DraftKings LoL: Quarterfinal Cheat Sheet
And we are onto the quarterfinals.
Four matches are on the slate for this week: Cloud9 vs. Samsung, SK Telecom vs. Royal Never Give Up, ROX Tigers vs. Edward Gaming, and H2K Gaming vs. Albus Nox Luna. SSG, SKT, ROX, and H2K are priced as the favorites, but we need to find some value amongst the underdogs as well. I love that DraftKings included every series into one slate as it allows us to pick from the entire player pool heading into the knockout stage.
Top Lane: Looper (RNG vs. SKT, $5,000)
Looper has been very good at teamfighting throughout the tournament and is coming off of his best game, scoring 37.98 points against TSM. RNG will need to win teamfights to to keep this series close, meaning a player like Looper who is efficient and effective with his teleports is a terrific option to use at such a cheap price.
Jungle: Clearlove (EDG vs. ROX, $5,000)
This side of the bracket is stacked with two LPL teams facing two LCK teams. Can Clearlove keep EDG in this series against ROX? It's hard to say, but neither team dominated their respective groups and Clearlove is still one of the best junglers in this tournament. EDG should be able to win at least one, if not two games and Clearlove should outproduce his price. He's the only jungler in the tournament to score over 40 points twice so far.
Middle Lane: Faker (SKT vs. RNG, $7,900) and Crown (SSG vs. C9, $8,100)
Faker again is relatively cheap for his upside, coming into the day under $8,000. Looking at his last three games, he's scored 39.68, 32.92, and 43.86 points. That is domination. SKT should have an opportunity to win this series, but it might be closer than most are projecting, opening an avenue for Faker to register even more points. Likely taking a Flex role on my roster, Crown has been equally as dominant as Samsung crushed Group D. I don't think we'll see him on Viktor again in this tournament, but Crown has the easiest matchup of the quarterfinals and has a good chance at bonus points if Samsung end this series early.
ADC: Bang (SKT vs. RNG, $8,000) and Ruler (SSG vs. C9, $8,100)
They face each other so some of the upside is limited, but in what should be a close series they each have a chance to go off in games. Bang is coming off of a 54.28 point game and has scored below 24 points only once in the tournament. Ruler is coming off of a dominant group stage as Samsung cruised to the top of Group D. He's yet to eclipse 40 points, but has the easiest quarterfinal matchup and a real shot at bonus points if Samsung end this series early.
Support: Mata (RNG vs. SKT, $4,100)
Mata is cheap, but comes with good upside at his small salary. He's scored above 30 points and hasn't had below 15 assists in RNG wins. If RNG can take this series to five games, he will greatly eclipse his salary value and could even reach 10+ assists in the right conditions.
Team: EDG vs. ROX ($3,600)
The cheap option seemed to be the way to go at the team role, and EDG are certainly the cheap team to use on this slate. They have a good chance to win a game or even two and should be able to keep this closer than some of the other cheap teams near the bottom of the price range. If they can win two games they'll pay off this salary and allow you to pay up for carries in your roster. ROX were tournament favorites coming into Worlds, but haven't been as dominant through the group stage.
