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Jason Malmanger's expert League of Legends (LoL) DFS advice and DraftKings, FanDuel lineup picks for EU Masters slates on 8/24/20. His top LoL value plays and eSports DFS recommendations.
Welcome back RotoBallers, to my League of Legends DFS column! EUM is back, and all the simmering undercurrents of the passionate European fans that have led to world wars and soccer hooligans can now be settled - ON THE RIFT. I've been digging around for info on these teams, and some of them are familiar from the Spring. These are the champions and runners up from their respective regional leagues. The EU Masters tournament gives us a good look at perspective LEC talent as well as some fond reminders of LEC past as teams blend vets and up and comers in their fight for national pride.
FanDuel hasn't joined the party yet, but DK has some contests up so that we can sweat some action during the day. Just like Spring, we will have four days of six-game slates then a break. September 9th, we'll see each group finish out on their day breaking things down to three separate two-game slates. After that, we'll proceed to the bracket stage where the group's top seeds face the twos from the other groups in the best of three elimination matches. The Esports crew here at Rotoballer will be here with you all the way, so stay tuned!
Today, I'll be providing my League of Legends advice, analysis, and lineup picks for the EU Masters slates on DraftKings that lock at 12:00 PM ET on Monday, August 24th, 2020. Make sure you follow me on Twitter @Mr_Malmanger as I often post starting lineups when I see them and other useful info for the slate.
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12:00 PM: Vodafone Giants vs. Misfits Premier (-195)
We get to start the main stage off with a banger! Two teams near the top of tier lists kick us off with the second seed from Spanish Superliga Vodafone Giants taking on the first seed from the LFL Misfits Premier. Both of these organizations and leagues have been historically very strong in EUM play. The Giants finished second in their regular season to the Movistar Riders, who we will see later today, and their summer playoffs are still ongoing. MSF finished their regular season third but ran the gauntlet in the qualifier to take the first seed away from both GamersOrigin and LDLC. They, too, haven't finished up their summer playoffs.
Statistically, these teams line up very well with each other, and it should be a close match. With these top teams from high powered regions, we could see a bit of a playoff mentality as neither side can put the other away. A close game between two slower teams is usually something we'll look to avoid in fantasy LOL. I do think we're getting some good value on the side of Giants, though. Spain is historically a match to France for strength coming into the tournament, so I weight their higher regular-season finish very highly. They also have the advantage of more reliable objective stats and vision numbers. Plus, Giants are 8-3 on the blue side of this split. The mid-jungle duo is the main attraction here with Kirei and Ronaldo having a slight edge over Pretty and Llamabear. The main advantage for Giants will be in the bot lane with Attila, the savvy veteran up against Jezu, who will be making his international debut. This could go either way, but I'll look for a dog or pass route on this one, as I believe it will be a slower game.
Top GIANTS Plays:
- Attila - ADC
- Erdote - SUP
- Th3Antonio - TOP
- Giants Team
12:50 PM: We Love Gaming vs. 7more7 Pompa Team (-190)
It only took til game two for us to say who the heck are these guys. WLG is the champion of the Greek league. They finished third in the regular season but were able to take Intrepid Fox for the title sending IF to the play-in stage. Greece has been a weaker region in the past EuM competitions. PT7 finished second in the regular season of the UltraLiga from Poland. They ended up third in the league and earned a spot in the Play ins losing to Spring EuM heroes K1ck Neosurf in the playoffs. Poland has traditionally been the stronger of these two regions. The performance of the Polish teams in the Spring was phenomenal, with both K1 and Rogue advancing to the final four. I can't find any stats for the GLL online anywhere outside of individual player stats. One thing to note is that WLG has played zero games with their JNG Warden on the squad. He is a very carry heavy jungler, and if WLG pulls out the upset, he should be the main reason. So we're going in a bit blind, but I think the Polish region's overall strength gives us reason to favor PT7. PT7 did, however, lose 1-2 to Intrepid Fox the GLL's representative to the play-in stage, so there is some hope for the underdog. I think I'll stick with PT7 based on Poland's strength, but for bigger GPP plays, WLG could be a slate breaker as they average nearly 23 kills in their wins, and they give up almost 20 in their losses as well. The pace of the Greek team makes this an attractive spot to target on both sides.
Top PT7 Plays:
- Defles - ADC
- Pyrka - SUP
- Sinmivak - TOP
- Bruness - JNG
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1:40 PM: Fnatic Rising vs. Gamers Origin (-170)
The champs of the newly formed NLC Fnatic Rising face the second seed from France Gamers Origin. Gamers Origin was one of the favorites in the Spring EuM, and they finished first in the LFL's summer split only to fall to a hot MSF team in the qualifier finals. Fnatic was 10-0 in their regular season and followed that up by winning their summer playoffs beating Riddle twice and BTXL once. Riddle showed well in the group stage of play-ins losing to GL in a tiebreak for first in their group. They failed to advance to the main stage falling to LDLC 2-0 in their knockout stage, and that leaves FNC as the only remaining representative from the combined UK and Nordic Leagues. Both of these teams escaped their groups in the spring EuM competition but fell one match short of facing each other in the bracket stage. Typically we've seen the UK and Nordic teams be weaker than their mainland competition at EuM, but FNC showed well in Spring and was dominant in their home league.
