If you’ve read our season previews for the LCK and LPL, then you should have a good grasp of the level of competition we’re looking at for these matches tonight. With lots of fresh talent in the scene, it can be overwhelming to know who to look at. Thankfully, myself and the rest of the team are here to help break it all down for you.

Captain

Loken ($11,700)

JD Gaming’s superstar ADC, this was a pretty easy choice to make when selecting a captain. With this captain pick, you’re wanting someone who is consistent and a high-performer, and both of these are descriptions used frequently to describe this player. Having been around the South Korean scene since 2015, Loken has only improved and managed to increase the desire of not only the teams who contract him but the fans who will bet for him. If you look at every stat for Loken, you start to realize why he’s valued at such a high price on DK. This variation of the JD roster which includes Zoom, Kanavi, Loken, and LvMao have been together since late 2019, which is rare for a roster to stick together as long as they have. This comes with clear benefits, and allows Loken to have an advantage from the start over his opponents.

Alternatives to consider: Kanavi ($10,800)

Top:

XiaoHu ($5,400)

RNG’s top laner XiaoHu is a mid laner turned top laner. Normally to many players this would be perceived as a negative, but to me in this particular player match-up, I consider it to be very favorable especially given his price. XiaoHu was a mechanical mid laner with picks such as Rumble, Sylas, and Zoe. When he was given the opportunity to shine, he took it, and since his joining of RNG XiaoHu has strayed away from the Ornns, Malphites, or Maokai’s of the world and dove deep into the Gragas and Camille players  of the world. Due to Sunings top laner being on the weaker side, I expect for XiaoHu’s mid lane prowess to take over the lane and provide a great DK score in return.

Alternatives to consider: Kingen ($5,800)

Jungle:

Kanavi ($7,200)

Are any of us surprised that this is my pick. Kanavi is too good, that’s just all there is. Since his start in 2019 on Griffin Gaming, he’s been a stand-out player on every roster variation since then. Now on JDG, Kanavi has a new roster that is looking to take over the South Korean league scene. Kanavi plays the standard junglers such as Graves, Kindred, Nidalee and Olaf, and his jungle style is to be as active as possible throughout the game. With his jungle matchup being a weaker player from BLG, I see every reason to select Kanavi as the jungler for this draft.

Alternatives: Pyosik ($6,200)

Mid:

Angel ($7,800)

Angel proved himself and then some in Suning’s matchup again TES in the LPL opening. Going 6-2-18 in his first series, Angel showed again how being flashy in lane is not the only way to carry a team. Angel won’t be the 20+ kill in a series player like other mid laners, but he also is not going to be someone who dies 10+ times a match. This ends up making him pretty valuable when in the end, he doesn’t lose the points he earns. He is also playing into Cryin (RNG) who posted a solid score line in RNG’s first match, but it was against TT who may end up being the worst team in the LPL. Suning should be able to handle RNG fairly handley.

Alternatives: Yagao ($7,400)

ADC:

Huanfeng ($8,000)

In the absolute beatdown of TES, huanfeng put the LPL on notice about who should be in the conversation about top ADC this year. Against the reigning LPL champions, huanfeng went 15-0-13 in two matches and kept top talen JackeyLove from ever being relevant. I think huanfeng couldn’t perform much better than he did over the weekend but he shouldn’t have too much trouble with RNG and their ADC GALA.

Alternative: deokdam ($7,400)

Support:

LvMao ($5,800)

This is a very big price tag for a support but for good reason. LvMao is a solid support and on a great team. In Summer Split 2020 he nearly cracked 400 assists which was more than any other support in the league. I think his ability to read the game state is what allows him to play both engage heavy supports as well as peel/utility focused supports as well. While I think Mark and Aiming of BLG are decent, BLG are not as consistently good across the board which means LvMao should get his. 

Alternative: Lehends ($5,200)

Team

Suning ($5,400)

I find it so odd that Suning could dispatch TES as they did and they are not the most expensive team on the board. I think with the way they played that series, this team could be positioning themselves to get back to a World’s Finals. 

Alternative: Nongshim RedForce ($5,200)