This article is part of our DraftKings League of Legends series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 11:00 a.m: Team Vitality v. SK Gaming
- 11:50 a.m: Misfits v. Excel Esports
- 12:40 p.m: Origen v. FC Schalke 04
- 1:30 p.m: MAD Lions v. Rogue
- 2:20 p.m: G2 Esports v. Fnatic
SK vs. Vitality
Friday was a weird day for the LEC, but the one thing I can tell you is that SK are legit. Even though G2 inted their draft, they took advantage of it and played together as a team instead of separating. SK's early game and game knowledge impressed me, and they are playing the cleanest League of Legends in the LEC. Vitality, on the other hand, have came back down to Earth, and we are going to see a huge regression coming from this team. Vitality's death per loss is 16.5, and SK aren't a bloody team, but their kill participation is really good at 72 percent, which is better than every team other than Rogue and MAD. SK should win pretty easy here.
Prediction: SK Win
SK Players to Target: Crownshot ($7,800), Trick ($6,600)
xL vs. Misfits
This game is interesting because both teams are still trying to find an identity with some of the new players they brought in. XL have looked way better in the early game and sported first bloods in their last two games thanks to Caedral, who I touted as being one of the better early game junglers. Meanwhile, Misfits are seeing a spike performance from Dan Dan, who was costing them their previous games when he
GAMES (EDT)
- 11:00 a.m: Team Vitality v. SK Gaming
- 11:50 a.m: Misfits v. Excel Esports
- 12:40 p.m: Origen v. FC Schalke 04
- 1:30 p.m: MAD Lions v. Rogue
- 2:20 p.m: G2 Esports v. Fnatic
SK vs. Vitality
Friday was a weird day for the LEC, but the one thing I can tell you is that SK are legit. Even though G2 inted their draft, they took advantage of it and played together as a team instead of separating. SK's early game and game knowledge impressed me, and they are playing the cleanest League of Legends in the LEC. Vitality, on the other hand, have came back down to Earth, and we are going to see a huge regression coming from this team. Vitality's death per loss is 16.5, and SK aren't a bloody team, but their kill participation is really good at 72 percent, which is better than every team other than Rogue and MAD. SK should win pretty easy here.
Prediction: SK Win
SK Players to Target: Crownshot ($7,800), Trick ($6,600)
xL vs. Misfits
This game is interesting because both teams are still trying to find an identity with some of the new players they brought in. XL have looked way better in the early game and sported first bloods in their last two games thanks to Caedral, who I touted as being one of the better early game junglers. Meanwhile, Misfits are seeing a spike performance from Dan Dan, who was costing them their previous games when he looked bad and was at the bottom of the league for his position in most categories. The edge I have is still Misfits because if Dan Dan can continue to show improvements in his game-play, this whole team can take over a lot of others, especially against a rookie like Kryze. Misfits' bot lane is a huge advantage for them as well, and they should be able to take this game pretty easily, and it's a good target for DFS for how bloody this game could get.
Prediction: Misfits Win
Misfits Players to Target: Kobbe ($7,600), Dan Dan ($6,400), Doss ($5,200)
S04 vs. OG
This is going to be a stomp by Origin because S04 are so bad that they need to be relegated. Their core players look lost, they have no map awareness, no map pressure and no mechanics on any meta champion. This is a lost cause for S04, and a team like Origin won't let them do whatever they want.
Prediction: OG Win
OG Players to Target: Upset ($8,400), Nukeduck ($7,800)
RGE vs. MAD
The LEC is going to be competitive this season when you see Rogue and MAD in first place. Rogue and MAD took down the top two teams in the LEC, and they have similar play-style. Rogue are playing at their ceiling, but Nemesis and Selfmade both looked horrible against Rogue and it was nice to see Rogue capitalize on that. My lean is still towards MAD because they just have this meta down. MAD are taking games off top teams convincingly and have shown the ability to play different styles of League of Legends. This is a unit that throws teams off with their drafts and they somehow make it work. When looking at stats, Rogue are only 1-1 against the top teams, but MAD are 2-1 against them, and they both lost to G2. Rogue's early game rating is 20.5 points higher than MAD, but in this meta it depends on how well a team scales mid to late, and that's where MAD excel. MAD have a clear path to win and still have a lot of upside that we haven't seen yet, and this game might be when we see it.
Prediction: MAD Win
MAD Players to Target: Humanoid ($7,400), Carzzy ($7,200), Orome ($6,200)
FNC vs. G2
This is going to be the bloodiest game on the entire slate. This is where I think a game-stack can take down a tournament. Both sides are good plays win or lose because historically games have went over 40 kills. These two teams don't know how to play this meta correctly and it shows during the draft phase. Fnatic had good drafts other than the Soroka, but their Mid-Jungle duo isn't playing to the tier that they can. The problem with G2 is that they aren't drafting right for their players and there has to be a time where they just play meta champions and win the game. Reksai and Akali for G2 are 0-4, and they are still trying to make Reksai work for Jankos. G2 are not a dumb team, and I want to see them just draft Graves or Trundle for early game and Wunder on tank duty and just win outright.
Prediction: G2 Win
Players to Target: Everyone on both sides
