With the fall of the LPL in the second round-robin only two LPL teams managed to move on to the quarterfinals and one more will be gone after Saturday’s series. Either way only one team will have the chance to defend the LPL’s title of the best region in the world.
Here’s a core lineup of two players with advantageous matchups on FanDuel for October 23
| MVP | ||
| STAR | ||
| UTILITY | Xiaohu | $6,200 DK, $9,500 FD |
| UTILITY | Scout | $7,200 DK, $14,500 FD |
| UTILITY |
Even with RNG’s struggles in the second round-robin Xiahou ($6,200 DK, $9,500 FD) still looked amazing. Across seven games in the group stage he played six unique champions with several off-meta picks like Syndra, Camille, Lucian, and Gragas. A wide champion pool can pay dividends in a best-of-five as it becomes difficult to limit or counter pick that player in the draft which already puts Xiaohu ahead of Flandre.
The mid lane matchup will be very interesting in this series. Scout ($7,200 DK, $14,500 FD) is very lane focused whereas Cryin is very roam heavy. Scout has already shown his dominance on all of the meta mid laners and we’ll have to see if EDG will have Scout match Cryin’s roams or double down on lane phase. Expect there to be a heavy focus around mid lane on EDG’s side whether it’s early ganks to blow summoners or using priority to have first access of dragon and rift herald.
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DraftKings game slate includes Saturday’s best-of-five between RNG and EDG as well as Sunday’s best-of-five between Damwon and MAD Lions. FanDuel only includes the match between RNG and EDG so don’t forget to pick up players in the DK versus MAD series if you are on DraftKings. With only one best-of-five on FanDuel they’ve shifted to the five-player roster of one MVP (2x points), one STAR (1.5x points), and three utility players. DraftKings is still using the traditional roster format of one MVP (1.5x points), one player from each role, and one TEAM pick.
EDG versus RNG Picks (DraftKings and FanDuel)
MVP + STAR Picks
It feels wrong to have both AD carries, GALA ($10,800 [MVP] DK, $14,500 FD) and Viper ($11,100 [MVP] DK, $15,500 FD), as MVP picks in this series as one of them is going to lose but both have so much upside. These two are considered some of the best AD carries in the LPL and combined with their supports make for the two best bot lanes. RNG have some of the highest kill games at worlds which usually results in plenty of kills for GALA and EDG’s safety in the bot lane keeps Viper’s deaths low allowing him to get to late game as strong as possible.
Utility Picks
Jiejie ($6,800 DK, $11,500 FD) will bounce back after two bad games against T1 and 100 Thieves in the group stage. In both games one lane was completely ruined making it difficult for Jiejie to have an impact. Jiejie is one of the few junglers at worlds to fine success on Talon and Jarvan IV, two high priority picks that most teams haven’t found success on. Jiejie still has Lee Sin and Olaf in his back pocket which were two of his best champions in 2021 which will give EDG a needed boost in the early game if they need one.
Cryin ($7,000 DK, $13,500 FD) is playing a very 2019 DoinB-esque style of mid lane at Worlds 2021. He’s prioritizing roaming to side lanes over having control of his own lane to play to the strengths of his team, Xiaohu and GALA. This playstyle is very apparent in his champion picks. Six out of the seven games in the group stage he’s been on a roamer with five Twisted Fate games and one Galio game. Against other group stage mid laners Cryin is dead last in CS per minute and bottom three in gold per minute. Where he makes up for it is being first in assists per game and second in kill participation.
MAD Lions versus Damwon Picks (DraftKings only)
Based on the performances at worlds thus far there is a huge advantage in the top lane on the side of Damwon. Khan ($6,600 DK, N/A FD) has looked as good as ever after coming off a lackluster MSI performance and has stepped up his game leading into worlds. There was concern for Khan as he’s mostly been known for his fantastic tank play but average carry play. However, he’s performed great on strictly carries with four unique picks over six games including a pentakill on Lucian. Across major scoring categories among top laners in the group stage he’s second in KDA, second in kills per game, third in deaths per game, fifth in assists per game, and second in CS per minute.
Another huge mismatch for Damwon is with ShowMaker ($7,400 DK, N/A FD) in the mid lane. He’s been near perfect at Worlds with a combined scoreline of 25/5/46 displaying a mastery of the top three champions in the meta right now, Twisted Fate, Ryze, and LeBlanc. MAD Lions mid laner Humanoid has struggled to live up to the expectations as the best mid laner in Europe at worlds. He seems to have a different read on the meta than the rest of the mid laners, continuing to pick late-game control mages who provide very little in the early game. The early game and lane phase are at an all-time high in terms of impact on the game and ShowMaker should take quick control across the entire best-of-five series.
Damwon ($5,400 DK, N/A FD) is the only reasonable TEAM pick as RNG versus EDG is viewed as a cion toss and Damwon are massive favorites against MAD Lions. While it’s a longshot, MAD Lions ($4,400 DK, N/A FD) have the longest average game time which results in plenty of dragons, barons, and towers.
Gameplan
RNG versus EDG feels like it could go any number of ways. EDG are the LPL champions and one of the pre-tournament favorites after losing their first best-of-five in the LPL playoffs and making the loser’s bracket run. Whereas RNG was eliminated early in the LPL playoffs before the loser’s bracket came into effect and qualified through the regional gauntlet. However, RNG destroyed EDG in their regular season matches 2-0 and is historically great in domestic best-of-fives so we never got to see RNG at their full strength. Both teams had similar group stage performances starting off 3-0, then dropping to 4-2 after some bad games which makes this matchup as even as possible and probably the closest quarterfinal match when looking at individual skill and team play. We are likely to see very close 3-1 or 3-2 series so a good split of players from both sides could result in high points scored.
Additionally, FanDuel users have MAD Lions and Damwon players to pick from for their roster. This series is very one-sided when compared to Saturday’s matchup. Damwon looked unstoppable in the group stage going 6-0 with only one competitive game which came against Cloud9. You could even argue that Damwon was experimenting in this game picking a super scaling draft with Jax and Kassadin solo lanes. Even with weak solo lanes they were never down more than 500 gold during the entire game. MAD Lions on the other hand had a rocky group stage. They ended the group stage 4-4 after two tiebreaker matches and could have easily lost their first tiebreaker against LNG. In wins MAD Lions have an average game time of 40:27 which is very long considering how easy it is to snowball the early game currently. MAD Lions are often operating at a deficit which won’t work against Damwon who look like the best team by far after the group stage.
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