stacks

Jensen & Santorin

I used to promote PowerofEvil and Santorin a lot as a FlyQuest stack last year, and Jensen has simply taken PoE’s place. Santorin is still the strong, fast farming jungler who prefers to defend his laners and facilitate their scaling into the late game, and Jensen is an excellent recipient of that playstyle just as PoE was. Any sort of style TL runs will likely be favored into CLG, but these two target massive weaknesses.

Zven & Vulcan

I’m a bit iffy on Vulcan vs IgNar, but I can’t deny it: Cloud9’s bottom lane is extremely good. Whether they’re better than Team Liquid’s? Ehh, but while Tactical and CoreJJ is a bit more “detachable” to the degree that CoreJJ is the leader, has more agency, and therefore has more options on the map, Zven and Vulcan are raw laning power which is favorable into a weaker laner like Deftly. Different strokes for different strokes, and Cloud9 have the potential to strike gold on Friday.

Ssumday & Damonte

The FlyQuest solo laners haven’t struck me yet, entering the league with an underwhelming 1-2 start, Palafox is decent but Licorice just has not been good at all. 100 Thieves have a big advantage in the match-up, and I don’t trust the inconsistent Licorice and the green Palafox against the more seasoned and consistent Ssumday and Damonte.

Top Picks: Zven, Santorin, Jensen

All 3 of these guys have insane match-ups: Zven gets to smash Deftly in the laning phase courtesy of being a more “laned focused” bottom lane, Santorin and Jensen get to obliterate Griffin and RJS who look less than ready for LCS. These are massive names against inferior opponents.

Top Value: Zven, Raes, Perkz

Neo vs Raes is a match-up to watch and the clashing of two worlds: NA Academy (and amateur), and the incoming Oceanic invasion. I’m not necessarily suggesting Raes, but he is cheap and I think he has played extremely well, you may even be capable of making him a cheap ADC captain so you can pick up a secondary, more expensive ADC (or vice-versa, I suppose). Perkz has looked much better since Lock-in, and I’m interested to see how he’ll do versus Jiizuke. Zven is just suspiciously cheap, despite playing insanely well.