This article is part of our DraftKings League of Legends series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 4:00 a.m: DRX vs. KT Rolster
- 5:00 a.m: LNG Esports vs. Victory 5
- 6:50 a.m: Bilibili Gaming vs. Invictus Gaming
- 7:00 a.m: SANDBOX Gaming v. Hanwha Life Esports
KT vs. DRX
When KT played AF there was a good chance that KT had the players and style to punish AF's mistakes but that wasn't the case. This is going to be a one-sided match because DragonX is a better version of Afreeca in terms of macro and team fighting. KT has been good in the early game, supporting a 69 percent first blood rate, which is second-best in the league. However, for a team full of veterans, they lose hard in the mid-to-late game. They have a negative rating as they are not good at snowballing teams because of certain drafts, and how much they stop being proactive after taking leads. DragonX has the best mid-to-late game rating in the league, and they are on a different level than most teams, and this is a spot where the upside might be limited because KT have one of the lowest death per loss among teams on the slate.
Prediction: DRX 2-0
V5 vs. LNG
This is another game that we may have thought would be sloppy but V5 have looked amazing this split. V5 is top three in every objective category and have been a tough team to play against. SamD and Ppgod have been the main focuses, but we can't
GAMES (EDT)
- 4:00 a.m: DRX vs. KT Rolster
- 5:00 a.m: LNG Esports vs. Victory 5
- 6:50 a.m: Bilibili Gaming vs. Invictus Gaming
- 7:00 a.m: SANDBOX Gaming v. Hanwha Life Esports
KT vs. DRX
When KT played AF there was a good chance that KT had the players and style to punish AF's mistakes but that wasn't the case. This is going to be a one-sided match because DragonX is a better version of Afreeca in terms of macro and team fighting. KT has been good in the early game, supporting a 69 percent first blood rate, which is second-best in the league. However, for a team full of veterans, they lose hard in the mid-to-late game. They have a negative rating as they are not good at snowballing teams because of certain drafts, and how much they stop being proactive after taking leads. DragonX has the best mid-to-late game rating in the league, and they are on a different level than most teams, and this is a spot where the upside might be limited because KT have one of the lowest death per loss among teams on the slate.
Prediction: DRX 2-0
V5 vs. LNG
This is another game that we may have thought would be sloppy but V5 have looked amazing this split. V5 is top three in every objective category and have been a tough team to play against. SamD and Ppgod have been the main focuses, but we can't forget how the top side of the map is doing. The top side of V5 has been really good at pressuring weak-side, giving the jungler and bot lane a chance to start getting ahead in games. Their rotation towards objective and team fighting are really clean, and they understand that to beat LPL teams you have to take as many neutral objectives as you can since most of the LPL teams just want to fight. LNG have been giving up a lot of kills in their recent games, and V5 have one of the best upsides on this slate.
Prediction: V5 2-0
- V5 Players to target: Everyone
IG vs. BLG
Meteor is back on the starting roster and BLG are desperate for a win. People are over exaggerating the IG loss and the win by BLG. JDG have looked rusty coming back from MSC, but they are looking to contend for the title again as they steamrolled IG and EDG. BLG played an inferior team in LNG and easily won, but they had a rough start to Game 2. IG has opted to play in the mid-to -late game but was ahead in Game 2 against JDG until IG botlane threw the entire game. Puff and Southwind looked horrible against JDG, and if it wasn't for the top half of IG then it would have been a complete stomp. The game was definitely closer than it looked, and this is a spot where both of these teams' bot lane is a liability. IG are the better team by far, and BLG still have a lot to prove with Meteor back, but with the new look IG who plays around more objectives, they are just playing what BLG wants to play. Then again, IG's players are just a notch better than BLG's.
Prediction: IG 2-1
- IG Players to Target: Everyone
HLE vs. SB
Yamato is back, and he lead Sandbox to their first win against a solid team in DYN. Now they get a chance to play against HLE who have looked decent in the early game but atrocious in the mid-to-late game. They are last in that category, and the reason is that they have the right idea but are too focused on the objective and ignore everything around them. Most of the time, HLE can grab these objectives but lose out on team fights and have to rely on Viper doing the most damage on the team. If HLE can be better in team fights and focus on protecting Viper they have a really good chance of winning . The sad part is their drafts make it hard for their players to frontline for Viper and even a low ELO team can figure out what to do in team fights. SANDBOX should punish them, as their early game in Games 1 and 3 were good, while in Game 2 if they drafted better into DYN composition it could have been a 2-0. SANDBOX has the players to be good as we saw last year, and with Yamato coming in, they should have a clearer vision on the direction they want to go in terms of play-style. This can sneakily be one of the bloodier games, as HLE's death per loss is 15.5 and SB kills per win is 16.5. The tempo at bot team play can definitely push the over in this game.
Prediction: SB 2-1
SB Players to Target: Route ($7,400), Onfleek ($6,600)
