Everyone assumed that Cloud9 and Team Liquid would meet in the LCS Lock In Tournament finals, but it wasn’t the easiest road. Both teams got off to a rough start dropping games in the first week of the tournament but have steadily improved after Cloud9 fixed some of their kinks in their playstyle and Team Liquid got their entire roster. Throughout the history of these two teams, they have always had close best-of-five series. They stack up very well individually against each other which should produce a back and forth match.
Here’s a partial lineup that includes the two players who should get the most resources from their team for January 31 on FanDuel
MVP ______
STAR Zven $15,500 FD
UTIL Alphari $12,000 FD
UTIL ______
UTIL ______
Zven ($15,000 DK [MVP], $15,500 FD) became the first player in League of Legends history to record multiple pentakills in a best-of-five series. Zven has been the rock for Cloud9 throughout their shaky run in the Lock In. He does an excellent job of staying equal to his opponent when Cloud9 seems to start falling behind and pushing the boundaries when he can get ahead. Zven has shown multiple different playstyles across Cloud9’s twelve games, whipping out the more supportive style in game two and three with Seraphine and fasting Senna respectively. Cloud9 should have a large draft advantage in the bot lane as Tactical has played a more singular style playing almost half of his games on Samira. EG didn’t let Tactical get his hands on Samira and was able to content Tactical and CoreJJ in the lane phase, expect Zven and Vulcan to be able to do the same.
Alphari ($8,400 DK, $12,000 FD) poses an even bigger threat to Fudge than Ssumday did. While Ssumday is one of the best top laners in the LCS he excels in teamfighting and playing the weakside of the map and was still able to abuse Fudge’s weak laning phase and poor wave management in Cloud9’s semifinal series against 100 Thieves. Alphari is a much better mechanical player and laner. He plays a more aggressive style in lane constantly trying to get advantages through farm and experience. Which is exactly where Fudge has seemed to struggle. This top lane matchup is the perfect scenario where Alphari can get an early lead and push it to the limit.
Now what do you get if you sign up for $99 now?
• Full rosters for both DraftKings and FanDuel
• Which players to take for STAR and MVP
• How the jungle dynamic will affect the series
• Which support will lead their bot lane to victory
• What laner has the biggest advantage
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 31
MVP Jensen $15,000 DK [MVP]
MVP Zven $15,900 DK [MVP]
FLEX Santorin $9,000 DK
FLEX Blaber $9,200 DK
Remaining Salary $900
Jensen ($15,000 DK [MVP], $13,500 FD) shined in his series against Evil Geniuses. Jensen completely shutdown Jiizuke from start to finish ending with a KDA of 17/2/26. His ability to work with his jungler in the early game to punish his opponent’s mistakes and transition it into early dragons or towers is what has made him so good this season. His stability in the mid and late game with regards to teamfighting and positioning is what makes him the best mid laner in the league right now. Perkz has strugged throughout the entire Lock In tournament but seemed to finally find his footing in the final three games. He will have difficult challenge ahead of himself having to deal with Jensen and Santorin.
Both junglers, Santorin ($9,000 DK, $12,500 FD) and Blaber ($9,200 DK, $11,500 FD), are essential to the early game performance of each team. Both provide intelligent early game pathing to put their team in position for early dragon and rift herald skirmishes. Now they have shown that they can pilot Udyr, who has skyrocketed in priority over the last two best-of-fives. Since slotting into the Team Liquid roster Santorin is now third in the entire league in KDA, first in assists among all junglers, and first in least deaths among junglers. Santorin plays a more supportive role for the Team Liquid roster, empowering his teammates while sometimes sacrificing his own resources. Blaber on the other hand is first in average kills among junglers and second in least deaths and assists. He’s a much greedier player who likes to play more carry oriented champions. This series will be very interesting in terms of the jungle dynamic and how both teams choose to approach the game.
FanDuel Lineup for January 31
MVP Jensen $13,500 FD
STAR Zven $15,500 FD
UTIL Alphari $12,000 FD
UTIL Vulcan $9,000 FD
UTIL CoreJJ $8,500 FD
Remaining Salary $1,500
With the salary being much more limited on FanDuel, it’s difficult to spend big on the carries from each team. Vulcan ($7,000 DK, $9,000 FD) and CoreJJ ($7,200 DK, $8,500 FD) are much cheaper options but still are integral to their team and still put up points. CoreJJ has been on engage duty for Team Liquid the whole tournament. In every single game he has played a tanky engage support who is able to disrupt the backline and put pressure on the enemy team to punish poor positioning and movement. Vulcan has been a chameleon, playing whatever the team needs while still looking flawless. His Alistar was the difference maker in Cloud9’s series against TSM and his peeling kept the Cloud9 carries alive during their reverse sweep of 100 Thieves. Both bot lanes have managed to kill their opponents early in lane, expect more of the same in the finals.
Let us know about your wins on Twitter (@FantasyDFSX). We love to hear from you. Best of luck and have fun!
