This article is part of our DraftKings League of Legends series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 5:00 a.m: Vici Gaming v. Royal Never Give Up
- 7:00 a.m: Suning v. JD Gaming
RNG vs. VG
This matchup is one of two teams with similar play-styles, with both coming out of the gate by sweeping their opening series. VG looked a lot better in their game, as they seemed to have fixed a lot of their macro and micro issues from last split. Taking nothing away from RNG, but it seem like OMG handed them that win. I'm glad RNG were able to punish OMG on how many times they were caught out, but it was too easy for RNG to roam and dive onto the enemy team. This meta made the game slow down by an average of 5-10 minutes, and that bodes well for a team like VG. KKOma already knows how to play this style of League of Legends, and it forced this team to lane more while letting Aix roam and make the proper plays. Another big thing that KKoma did was change tendency to over-commit during team fights and during laning phase, which was one of their big issues last year and the reason why they would lose late game. The way RNG wins this game is if they are able to utilize their bot lane more and keep XLB active around the map. VG aren't going to get caught out like OMG did, so the play-making and shot-calling by XLB needs to be there to snowball VG bot lane. This
GAMES (EDT)
- 5:00 a.m: Vici Gaming v. Royal Never Give Up
- 7:00 a.m: Suning v. JD Gaming
RNG vs. VG
This matchup is one of two teams with similar play-styles, with both coming out of the gate by sweeping their opening series. VG looked a lot better in their game, as they seemed to have fixed a lot of their macro and micro issues from last split. Taking nothing away from RNG, but it seem like OMG handed them that win. I'm glad RNG were able to punish OMG on how many times they were caught out, but it was too easy for RNG to roam and dive onto the enemy team. This meta made the game slow down by an average of 5-10 minutes, and that bodes well for a team like VG. KKOma already knows how to play this style of League of Legends, and it forced this team to lane more while letting Aix roam and make the proper plays. Another big thing that KKoma did was change tendency to over-commit during team fights and during laning phase, which was one of their big issues last year and the reason why they would lose late game. The way RNG wins this game is if they are able to utilize their bot lane more and keep XLB active around the map. VG aren't going to get caught out like OMG did, so the play-making and shot-calling by XLB needs to be there to snowball VG bot lane. This is going to be a close series, but the edge is that VG are starting on blue side, which is a 60 percent win rate globally, something to consider when choosing a team to win.
Prediction: VG 2-1
VG Players to Target: Cube ($6,000), Forge ($7,000), iBoy ($7,000), Hang ($5,200)
RNG Players to Target: XLB ($6,400), Xiaohu ($7,600)
JDG vs. SN
SN are currently 2-0, while this is JDG's first game in the LPL. JDG looked good at MSC, but it doesn't take a lot of credit in that tournament. JDG should win this pretty easily, as there isn't a player on SN who is better than their counterpart aside from Huanfeng. JDG plays top heavy while SN plays through their bot lane. LvMao is really good at mitigating any damage bottom lane so the other team doesn't snowball their weak side, which is why JDG are so good. LvMao lets his topside get ahead while they sit back and farm in a meta that ADC players are irrelevant until late game, where Yagao and Kanavi will start to roam bottom to help out. JDG are a good disciplined team that will scale and win team fights during the late game where they strive.
Prediction: JDG 2-0
JDG Players to Target: Kanavi ($6,800), Yagao ($7,400), LvMao ($5,800)
