Happy Valentines Day all you love birds! I hope Cupid not only helps you find love but also fall in love with some winning picks. The LCS has been closer than it has been in recent memory. Some of this is the gelling of new rosters and also more established teams (like Team Liquid) have been more explorative in strategies and team comps. There are some exciting games to watch cuddled up with a Valentine and immerse yourself in the last day of matches in week 2. 

Team Liquid v 100 Thieves

Cann’s Pick: Team Liquid

Immortals v Team Solomid

Cann’s Pick: Immortals

Evil Geniuses v Team Dignitas

Cann’s Pick: Team Dignitas

Cloud9 v FlyQuest

Cann’s Pick: Cloud9

Golden Guardians v Counter Logic Gaming

Cann’s Pick: Counter Logic Gaming

 

Captain

Favorite: Blaber (C9: $11,400) There is a growing shift away from the carry jungler role with nerfs to some of the strongest junglers finally hitting the pro-scene. That being said, Blaber is currently the kill leader in the LCS at 30 and he has a total 46 assists as well. Cloud9 runs directly through Blaber. In their loss to Evil Geniuses on Friday came through the fact that EG refused to let Blaber carry the game. FlyQuest does have talent in the jungle, but lacks in other areas of the map. 

Value Pick: Neo (DIG: $9,900) Team Dignitas is quietly one of the best performing teams so far. Neo is second in kills (28) and the single highest KDA (10.7). Some of these numbers come from a few pop off games among the 5 played, but the upside for Neo is he doesn’t really die. If Team Dignitas can get him on the Kai’Sa pick… you will get boatloads of points out of him. 

Top Lane

Favorite: Impact (EG: $7,000) Impact is consistently seen as one of the best top laners in the LCS for years now. The questions about his champ pool really doesn’t apply to this match. In this matchup against DIG, FakeGod is just not on the same level as Impact. In this 5 matches he is averaging being down 445 gold at 10 minutes. Impact could be what swings this match into EG’s favor, especially if they can get him onto a pick like Shen. 

Value Pick: Revenge (IMT: $5,600) Revenge is a quietly surprising player. Sometimes the coaching staff at Immortals has put him into some interesting positions with picks like Ivern or he has just lacked the performance (his Gnar into Renekton match). I think if you put him onto a more carry focused pick (Aatrox and Irelia) Revenge could put up huge numbers. This is especially into TSM’s super volatile top laner, Huni, who will go off one game or be a complete liability the next. 

Jungle

Favorite: Griffin (CLG: $6,600) This is less of a gleaming pick. You want a splashy pick, grab Blaber or Sven. You are picking Griffin here because of the matchup. GG’s jungler (Iconic) is the bottom of the league in almost every measurable category. Iconic is averaging being down over 100 gold at 10 minutes and is the only jungler averaging less at than 60% KP while Griffin is averaging almost 10 percent higher. CLG has had some close matches and their 0-5 record is a little misleading. CLG to pick up their first win on this slate. 

Value Pick: Closer (100T: $6,400) This is a riskier pick. The 100T and Team Liquid game could a wildly explosive on but just as easily be a slower match with lower kills. It is no shock to anyone at this point that 100 Thieves set the tone in their matches and love to push the pace with skirmishes across the map. This pace is driven by Closer and his constant pressure in lanes with his third highest assist total at 35. While I think Team Liquid will win, there is a real path for 100 Thieves to win and it goes through Closer.

Mid Lane

Favorite: Perkz (C9: $7,200) Perkz has not set the world on fire as most people have believed he would, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he has had a solid first 5 games. He has a 6.7 KDA and is tied for third in the assist column at 38. He plays safely (he is 14.3% of his team’s deaths) and is second highest in gold difference at 10 minutes (+225). Palafox isn’t a terrible player but he won’t be able to keep up with Perkz in this matchup. 

Value Pick: rjs (CLGL $6,800) With the benching of Pobelter, rjs has had an opportunity to shine. He has a 3.6 KDA with 4th most kills amongst all mids with 17 kills. Ablazeolive (Golden Guardians mid laner) is the LCS leader in deaths sitting at 24 deaths in 5 games, meaning CLG has a serious opportunity to win through this lane on Sunday.   

ADC

Favorite: FBI (100T: $7,200) Much like the Closer pick from earlier, while I think Team Liquid won’t be as experimental in this match, 100 Thieves love to fight and will push TL to the limit. FBI is tied for first in kills (30) and leads all ADCs in team kill participation at 83% (which may be the highest KP I have seen covering all leagues). 100T love to play around the bot lane early into games and it should also be said that Team Liquid’s ADC (Tactical) has been a point of weakness in the first two weeks of play. However this match shakes out, FBI will be picking up points. 

Value Pick: Neo (DIG: $6,600) Hop aboard the Neo train as it is rocketing to the moon! He has 28 kills (2nd most for ADCs), 6 deaths (tied for least among all ADCs), and 36 assists (2nd most for ADCs). Team Dignitas has put up far more quality performances than people expected from them and a lot of it is coming from Neo and their support Aphromoo. Neo has an 81% team kill participation rate and is averaging leads in gold, experience, and CS scores at 10 minutes. There is so much value here to pick up. 

Support

Favorite: CoreJJ (TL: $5,800) Even with the struggles that Team Liquid has had against Immortals and Team Solomid, you cannot count out CoreJJ. He is averaging 17.5 FPPG but has a team kill participation rate of 78.8%. When TL has a good game, CoreJJ is at the core of every team fight win and almost every kill secured. He roams with Santorin (jungler) to create advantages in the mid and top lane which means more points for you. This match against 100 Thieves should be explosive and CoreJJ should be right in the middle of it. 

Value Pick: Diamond (FLY: $4,000) Even as the cheapest support on the board Diamond is not a terrible pickup. While I think Cloud9 has an edge here, they have been prone to playing down to competition. Johnsun (his ADC) has had a pretty solid first 5 games posting a 6.5 KDA and Diamond does have the ability to work around the newly imported jungler in Josedeodo who a wildly skilled jungler. This pick is purely for saving some cash and understanding that you are going to pick up points if the team as a whole can perform. 

Team

Favorite: Cloud9 ($5,800) Cloud9 has the highest average kill per minute score of 1.09 meaning every minute they have at least one kill to their name. They are explosive and have one of the most proactive junglers in the league. They control first turret taken, first three turrets taken, first dragon taken, first herald taken, and baron control all at a 60% clip through 5 games. What does this mean for you? Bonus points for those objectives being picked up which can really add up for DraftKings. FlyQuest are a nice story and have decent pieces but they cannot stack up to the raw fire power of this team when they are firing on all cylinders. 

Value Pick: Counter Logic Gaming ($4,800) CLG is such an odd and seemingly snake bitten team. They rank relatively high in neutral objective control (towers, herald, dragon, and baron) and actually do a surprisingly good job of controlling the jungle. Their biggest issue is how to play out the late game. They have decent early games but everything falls apart when it comes to late game macro. Luckily for them, they are playing the team with arguably just as bad mid to late game play in Golden Guardians. GG has sub 20% control over dragons, towers, and baron which means they are losing late game fights and not creating early leads. I think this is a prime opportunity for CLG to pick up their first win of the split. 

Cann’s Example Lineup

Captain (x1.5): Zven ($12,000)

     Alternate: Perkz ($10,800)

Top: Alphari ($6,200)

Jungle: Griffin ($6,600)

     Alternate: Closer ($6,400)

Mid: Perkz ($7,200)

ADC: FBI ($7,200)

     Alternate: Neo ($6,600)

Support: Vulcan ($5,600)

Team: Team Liquid ($5,200)