AlphaDraft LoL: Quarterfinal Cheat Sheet
We roll into the quarterfinals Thursday with Cloud9 vs. Samsung, meander through a a pair of intense matches between SK Telecom vs. Royal Never Give Up, ROX Tigers vs. Edward Gaming, and end with H2K Gaming against Albus Nox Luna. All four series are included on the AlphaDraft slate for the week, which is great as it doesn't limit the player pool in any way.
Top Lane: Smeb (ROX vs. EDG, $7,600)
Smeb is only the fourth-highest priced top laner, but tell me who else you'd rather roster? While his team hasn't been as dominant as expected, Smeb is certainly on a course to earn the "best top laner in the world" title, putting together a litany of highlight reel-worthy plays in this tournament. This should be a close series, but Smeb will look to lead ROX through to the semifinals.
Jungle: Peanut (ROX vs. EDG, $7,700)
Peanut is pretty cheap, but has the upside of a carry jungler while many of the high priced options are more assist focused. Peanut can play the assist game superbly as well, but it's his potential to pick a high damage jungler and rack up kills that gives him the nod over Blank/Bengi or Ambition. The series should be close, but more games means more fantasy points.
Middle Lane: Faker (SKT vs. RNG, $8,300)
I think Crown has the easiest matchup, but with no bonus points for games not played, I am using Faker in what should be a closer series. Faker is still the best player in the world (sorry Smeb) and has the highest upside of any mid laner on the slate. His ability to do anything his team needs sets him apart from the rest of the mid laners and he's due to go off.
ADC: Bang (SKT vs. RNG, $8,200) and PraY (ROX vs. EDG, $7,900)
Like Crown, Ruler seems to be in the easier matchup, but once again, the possibility of playing less games makes me want to use the other two LCK ADC instead. Bang has a 29/5/32 KDA thus far in the tournament and a 71.8% kill participation. He's shown that he can pick up kills while playing safe and rarely dying. PraY leads the tournament in kills and assists from the AD carry role and has a 71.1% kill participation. He's died more, but he has been excellent thus far. Both have series that should be close, meaning more games and more fantasy points.
Support: Wolf (SKT vs. RNG, $7,600)
I'm expecting SKT to win this series, which means Wolf should get multiple double digit assist games. He's the second highest support on the slate, but we can afford to pay up by using three underpriced members of ROX Tigers and a cheap team. SKT didn't pick up a ton of kills in the group stage, but it's not concerning as many games were ended cleanly. It's not as if Wolf and company were getting dominated.
Team: RNG vs. SKT ($2,700)
Even though I expect SKT to win the series, I think RNG can push them to five games. While not a guarantee, using RNG in the team spot allows us to pay up for six players on teams that should win in more important roles. If RNG can win two games, they'll easily outperform this salary. I will note that if I had $100 left over, I'd gladly use ANX in a matchup I think they can potentially win.
