RADIO
Jason Malmanger's expert League of Legends (LoL) DFS advice and DraftKings, FanDuel lineup picks for World Championships early slate on 9/25/20. His top LoL value plays and esports DFS recommendations.
Welcome back, RotoBallers, to my League of Legends DFS column! WORLDS IS HERE! I know I've been tweeting about it for seemingly forever, but this is our Super Bowl (with better music production)!
So I'll start with a quick rundown of how our slates will look from a DFS standpoint. We're back to best of one format for the first four days as the play-in stage competitors complete a single round-robin within each group. To start, we'll have the two-game early slate on Friday AM, followed by a three-game main slate. Next on Saturday morning, there will be two two-game early slates with a three-game main slate. Sunday and Monday will bring us to the close of best of one play with two two-game slates each day. The first-place team in each group then auto qualifies to the main stage while the third and fourth place teams square off in a best of five.
Those matches' winners will then play another best of five series with the second-place team from the other group, and that gives us Tuesday and Wednesday as a pair of two-game best of five slates to close out play-ins. That's plenty for now; we'll cover the main stage schedule when we get there. Never fear, though, the Esports crew here at Rotoballer will be here with you all the way, so stay tuned!
Featured Promo: Get any DFS Premium Bundle for for 30% off using code NEW! Win more with expert advice from proven winners and exclusive DFS tools. Get instant access to RotoBaller's Lineup Optimizers, Research Stations, daily picks and VIP chat rooms across 10 sports! Go Premium, Win More!Today, I'll provide my League of Legends advice, analysis, and lineup picks for the World Championship play-in early slates on DraftKings that lock at 4:00 AM ET on Friday, September 25th, 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.
4:00 AM: MAD Lions (LEC) -500 vs. INTZ Gaming (CBLOL)
This matchup will be a bit familiar for those of us who have been playing all summer with CBLOL on Sundays, and of course, Mad Lions coming from a major region, so I'll keep the intros short. We'll get MAD Lions out of the way first since most of us know them reasonably well. MAD ended the S04 miracle run in the playoffs after flaming out versus G2 in the first round and getting run 3-0 by Rogue in the next stage. Anyone who's checked out any of my content leading up to Worlds knows I'm lower on MAD Lions than the field, but will that matter in this matchup? Let's see.
INTZ have made a full-on miracle run from the BRCC (Brazilian Academy League) to the CBLOL through the playoffs to become the champions of the league and their solo international representative. They have played well around their mid jungle duo Shini and Envy, but the problem here is that it is also the strength of this MAD squad.
Statistically, Mad is the better early team with leads in first blood, first turret, herald percentage, and gold differential at fifteen minutes. All of that in a much stronger region. INTZ holds a slight lead in vision numbers, but MAD has better baron and dragon numbers. Just the overall strength of the areas, and the stats both in favor of the European squad. I like this game for fantasy better than the second set, and so I will look for my big stacks from this one.
Top ML Plays:
- Humanoid - MID
- Shadow - JNG
- Kaiser - SUP
- Carzzy - ADC
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4:50 AM: PSG Talon Esports (PCS) -140 vs. Rainbow7 (LLA)
I want to jump right into this, but that has a lot to do with my familiarity with these teams, so let's introduce each side and exchange pleasantries first. We've got the second seed from the PCS (Formerly LMS) in PSG Talon Esports, and let me tell you they've got some big problems. Their starting mid Tank and jungle River can't join the team for play-ins due to visa issues, and their starting ADC Unified is out for an unspecified number of games in the play-in stage. They have replaced the mid-jungle duo with Kongyue and Uniboy from AHQ esports, and to me, that might even be a slight upgrade as those two have played together since 2017. Unified will be replaced by Dee from Machi Esports, and this is the move that I think that will hurt them the most. To put this into perspective, it would be similar to Team Liquid adding Blaber and Nisqy from C9 and grabbing Keith from Golden Guardians Academy. Upgrade or sidegrade for the duo but a definite downgrade in the bot lane.
Rainbow7 are the Liga Latinoamérica 2020 champs, and they are a wholly remade team with no players having international experience. They finished fourth in the regular season and had to run through playoffs without a bye. They went 8-6 in the regular season and 9-5 in the playoffs and are a bit of a one-trick pony riding their jungler Josedeodo to win their league.
When these two teams go head to head, the jungle matchup will be where the focus is. Josedeodo may have smurfed at home, but I will have to temper my expectations on his first visit to the international stage. Kongyue was also the best jungler in his league, albeit in a much better region. So best-case scenario, the teams go even in the jungle, I think the solo lanes from PSG will be too vital for the likes of R7. The stats between the groups are relatively close, and with the swaps, PSG will take a bit of a hit in the late game, but stepping outside of the head to head and back to regional strength, LLA has consistently been a tier or two below PCS (LMS). I can't get past that fact to take PSG Talon for the win even with the turmoil. I like the first match better from a fantasy standpoint, as both teams have better pace metrics.
Top PSG Talon Plays:
- Kongyue - JNG
- Uniboy - MID
- Kaiwing - SUP
- PSG Talon team
Summary
- TLDR - I can't buck the chalk in this one with the relative strength of the regions weighing heavily on my decisions. MAD and PSG should win easily.
- I like the MAD lions stacks for my big stacks as that matchup carries the better pace metrics. MAD average over 20 deaths in their losses and INTZ are only a step behind at 18.5 deaths per loss.
- You all know I stick with my numbers, but on the flip side, R7's best shot to beat PSG is to try to hammer them early. Thanks to that, I'm open to mixing it up a bit on the stacks, plus its a best of one, so I can't rule out anything.
- That's all for now, but I will be dropping a separate article for each bigger slate. That way, my intros for each team don't get so out of hand. Enjoy the appetizers, everyone, and the main course is to follow.
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Readers of RotoBaller's eSports DFS articles have been winning money on DraftKings and FanDuel regularly. Some of them are winning contests daily and bringing in some serious cheddar. Check one out below and lots more here!
Did you read a RotoBaller article and win too? Send us your screenshots on Twitter @RotoBaller and we'll add it to our winners Hall Of Fame!
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