When 100 Thieves acquired four fifths of the Golden Guardians roster from summer 2020, they were probably hoping that they wouldn’t get reverse swept so soon. Cloud9 handed 100 Thieves three straight losses to them in devastating fashion that included back to back Pentakills for Zven in games four and five. This 100 Thieves/former Golden Guardians roster has now been reverse swept in their last two best-of-five series. You could even make the argument that 100 Thieves looked like the better team despite losing. They seemed to crack under the pressure in an attempt to close out the series after starting up 2-0. Perkz and Zven really stepped up their game in the final three leading Cloud9 to the finals of the LCS Lock In Tournament. The other semifinal match between Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid is a much more one sided affair. Since week one of the Lock In EG has been slightly on the decline. They dropped their final game of the group stage against FlyQuest and had two close early games against Golden Guardians. On the flip side since Santorin has joined the Team Liquid roster they seem to be back at the top.
Here’s a partial lineup that includes two star players for January 30 on FanDuel
MVP Tactical $14,500 FD
STAR ______
UTIL ______
UTIL Jensen $14,500 FD
UTIL ______
Tactical ($16,500 DK [MVP], $14,500 FD) has the most popoff potential of anyone on the Team Liquid roster. When Team Liquid wins, he averages 49.5 FD and 51.7 DK fantasy points per game, 9.9 FD and 8.3 DK points higher than his total averages. EG should adopt the strategy of banning out his Samira as that’s been his highest prioritized champion and his most successful, which all other teams Team Liquid have played have yet to do so. Tactical versus Deftly is most likely the largest skill gap of this series and should Tactical get going early with the power of his strong laning this series could be over before you know it.
With mid lane transitioning into a lesser impactful role in the current meta one could say having a strong mid laner isn’t as important as it used to be. Mid lane now is about supporting your team through roams and global plays to influence the entire map. Jensen ($10,400 DK, $14,500 FD) has made that transition flawless from being one of the primary carries of Team Liquid’s roster to a more supportive mid laner. In week two of the Lock In he had a near perfect KDA of 12/1/19 piloting Galio and Orianna to perfection. Against Jiizuke, Jensen will have to fight fire with fire as Jiizuke has high highs and low lows. Expect there to be plenty of attention mid lane in this series.
Now what do you get if you sign up for $99 now?
• Full rosters for DraftKings and FanDuel
• Who to select for MVP and STAR
• Which Team Liquid players to take to maximize points
• Which players to take if you think EG can pull of an upset
FanDuel users will use the single game style. You will select a roster of five players for the last semifinal match. The five players on the roster will consist of one MVP (2x points), one STAR (1.5x points), and three UTIL (1x points, UTIL picks can be any player in any role and includes TEAM picks). DraftKings users will use the Showdown game style. You will select a roster of four players two MVPs (1.5x points) and two FLEX (1x points, FLEX picks can be any player in any roles and includes TEAM picks).
DraftKings Lineup for January 30
MVP Santorin $13,800 DK [MVP]
MVP Tactical $16,500 DK [MVP]
FLEX Jensen $10,400 DK
FLEX CoreJJ $7,200 DK
Remaining Salary $2,100
FanDuel Lineup for January 30
MVP Tactical $14,500 FD
STAR Santorin $12,500 FD
UTIL CoreJJ $9,000 FD
UTIL Jensen $14,500 FD
UTIL Team Liquid $8,500 FD
Remaining Salary $1,000
Similar to Friday’s DraftKings lineup as Team Liquid are the big favorites over Evil Geniuses, stacking up on Team Liquid players make the most sense. The salary allows you to draft the highest average scorers on the Team Liquid roster in Tactical, Jensen, CoreJJ ($7,200 DK, $9,000 FD) and Santorin ($13,800 DK [MVP], $12,500 FD). However, you cannot take Alphari as that would put you over the cap, instead select Team Liquid (TEAM pick) as they are $3,500 cheaper and only average 3.0 points per game less. Stacking Team Liquid players also gives you the highest chance to take full advantage of the game not played bonus. A 20 point bonus given to players who don’t have to play the maximum number of games in a series. 20 points is greater than the average points per game for all players whenever they lose so it’s more likely to net larger scores than selecting players from the opposing team.
If you believe the series will be much closer or that EG can pull off the upset, consider Deftly ($10,600 DK, $15,500 FD) or Impact ($8,000 DK, $10,500 FD). They are EG’s top scorers and if given the proper resources and pressure have the potential to pull two of the biggest upsets of the tournament.
Let us know about your wins on Twitter (@FantasyDFSX). We love to hear from you. Best of luck and have fun!
