LCS re-enters the week on Friday; DIG and Cloud9 begin the second round robin with easy matches against IMT and GGS respectively, TL tries their hand at taking down TSM a second time, 100 Thieves try for a cleaner win against CLG, and EG will try to put down a FLY who has been soaring low this split. Let’s check out the picks.

Captain

Blaber ($11,400)

Blaber has undoubtedly been the best performing jungler this split, and their losses to EG and TL involved both teams planning out a cohesive strategy in order to shut down the jungle king. Fortunately, Golden Guardians has shown little to no promise in the way of actual big picture strategy, courtesy of their novice roster that struggles to break even in laning phase, even in good match-ups. Blaber will ride easy on Friday and is likely to rack up points. If you would prefer to pick a more “high impact” role for captain, look no further than DIG’s ADC, Neo, who has been an absolute hit in the bottom lane.

Alternatives to consider: Neo ($10,800)

Top Lane

Alphari ($6,600)

No doubt, Alphari has had a handful of rough games this split: his match versus IMT and versus the overperforming TSM are two such cases. However, after TSM fell to DIG last week, I think there’s a much better case that we can say that TSM has achieved a “middle of the pack” form as opposed to their win streak being indicative of something greater. There’s two places I would look to abuse this uncertain form: bottom lane, where SwordArt and Lost have looked somewhat weak, and the top lane coinflip Huni. Alphari is a solid, stable choice into the unwieldy top laner. If you want an even safer option, Cloud9’s Fudge gets his chance to smack Niles around.

Alternatives to consider: Fudge ($6,800)

Jungle

Dardoch ($6,400)

DIG’s jungler Dardoch has been having a resurgence this split, and benefits from a strong bottom lane, and a mid laner who is willing to play for his jungler. Xerxe’s mid laner Insanity is more reserved in nature, and it creates an uncertain dichotomy although I hesitate to call either player “bad”. Dardoch has the support advantage in Aphromoo, which is additionally important for a jungler, and a mid laner who is willing to obey his commands. If you want a jungler with more firepower and already have Blaber, I’d try to either grab Closer or Santorin, with an emphasis on Closer due to what should be an easy match-up.

Alternatives to consider: Closer ($6,800)

Mid Lane

Damonte ($7,600)

While 100 Thieves to me seems like the 2nd place team with the least enthusiasm, I think CLG slotting back in Pobelter gives the Thieves a fantastic shot at smacking them while they’re down. Pobelter is likely lacking synergy with his team, and especially Broxah who just arrived in North America. Meanwhile, this 100 Thieves roster (aside from Ssumday) has been playing with each other for nearly a year at this point, and that synergy should be enough to smash CLG. If you want a team that’s hit more consistent highs, I’d recommend DIG’s Soligo who should match nicely into the rather stagnant Insanity.

Alternatives to consider: Soligo ($7,000)

ADC

Neo ($7,200)

As described in the Captains section, DIG is a brand without the prestige of TSM, Cloud9, or TL. However, this split has been a renaissance for the organization, with the promotion of 3 rookies out of academy who range from “pretty competitive” to “top 4 in the league”. Neo is the crown jewel of these rookies, and has been playing consistently well, in no small part to his elder in Aphromoo. Stixxay and Newbie is the icing on the cake for Neo, who has the luxury of playing versus the worst bottom lane in the league. If you prefer an ADC with a higher pedigree, you can’t go wrong with choosing Zven playing against the Oceanic bottom lane of IMT.

Alternatives to consider: Zven ($8,000)

Support

Aphromoo ($5,200)

Despite being in the league for nearly 8 years now, Aphromoo has still shown that he can be one of the best supports in the region. He persevered and held his own against constant imported threats to his position, and when he looked at his ropes end at the end of 2019 on 100 Thieves, he regained his stride in 2020, and in 2021 he looks much better with two new solo laners. Aphromoo is the veteran on Dignitas, their biggest voice, and their guiding light through the game. The pace of the game revolves around him, and that’s a massive advantage to the squad. The other support who I think is similar is CoreJJ, who has the largest voice on TL and takes my secondary support pick.

Alternatives to consider: CoreJJ ($5,800)

Team

Team Liquid ($5,200)

There’s two fantastic choices for team picks on Friday: TL versus TSM, and DIG versus IMT. The former is a more psychological option. TSM has several tilt prone players in Spica, Huni, and Lost who have clearly been marred from the negative aspects of defeat, whereas TL is way more nonchalant and collected about mixed performances. TSM just had their streak snapped. Meanwhile, DIG is a consistent underdog through the league, and while IMT has X-Factors in ADC, Mid, and Jungle, their players should be strong enough to not get outmuscled; take your choice.

Alternatives to consider: Dignitas ($5,000)

Stacks

Blaber & Perkz

Truthfully, any stack of Cloud9 versus GGS would be good, but I prefer the mid/jungle in specific due to their pure mechanical ceiling: Golden Guardians has no plan to reenter the game once they fall behind, and Ablazeolive versus Perkz sounds like a match-up you’d only read about in a meme. Iconic being so raw is another massive minus for the squad, Cloud9 looks to triumph on Friday.

Neo & Aphromoo

DIG’s bottom lane has been a gem in a sea of turbulence in the league: while newly promoted rookies like Palafox, Ablazeolive, Revenge, RJS, and others have looked underwhelming, Neo hit his highs quickly and has looked competitive versus the import laden line-ups in the league. Aphromoo is the perfect, intelligent support to pair him with too.

Alphari & CoreJJ

While top lane and support don’t strike me as a “genius match” for pairings, I think these two have a case since they play versus TSM. As stated before, TSM is coming off a humiliating defeat from Dignitas which snapped their win streak. TL has some uncertain pieces as far as cohesion is concerned in Santorin and Jensen, but CoreJJ is still the best support in the league, and Alphari has been hitting the marks he should be hitting. Huni looks as streaky as ever, and SwordArt hasn’t impressed me much so far.

Top Picks: Blaber, Aphromoo, Zven

Cloud9 gets to play against the last placed team in GGS, with their strength being… middle laner Ablazeolive? Not sure, to say GGS has a “strength” is like looking for a shade of red that looks “blue”. The best choices are Zven, who gets a big carry role into a weak bottom lane, and Blaber who gets to play against a weak jungler. Aphromoo is the odd man out here, as his performance so far has let him into the top 4 supports in the league despite sticking with a perennially underachieving organization like DIG.

Top Value: Neo, Aphromoo, Damonte

DIG’s players for a roster that’s currently tied for 2nd are extremely underrated, even against a poor performing IMT that looks disjointed top to bottom. Damonte is cheap too, and gets to play against a mid laner who has spent the last 4 weeks playing in academy and looking mediocre there too. These guys are great money savers.