League of Legends LPL DFS Playbook: April 13

EDward Gaming

Top Lane

Royal Never Give Up

Falndre: Flandre has most definitely been filling a very specific role for EDG in these playoffs. With 53 assists to his name in their 2 total series these playoffs (TES and FPX) and a total of 11 deaths he is the late game initiator. An upside with Flandre is he isn’t easily ganked in the early game meaning he won’t be set behind too far in the late game meaning he should always be in some position to score you points. 

EDGE:

Royal Never Give Up

Xiaohu

Xiaohu: This is arguably one of the best top laners in the LPL. He has a killer instinct and personally dropped 120 points in RNG’s 3-2 victory over TES with 18 kills and 27 assists to his name. He has been a little more death prone than Flandre but the trade off is you are getting a player who will create his own opportunities for himself rather than waiting for mid game team fights. 

Jungle

Jiejie: Jiejie has gone forgotten most of the Spring Split because you have junglers like Wei, Karsa, SofM, and others that have more name recognition. In reality he is one of the most consistent players on EDG. He controls objectives and can play multiple styles of jungle based on his matchup. In both series he played in these playoffs he has scored over 110 fantasy points and had 30+ assists as well. He won’t have the same kill numbers but he plays safely and looks for openings to get Scout and Viper ahead.

EDGE:

Royal Never Give Up

Wei

Wei: Much like top lane, if you are looking for a more high paced and carry orientated player, Wei is a better bet. He has 5 more kills in the same amount of games compared to Jeijei and has a higher total kill participation rate (73%). HE plays the meta picks of Hecarim and Udyr really well and also will toss in more fringe picks like the Nocturne in as well. He will focus on farming early and avoid early fights but then transition quickly into putting pressure into RNG’s winning lanes. 

Mid Lane

Scout: Scout has put on a show in EDG’s current playoff run. He has dropped 40 kills and 47 assists in 8 games which beats Cryin in each respective category. He has averaged a 32% team kill share percentage and EDG’s identity has seemed to shift to leaning even more on Scout in those later game fights than ever before. I loved his new picks in the mid lane against FPX including Sylas and Quianna which both showcase his abilities to make his own advantages against his lane opponent. I think EDG will continue to focus this approach against RNG.

EDGE:

EDward Gaming

Scout

Cryin: What was a consistent part of RNG has now become a liability for them in Spring playoffs. He has almost three times as many deaths as Scout (31 total deaths) and has been a nonfactor in teamfights with a 57% team kill participation rate. I think RNG need to take a look at Cryin and decide if they want to try and throw resources at him to keep him relevant or focus at making other lanes winners and hope he doesn’t bleed out in the mid lane. 

ADC

Viper: Hey guess what. Viper is really good at League of Legends. That is it. That is the message. He has 42 kills in their 8 games and did everything in his power to try and win the FPX series for EDG with a 20 kill and 20 assist performance. He was even more impressive in the TOP Esports series dropping 22 kills and 25 assists with only 4 deaths total. I imagine taking Viper out of the game and getting GALA ahead will be task #1 for RNG so this series will really boil down to how well Viper absorbs the pressure in the bot lane. 

EDGE:

EDward Gaming

Viper

GALA: Unfortunately for GALA, it seems like he has to be the carry for RNG. Cryin is not currently pulling his weight and it is making it easier for teams to focus down GALA. He has only an 18.3% death percentage which is solid and a 50% first blood rate which also is pretty impressive but RNG really fell flat against FPX that most people have begun to doubt them as a team. Head to head I think the two ADCs are very closely matched but this will come down to how they play as full teams. 

Support

Meiko: I think Meiko is a serviceable support. I would argue the eye test tells a story a little different than his stats. He has 17 kills (this is very high for a support) and a solid amount of assists (70) but EDG did rack up HUGE numbers in their TES series. In their 5 game series against FPX he only racked up 78 points which is really low. I think he fits the role that EDG need him to fill but he is not naturally the core of their playmaking. 

EDGE:

Royal Never Give Up

Ming

Ming: Much like the other members of RNG, Ming has not had the best playoff run. In fairness to him, he is the main engage for the team and his role of protector of GALA means he needs to die at times. To that point, Ming has died a LOT in 8 games (38) with minimal impact elsewhere (63.6% team kill participation rate). If Cryin can stay alive a little longer in team fights this will give Ming more of a chance to stay alive. In the regular season he was the assist leader (386) and I would argue well above what Mieko was in terms of team impact. I think RNG can match that, especially if you take the FPX series out of the equation. 

Team

EDG: This team is pretty methodical and when they can outdraft you, they have the play to seal the deal. Now I think this series will go the full distance so it will come down to the drafting for EDG. In their last two series they have taken 4 first barons and had 2 out of 8 games be sub 30 min victories. They are a neutral objective focused team and picked up 43 turrets in their 8 games. If EDG can focus on getting Cryin behind early they can take early objectives and dictate the pace on RNG, they could easily find themselves in a rematch with FPX in the LPL finals. 

EDGE:

EDward Gaming

RNG: This team is defined by their teamfighting and solid macro play. I think they were taken off guard by FPX’s creativity and aggressiveness in their 0-3 loss to them last week. Because of this I think most pundits are sleeping on them and their ability to win longer series. A perfect example of this was their dismantling of TES over the weekend. They took first baron 3 times and picked up a total of 28 turrets. They still tend to be a lower dragon taking team but what they lack there, they make up in their ability to move enemy teams around the map. I think EDG will struggle not being sucked into this style of play and RNG can make their way back into the finals.