Stats for the NLC are also hard to come by, but they were an action-packed team in the spring edition of EuM. In their finals versus RDL, both teams were very even early game, but it was later that FNC was able to outplay. Against GamersOrigin I don't think FNC will be able to do that as easily, GO has been tested within their home league in a way FNC hasn't. I'd rate them better in the early game, and they should be able to match them late. I'll take the favorites here, and I believe in the strength of the LFL.
Top GO Plays:
- bluerzor - JNG
- Smiley - ADC
- HustlinBeast - SUP
- Toucouille - MID
2:30 PM: Intrepid Fox Gaming vs. mousesports (-850)
Next is the safest match of the day, according to Vegas. I'm inclined to agree with that. IF, the second seed from Greece, survived play-ins, and a match with the top seed from the Prime League is their thanks. Mouse was only fourth in the league in the regular summer split, but they ran the gauntlet beating all three teams above them to claim the Prime League's top seed. This match is an excellent spot for Mouse and should be one of the most popular plays on the slate. They were unbeaten on the red side during their playoff run and should control both the neutral objectives and the vision game in this match. Featuring a roster full of LEC level talent should be an easy opener for the Prime League playoff champs.
Top Mouse Plays:
- LIDER - MID
- Promisq - SUP
- Jeskla - ADC
- Tolkin - TOP
3:20 PM: AGO Rogue (-225) vs. Movistar Riders
The penultimate match of the first day features a pair of final four teams from the Spring edition of EuM. Unfortunately, they were on the opposite sides of the bracket stages, so they never got to face off. The Polish two seed Rogue was first in their league during the summer split but got upset in the playoff finale by K1ck. The Movistar Riders finished first in the regular division in the Spanish league, and have yet to complete their playoff run. This match should be close, but this is an uptempo battle with both teams being at the top of their leagues in terms of pace. MSR has an advantage early with a higher rate of first blood, first turret, rift herald, and they should be able to carry that advantage late with an edge in barons, drakes, and vision score. This is another spot where I think we're getting value on the Spanish team. MSR should have an advantage in the mid-jungle duo with Elyoya and Xico over Zanzarah and Czekolad. Rogue will answer with the more talented bot duo Woolite and Trymbi, Mystiques left them team after the Spring EuM to join K1. It's close, but I like the discount on MSR and its statistical edge. I'll take the dog, but I think both sides are in play due to the uptempo match up.
Top MSR Plays:
- Xico - MID
- Elyoya - JNG
- rhuckz - SUP
- JaVaa - ADC
Top Rogue Plays:
- Woolite - ADC
- Trymbi - SUP
- Zanzarah - JNG
- Czekolad - MID
4:10 PM: Supp vs. GamerLegion (-265)
The final match of the day features the Balkan Champs SuppUp Esports formerly known to us as the Energypot Wizards versus the third seed from the Prime League GamerLegion. The Wizards made their mark on the Spring EuM by upsetting FNC early on day two, could we see a similar outcome here? Maybe I'm biased as GL is one of my fav teams in the competition, but I don't think so. GamerLegion was the top team during the regular split of the Prime League cruising to a 15-3 record, but we saw them fall with a pair of disappointing 2-0 losses in the playoffs. This result placed them in EuM through the play-in stage, where they finished they're top three in almost every statistical category. They did struggle with G2Arctic in their knockout series but showed great heart in winning game one when they started down eight kills at fifteen minutes.
I did notice that GL in my prep was they could lose the early game in kills, but win in other areas as even down those kills, they were only behind 1k gold but up both drakes. I feel they are too strong and seasoned to give up this match to the side of SuppUp (who I wish had retained their old moniker as Wizards is way more fun to say). I'll take the favorites here for the win, but maybe not from a scoring standpoint as Supp only gives over 12 deaths in their losses (albeit a small sample size). I will probably be avoiding this game due to Supp playing slowly, not allowing GL to score well, and GL tends to play a bit like IG winning their matchups very hard, resulting in more solo kills with less KP for the team. We have a bonus as klowny has only played one game of Aatrox this split and zero games of Jayce that should leave Hjarnan able to play on without any flashbacks to previous international nightmares.
Top GL plays:
- Hjarnan - ADC
- Visdom - SUP
- Rabble - JNG
- GamerLegion Team
Summary
- TLDR - Giants, PT7, GO, Mouse, MSR, and GL win. I picked a couple of upsets in there to keep it spicy for y'all, but I think with the six games and the best of one format, we can build some lovely looking lineups out of favorites only.
- After a few weeks of playoffs in the major regions, we bounce back to BO1, which can result in some very wild outcomes. Couple the format with the level of play, and you could see some crazy sloppy games pay off in a game stack takedown.
- Other outlier outcomes that are more easily believable are a pop off from jungle, support, or top-laners outscoring their more expensive carry players.
- Get ready for another week of excitement as EU Masters kicks off the main stage groups on Monday, let's fill up these contests and keep DK (and hopefully FD will catch up) coming back for more.
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