With the first of three round-robin’s finished for the summer split we are now one third’s of the way through the summer season. TSM sits atop the LCS standings at first place with an 19-8 record and CLG seems to have found their grove, beginning their climb in the standings towards making worlds.
Here’s a core lineup of two players with great individual matchups for Friday’s matches on FanDuel and DraftKings for June 25
| MVP | ||
| Top Lane | Fudge (C9) | $8,100 FD, $7,200 DK |
| Jungle | Closer (100T) | $8,600 FD, $7,200 DK |
| Mid Lane | ||
| AD Carry | ||
| Support | ||
| TEAM |
Fudge ($8,100 FD, $7,200 DK) continues to be a strong early game force for Cloud9 since MSI. He led all players at MSI in solo kills despite not making the knockout stage and is tied for third in most solo kills across all players in the LCS. Last weekend Fudge did struggle with getting picked off in the mid game against TSM and Immortals but is on track for a bounce back week with some easier opponents in Golden Guardians and CLG.
Closer ($8,600 FD, $7,200 DK) looks like a completely different player since the acquisition of Abbedagge for 100 Thieves. During the back half of 2020 and the start of 2021, Closer was one of the best junglers in the LCS due to the mid-jungle dynamic with Damonte. However, with the meta shift and change in mid lane for 100 Thieves at the end of spring, Closer felt invisible with little to no early game impact. Abbedagge seems to have unchained Closer allowing him to reach his peak once again.
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• Which players to avoid for Friday’s matches
• MVP Level Picks
• Which team whose players all have great value
• Which AD carry is looking to repeat his best performance of his season against the same team
In a press conference on Thursday morning Team Liquid announced that head coach Jatt had resigned, and assistance coach Kold will be promoted to interim head coach effective immediately. Additionally, Santorin will no longer be in the starting lineup due to health reasons for an indefinite amount of time. Academy jungler Armao will take over the starting spot for Team Liquid until further notice. Armao hasn’t been updated into FanDuel’s player database and is unable to be sleceted for Friday’s matches. However, he’s been correctly updated into the DraftKings database and is available to be picked.
Lastly, Cloud9 announced that Zven will be rejoining the starting lineup putting an end to K1ng’s time as the starter. Like Armao, Zven hasn’t been updated into FanDuel’s player database and is unable to be selected for Friday’s matches but is available on DraftKings.
MVP Picks
Zven’s (N/A FD, $12,000 [MVP] DK) first game back in the Cloud9 starting lineup couldn’t be any less stressful. Cloud9 finished the first round-robin of the summer split with a 4-5 record and after a 0-3 weekend in week three are turning back to Zven to right the ship. While Cloud9 did drop their first game of the summer split to Golden Guardians with K1ng in the lineup, it was a very messy game with Cloud9 admitting that they only had three days of practice before the season started. Zven coming back into the starting lineup should give Cloud9 a much needed boost to get their summer split back on track.
FBI ($10,100 FD, $12,600 [MVP] DK) continues to be the go-to MVP pick for 2021. With the best laning stats and some of the highest gold difference at 15 minutes in the league, FBI snowballs his early game gold leads into massive advantages in the mid and late game. 100 Thieves are one of the only teams in the league that consistently utilizes first herald for bot lane giving FBI the early influx of gold as opposed to dropping it mid lane.
Tier One Picks
Broxah ($7,600 FD, $6,800 DK) picked up player of the week for his fantastic Vi performances in week three and leading CLG to a 3-0 in hopes to spark a worlds run. Despite CLG’s slow start to summer, Broxah has had a great season since summer began sitting third in KDA and second in assists per game among LCS junglers. CLG has their easiest matchup of the week on Friday against Immortals needing a strong start roll that momentum into their matches against Team Liquid and Cloud9.
What more could you ask for Abbedagge’s ($8,800 FD, $7,400 DK) first split in the LCS. Through the first three weeks of his LCS career he’s been the best performing mid laner and shown proficiency on four different styles. 100 Thieves’ problems in spring split resulted from Damonte and ry0ma’s one dimensional mid lane playstyle, through nine games Abbedagge has shown near flawless performances on assassins, control mages, bruisers, and support champions.
Tier Two Picks
Smoothie ($6,700 FD, $5,400 DK) had an equally impressive week three for CLG. His Rakan was the perfect fit in CLG’s heavy dive team composition kicking off most of the teamfights from 15 minutes onward in both games. Across week three he had a combined score line of 6/3/46 on Rakan and Nautilus. Their opponents for Friday, Immortals, have some of the bloodiest lane phases in the league resulting in plenty of kills in the early game. Last match between Immortals and CLG produced two separate bot lane 2v2 kill before three minutes, while CLG’s bot lane started that game at a deficit they outplayed the IMT bot lane the rest of the game.
Danny’s ($8,100 FD, $7,000 DK) best game of the split came against Evil Geniuses’ first match against Team Liquid. With all the drama surrounding Team Liquid this season, plus the most recent coaching and jungle changes they are at their most vulnerable. Danny has proven to be an aggressive laner who isn’t afraid to scrap in the early game but doesn’t quite have the poise and positioning in the mid and late game to reliably close out the game. His best chance for another strong performance is up against a weakened Team Liquid.
TEAM Picks
100 Thieves ($7,900 FD, $5,400 DK) are the obvious TEAM choice for Friday’s matches. While they took a tough loss against CLG almost getting perfect gamed last week, they have the best record in the summer split at 7-2 and have made the most improvements during the offseason. Their opponents Dignitas haven’t looked the same since switching out Soligo for Yusui in the mid lane. They are 1-5 since roster swap and in the middle of last week made another roster change, swapping Dardoch out for Akaadian.
Gameplan
I would stay away from the TSM versus FlyQuest match completely. While both teams are trending in the opposite direction with TSM regaining first place and FlyQuest dropping down to nineth, FlyQuest owns a 3-0 record against TSM in 2021. FlyQuest have often slowed down the momentum of TSM right as they are getting hot. While TSM is in sole possession of first place and are the heavy favorites, don’t be surprised if FlyQuest ruined the party once again.
With the news of all the changes going on at Team Liquid now would be a great opportunity to squeeze some value out of Evil Geniuses players. On DraftKings every single EG pick (player and TEAM) is the fourth cheapest option, except for Jiizuke who is the sixth cheapest, giving you plenty of chances to fit some EG players into your lineup. Evil Geniuses also hold a 2-1 record against Team Liquid in 2021 and always seem to play to the level of their opponents.
Let us know about your wins on Twitter (@FantasyDFSX). We love to hear from you. Best of luck and have fun!
