This article is part of our AlphaDraft LoL series.
AlphaDraft LoL: Friday Cheat Sheet
What a Day One. No one saw that INTZ win coming, and that's what makes tournaments like this so exciting. A massive upset from the Wildcard region against a tournament favorite and we still have tons of games to go. Today we get our first glimpse of Group B with SK Telecom TI vs. Cloud9 and iMay against Flash Wolves. SKT, Royal Never Give Up, and Edward Gaming (don't give up on them yet) are the days big favorites.
Top Lane: Looper (RNG vs. SPY, $7,600)
Looper was dominant with his teleports and teamfighting in yesterday's win against Team SoloMid. With an easier matchup on tap Friday against Splyce, I'd expect another strong performance from Looper and his teammates. If they teamfight like they did yesterday, using Looper is an excellent value as the fourth-highest priced top laner.
Jungle: Blank/Bengi (SKT vs. C9, $7,900)
Whichever jungler plays should enjoy a strong game. It is rumored that Bengi will make the start, but while Blank struggled a bit in the LCK Summer Split, he should be good enough to have a strong showing against C9 in a game SKT are heavily favoured to win.
Middle Lane: Faker (SKT vs. C9, $8,300)
While all the praise is being thrown onto Smeb as the best player in the world coming into the tournament, Faker will be out to remind folks of why he's considered the best player in the game's history. Jensen is good against North American mid laners, but I'm not sure he will be able to stand up to Faker today.
ADC: Bang (SKT vs. C9, $8,100) and Uzi (RNG vs. SPY, $7,900)
Both are considered to be among the best ADCs in the world and both find themselves in excellent matchups. Bang died one time in the group stages last year and while that may be a tough feat to repeat, he should enjoy a strong Game One today. Uzi is way too cheap in an excellent matchup. He dominated Doublelift in the laning phase yesterday and was a monster in teamfights. If he can do that to Doublelift, what do you think he'll do to Kobbe?
Support: Mata (RNG vs. SPY, $7,400)
Mata was involved in all but one kill for RNG yesterday as they dominated TSM. He helped Uzi outclass Doublelift and Biofrost and set up kill after kill in teamfights with some massive playmaking ability. In an even better matchup today, he should have no problem repeating his performance.
Team: iMay vs. FW ($2,800)
iMay are cheap and while there isn't a guarantee they'll win this game, I'm leaning towards them being victorious over the weakest No. 1 seed in the tournament. Using iMay allows us to stack RNG and SKT in excellent matchups and even if iMay lose, I don't see them getting destroyed by Flash Wolves.
