This article is part of our DraftKings League of Legends series.
DraftKings LoL LCS: Thursday Cheat Sheet
Week Three begins on Thursday with some good matchups to take advantage of for fantasy purposes (looking at you Origen and Fnatic). Both teams should be picking up wins on Thursday and while Fnatic players are priced highly, Origen are criminally underpriced and should greatly outproduce their salaries. Because of this, expect Origen to be owned pretty heavily, so in GPP's you may want to pivot from that matchup or only use one or two OG players. H2k and Vitality is the best matchup of Day Five, as the winning side is projected to end the day with strong fantasy numbers -- but it's hard to predict who will win. My gut feeling is H2k will pull out the victory, although it's reasonable to assume Vitality could pick up the win instead. For the remaining games I'll pick Splyce and UoL to win, but with moderate fantasy upside. I could see those games going either way honestly, especially the UoL/EL game as UoL will need a new jungler this week due to Diamondprox's visa issue.
Daily Player Recommendations:
Top Lane:
Gamsu (FNC vs. G2, $7,100): Gamsu has been pretty good for Fnatic so far this split, including his dominant game on Day One against Origen. He currently is tied for first in the LCS for kills in the top lane and should add to that total on Thursday. If he plays a carry, he's one of the best fantasy producers from the top lane across the LCS, but even if he plays a tank he should pick up plenty of assists.
Other Suggestions: sOAZ (OG vs. ROC, $5,700), Steve (EL vs. UoL, $5,600)
Top Lane Player to Avoid:
fredy122 (ROC vs. OG, $6,500): I don't understand why ROCCAT is higher priced than OG on DraftKing's today. Both teams are 1-3, but I'm sure most people, myself included, will be on the Origen side of this one. fredy122 is the third highest priced top laner today and I don't see the upside. He's middle of the pack in KDA and won't be worth his high price tag on Thursday.
Jungle:
Trick (G2 vs. FNC, $4,700): Let me preface this by saying Trick is definitely not the chalk play on Thursday. But in the section below you'll see two players I don't need to say much more about, as Spirit and Amazing are both well known contributors at this point. Instead I will focus on Trick, who is the second lowest priced player across the board on Thursday. He's been the best fantasy jungler thus far in the split with an outstanding 9/5/34 KDA and is averaging 25.9 PPG on DraftKings thus far. The next closest jungler is Spirit with 21.6. Sure, G2 will probably lose to Fnatic, but in a GPP for the amount of savings you'd get by using Trick, I think he's worth a look. It'd be hard for him to not outproduce such a low salary even in a loss.
Other Suggestions: Spirit (FNC vs. G2, $6,500), Amazing (OG vs. ROC, $5,200)
Jungle Player to Avoid:
Airwaks (ROC vs. OG, $6,000): Airwaks is simply just not worth this high price on Day Five. I don't think ROCCAT will win this game and, in fact, Origen should probably win handily. He is also the second most expensive jungler today and has only provided middle of the pack fantasy production thus far.
Middle Lane:
Febiven (FNC vs. G2, $8,000): Febiven is in a good spot Thursday against G2 and Perkz in a game that Fnatic should win. Perkz had played well in his first three games, but in his first real test of the split he went 0/3/2 against Ryu, a top tier mid laner. Febiven should once again be able to win his lane and although he's been more assist focused this year, he has a good chance to add to his kill total in this game.
Other Suggestions: Fox (UoL vs. EL, $7,500), PowerofEvil (OG vs. G2, $6,600)
Mid Laner to Avoid:
Ryu (H2k vs. VIT, $7,400): I was going to put Betsy here, but I am running the risk of only telling you to avoid ROCCAT players, so I'll mention Ryu instead. I think Ryu will play fine against Vitality, and I do think H2k will win, but the reason I say to avoid him is the simple fact that I think he will play a "safe" mid laner in this game, which will limit his fantasy upside. It's risky to avoid him if you think H2k will win as he's been a very reliable fantasy producer thus far, but I think H2k will look to carry through FORG1VEN and put Ryu on a more supportive mid laner Thursday.
ADC:
Zven (OG vs. G2, $7,000): This is the no brainer of the day in my opinion. This guy is a beast and OG has looked to play through him a lot lately, making his carry potential extremely high. $7,000 is so cheap that I don't see how you could fade him, considering his upside, even in GPP's. Considering his price and ability, he's my must play of the day. Hope for him to play Kalista and he will greatly out produce his current salary.
Other Suggestions: Steelback (UoL vs EL, $8,000), FORG1VEN (H2k vs VIT, $7,900)
ADC Player to Avoid:
MrRallez (EL vs. UoL, $7,000): Rallez has been pretty good this split with a phenomenal 18/5/10 KDA through the first two weeks. Honestly I wouldn't have an issue if someone wanted to use him except for the fact that he's the exact same price as Zven! If you want to pivot here from Zven that's fine, but the upside of OG's ADC is huge and EL might struggle against UoL, including their bot lane where Steelback has been on fire lately.
Support:
Mithy (OG vs. ROC, $4,900): Mithy for this cheap, like the rest of Origen, is a steal. I love using a cheap support and today is the dream scenario where a top level support is one of the cheapest options on DraftKings. Origen should win this game and he'll outproduce this low salary.
Other Suggestions: sprattel (EL vs. UoL, $4,900), Vander (H2k vs. VIT, $5,800)
Support Player to Avoid:
Hylissang (UoL vs. EL, $5,900): I sort of feel like this is a trap game for UoL. Without their starting jungler they may struggle against an Elements team who is surprisingly good. UoL can certainly still win, but I'm avoiding Hylissang because he's a little on the expensive side in a risky game.
Team:
Origen vs. ROCCAT ($3,800): Like the players, Origen as a team selection is one of the cheapest plays on the day. I don't understand why they're so cheap, but OG is a "must use" in cash games and I don't see how you can avoid using at least Zven and Origen as your team in GPP's either. If you want to fade some of their members I understand, but in cash games they're the lock of the day, taking into account their favorable upside vs. their cheap salaries.
