DraftKings LoL: Thursday MSI Cheat Sheet

Games (EDT)

• 3:00 a.m. T1 vs. FunPlus Phoenix
• 3:50 a.m. DAMWON Gaming vs. Top Esports
• 4:40 a.m. T1 vs. DAMWON Gaming
• 5:30 a.m. FunPlus Phoenix vs. Top Esports
• 6:20 a.m. FunPlus Phoenix vs. DAMWON Gaming
• 7:10 a.m. T1 vs. Top Esports

Welcome to the LCK/LPL Mid Season Cup. This is a new event since there will not be a real Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) with all of the best teams around the world. The tournament format will be best-of-ones in the round robin, and then move to best-of-fives for bracket play. DraftKings has the six games broken into three different slates, with each team playing in three different contests per day. I'll analyze each in that "slate" order, but we'll have each of the games listed in article for consistency.

T1 vs. FPX (Slate 1)

This is an interesting matchup as both teams offer different styles of LoL. T1 comes in as Spring Split winners and they play more of a slow control style where they farm, play around objectives and choke you out slowly. FunPlus Phoenix, on the other hand, is a team that thrives off controlled mayhem, rotating players around the map to set up a dive onto the other team earlier in the game. T1 are rightfully the favorites but lane for lane, I think FPX has an upper hand in certain scenarios. Gimgoon and Khan should be able to bully Canna. Canna is a new top laner and even though he fared well in the LCK, he has to go up against world talent top laners and this will be a tough task for him unless whoever starts at jungle for T1 is able to camp for him. Tian, I believe, will thrive in this matchup as well due to the fact he has one of the best first-blood percentage in the LPL, and with that his pathing and early game sense can outweigh a player like Ellim and can give a veteran like Cuzz a hard time. This game will definitely be top heavy focus as both bot lanes are real good and whoever has the best early game and clean game will come out on top.

Prediction: FPX Win

FPX players to target: DoinB $7,200, LWX $7,400

T1 Players to target: Faker $7,400, Teddy $7,600

TES vs. DAMWON (Slate 1)

Two teams with similar style play in this matchup, as both teams love to skimirsh throughout the entire game. I personally think DAMWON Gaming is the worst team in this tournament considering just how sloppy they have looked in the entire season. The problem with DAMWON is that they had two years to fix their mistakes, yet haven't done anything. They have had the same problems with Nuguri overextending, and of course there is the mess in the bot lane with subbing out their support players. Knight is probably the best mid laner in the world right now, and he is going to have a field day against Showmaker. I can see this being a high-kill game as well.

Prediction: TES win

TES Players to target: Karsa $6,800, Knight $7,600, JakceyLove $7,800

T1 vs. DAMWON (Slate 2)

As I previously stated, T1 is one of the heavy favorites and this should be a matchup they shouldn't have a problem against DAMWON. T1 should have their way as they have the better players, macro, and objective rate then them in the LCK

Prediction: T1 Win

T1 Players to target: Canna $6,400, Teddy $7,800

TES vs. FPX (Slate 2)

This game is a toss up because these are some of the better teams in the LPL. Regular split doesn't mean anything due to the fact that TES smoked FPX the last day of the regular season. The addition of Jackeylove made that bot lane a lot stronger and we are seeing an increase on first blood rate for TES. In a best-of-one anything can happen and the way FPX wins, it's on the back of Tian and DoinB carrying through mid to try and snowball Knight early. Knight's late-game carry has kept Top Esports in many games and if FPX can't exploit that then its going to be a long game for them.

Prediction: TES Win

TES Players to target: Karsa $6,600, Knight $7,600, Jackeylove $7,600

FPX vs. DAMWON (Slate 3)

Usually the third series can change depending on how teams look in the first two games. If FPX comes out the way that we all know, I believe they can smash DAMWON. DAMWON can also pull out a tricky comp for FPX and throw them off if they end up going 0-2, but it's an unknown as of this writing. Simply put, FPX have the better macro, objective control and overall players to beat DAMWON here.

Prediction: FPX Win

FPX Players to target: DoinB $7,400, LWX $7,600, Crisp $6,000

T1 vs. TES (Slate 3)

Another thing here to watch is how T1 and TES play in the first two games, as I think both teams can beat each other any given day. The only advantage I see TES having is Karsa, and he will need to step up his early pathing to get either Knight or Jackeylove ahead. SKT are really good at stalling games out and mitigating early damage from opponents which will be hard for TES to accomplish because how they want to play. We have seen the slower side of TES, but for some reason they tend to make more mistakes that way instead of going all in on team decisions. If TES can get ahead early and keep the momentum going, I believe they should take this game.

Prediction: TES Win

TES Players to target: JackeyLove $7,000, Knight $6,800, 369 $6,200