DraftKings LoL: Friday LCK/LPL MSC Cheat Sheet

Games (EDT)

• 3:00 a.m. JD Gaming vs. Gen.G
• 3:50 a.m. DragonX vs. Invictus Gaming
• 4:40 a.m. DragonX vs. Gen.G
• 5:30 a.m. Invictus Gaming vs. JD Gaming
• 6:20 a.m. Invictus Gaming vs. Gen.G
• 7:10 a.m. DragonX vs. JD Gaming

Recap: This morning wasn't too bad of a day as T1 did go 1-2, but I wasn't expecting the team to drop a game against DAMWON Gaming, who looked decent. At first glance the LCK seem to be the stronger region, but as the games went on the top LPL teams were too good for the LCK teams. This article is going to focus on an overall team breakdown in Group B instead of by matchup, as I found myself reiterating the same thing on a 2 game 3 slate day.

Invictus Gaming

Invictus Gaming all Spring Split fought their way out of a paper bag numerous times during the mid to late game and it was more frustrating to watch as TheShy would die time after time, making it hard for IG to get into any momentum. That reared it's ugly head in the playoffs, when they went 0-2. This time around I believe with the departure of Leyan, we have the old IG back where the top side of the map is going to carry the game. The biggest thing IG has against every opponent is their solo laners are really good to the point they are able to get such a huge individual lead for themselves in the early game. Adding Ning to the table could be troublesome for LCK teams because's an aggressive jungler who is always looking for a play, and even Kanavi is ultra aggressive as well. Invictus should have no problem against a team like Gen.G due to the uptempo style. DragonX, on the other hand, can play this uptempo early game, but I believe that their players aren't as skilled as the players on Invictus. Chovy is definitely good, but one player doesn't make a difference against players who can solo kill you. The last team Invictus has to worry about is JD Gaming. JDG has players that can match IG, and I would say Kanavi can easily out jungle Ning. I have Invictus sweeping Friday due to the fact that this meta is perfect for IG with how some of the champions got buffed. Ning coming back brings a stability in the jungle where unlike Leyan, they had to hide him most of the game and he was a non factor in any team fights. 

Prediction: IG 3-0

Players to Target: TheShy, Ning, Rookie

JD Gaming

JDG is coming off an amazing Spring Split, and, after winning the finals in strong fashion, they are the next heavy favorites to win it all. Same with IG, I don't see Gen.G or DragonX beating JDG due to the jungle difference in Kanavi. Kanavi had a 80 percent first-blood rate alone, along with the highest kill participation in the LPL. The biggest thing about JDG that makes it hard for teams to beat them is that they have a wildly diverse champion pool across their starting lineup. The majority of the teams will want to ban Kanavi's champions, but that leaves the rest of the teams best champions available. The only other team that can match the draft and understand how JDG play is Invictus Gaming. I have JDG losing to Invictus for a couple of reasons. Invictus, at least in a best-of-one, have the capability to force teams to make a mistake. Another reason is that teams are figuring out that early dragon control doesn't mean too much compared to turret gold. IG had one of the worst dragon-control rates in the LPL, but had a 65 percent Rift Herald control. IG controlling the top side will make Kanavi's job a little harder to decide whether he wants to help botside or stay top to defend against the aggressive style in Invictus. 

Prediction: JDG 2-1

JDG Players to Target: Kanavi, Yagao, Loken

Gen.G

GenG finished first in the regular season before falling in the playoffs after having a hot start to the season. Unfortunately, it could be more of the same in this tournament considering this specific group is a nightmare for them given the contrasting styles. Their drafts are really standard as they will draft to scale to late game, ultimately opting to play it slow throughout the course of a game. All the other teams are so good in the early game that they have a better first-blood rate than Gen.G by a decent margin. The one positive for Gen.G is that they are one of the few teams that can punish a big mistake and against teams like IG, or DragonX, where they tend to make numerous amounts during a game, they can turn things around if they aren't far behind in the early to mid game. If Gen.G wants to take games and make it out of this group they will need to mitigate the other teams early game, or change their style and draft for early.

Prediction: GenG 0-3

Gen.G Players to Target: Clid, BDD, Ruler

DragonX

A young, talented team that finished third in the LCK, DragonX has the best upside to make some upsets happen in this group. A meta that bodes well for this team with a strong coach can be scary. DragonX also had one of the best first-blood rates in the LCK as well as one of the best early games. They have a fighting chance against teams like JDG and IG only if they have fixed some of their issues from the Spring Split. Many times we have seen some linear drafts and gameplay as they will continue to do the same thing until they have been punished for it. Chovy during late-game teamfights will overextend and get caught out, leaving his teammates to dry with any extra damage support. The LPL teams, especially Invictus and JDG, can easily punish the entire team like that with how the LPL teams usually play. Their matches against Gen.G were horrible all split long, failing to figure them out. DragonX were good at getting leads, but then would lose due to the reasons mentioned above. There is more growth to DragonX and with this time off they should have cleaned up many of their issues, and should be able to at least push Gen.G as long as they keep snowballing.

Prediction: 1-2 (can see a 2-1 with a win over IG)

DragonX Players to Target: Pyosik, Chovy, Deft