This article is part of our DraftKings League of Legends series.
Daily Player Recommendations
Top Lane
Seraph (Renegades vs. Team Impulse, $6,400): To say Renegades surprised the world with their domination of TSM would be a massive understatement. With the addition of Seraph and Ninja the team finally found additional threats to complement Freeze, who was unlocked as a result. If they can repeat the magic they found against TSM on TiP this game should be a slaughter. Seeing as Seraph has a history of doing well regardless of his team's score, he should be an incredibly safe bet today.
Other suggestions: Darshan (Counter Logic Gaming vs. NRG eSports, $6,700), Lourlo (Team Liquid vs. Team DIgnitas, $6,800)
Top Lane Player to Avoid
Balls (Cloud9 vs. Echo Fox, $7,000): Simply a bit overpriced for my tastes. I think this game will be much closer than most are giving it credit for, and as such I would rather buy safer picks that cost less.
Jungle
Moon (NRG eSports vs. Counter Logic Gaming, $5,500): Last week marked the first time we've really seen the assertive jungler Moon was heralded as all along. He scored first blood for the first time this split and went on to be a huge force in both of their games (including stealing Baron, which is quickly becoming NRG's signature play). With a price that's rock bottom and a game that's likely to be a bloodbath, I have no compunctions about recommending Moon.
Other suggestions: Dardoch (Team Liquid vs. Team Dignitas, $6,600), Reignover (Immortals vs. SoloMid, $7,100)
Jungle Player to Avoid
Xmithie (NRG eSports vs. Counter Logic Gaming, $6,500): Last week saw teams starting to figure out CLG and force them into fair fights, something they failed spectacularly at. Considering starting teamfights is traditionally a strong point of NRG, I'm not holding my breath on seeing another amazing scoreline from Xmithie today.
Middle Lane
Froggen (Echo Fox vs. Cloud9, $6,200): While Froggen is quickly proving himself to be in contention with Jensen for being the best mid laner in the region, he's still the longshot here. Echo Fox's last week was the worst we'd seen with the full roster and they relied more on their enemies to make mistakes for them then they did making proactive plays. Even still, this matchup is likely to be one in which both mid laners prosper, and if the Echo Fox of two weeks ago shows up today it should be a very winnable game for them.
Other suggestions: Jensen (Cloud9 vs. Echo Fox, $7,800), Ninja (Renegades vs. Team Impulse, $7,200), GBM (NRG eSports vs. Counter Logic Gaming, $6,600)
Mid Laner to Avoid
Pirean (Cloud9 vs. Team Impulse, $6,900): I rooted against Pirean last week, and he gave me plenty of reasons to continue to do so this week. He continued his passive streak and really failed to impact the games outside of feeding the opposition gold.
ADC
Piglet (Team Dignitas vs. Team Liquid, $7,700): This game has two possible conclusions: either Team Liquid utterly stomp Dignitas, or the game ends up incredibly drawn out until one team throws. Considering Piglet tends to do very,very well score-wise in either of these scenarios, picking him should be as close to a no-brainer as possible.
Other suggestions: WildTurtle (Immortals vs. Team SoloMid, $8,200), KEITH (Cloud9 vs. Echo Fox, $6,400), Freeze (Team Impulse vs. Renegades, $8,300)
ADC Player to Avoid
Doublelift (Team SoloMid vs. Immortals, $6,000): Considering they managed to lose last week to one of the weakest teams NA LCS has ever seen, there's pretty much no reason to trust TSM to do better against one of the best. Avoid.
Support
Hai (Cloud9 vs. Echo Fox, $5,900): In a game that is likely to have quite a few big fights, I expect Hai to be leading the charge. If Cloud9 manage to take the win, his score will surge accordingly, though there's also the possibility he'll be handed one of his backline support picks again. When he is, his score absolutely explodes and it's worth keeping in mind that his Morgana is still undefeated.
Support Player to Avoid
Hakuho (Renegades vs. Team Impulse, $5,300): I can't imagine paying only 600$ less than Hai for a support whose greatest talent seems to be dying. With the lowest scoreline in the league I can't think of any reason to recommend Hakuho, even if I do think his team will take home the win.
Team to Use
Echo Fox (Echo Fox vs. Cloud9, $3,800): An advantage on betting on the longshot is the cheap initial investment. While I don't think an Echo Fox victory is certain, I trust them to score enough points even in a defeat to make the investment somewhat worthwhile.
Team to Avoid
Team Dignitas (Team Liquid vs. Team Dignitas, $3,900): Seeing as the last meeting between these teams was one of the most one-sided games of the split in Team Liquid's favor, I don't see any reason to assume this one will be anything different. Team Liquid has only improved since Week 4, while Dignitas stagnated since Week 2 and really hasn't shown us anything different since then.
