Welcome to this week’s edition of Start ‘em, Sit ‘em. In this series, I will look at four players who you should consider starting in Fantasy LCS, as well as four players you should consider sitting, and give my reasons why.
Start ‘em
Vincent “Biofrost” Wang: Team SoloMid Support, matches against Counter Logic Gaming and Phoenix1
I’m a huge fan of both of these matchups for the same reason, but I feel like Biofrost and TSM are going to take two different routes to get the same result. While anyone else on TSM is an obvious start, you may be asking yourself if you should trust the rookie, and if you have not bought into him after his performances thus far, the time has come.
TSM vs. Counter Logic Gaming is the El Clásico of League of Legends; while CLG has been struggling, you know they looked at the schedule, saw this matchup, circled it, and wrote “must win,” underneath it. You also better believe that TSM did the same. I can see this series featuring a lot of action, which means the points will add up fast. The same will happen against Phoenix1, but unfortunately for P1 fans, the points will come in a lot faster, and the action will be heavily in the favor of TSM.
Two out of the three sub 30 minute games TSM have won have come against Apex and NRG, both teams in the bottom half of the standings. For those asking who the one team that was not in the bottom half was, it was Immortals.
Rasmus “MrRalleZ” Skinneholm: FC Schalke 04 AD Carry, matches against Vitality and Unicorns of Love
I have been writing this player’s name far more than I expected coming into this split, and now I am fully on the MrRalleZ and FC Schalke bandwagon. He made my winners list for both week three and four, becoming the first player to be featured twice. In week three, he scored 43 points in one match, which is alright, but then I tell you that match was against Fnatic. A week later, he played the number two team in the standings, G2, and put up another 44 points.
Now in week five, FC Schalke play against Vitality and Unicorns of Love, two teams in the bottom half of the standings and who both have win/loss records below .500%. If he can put up a combined 87 points against Fnatic and G2, I expect him to do even more damage against Vitality and UOL.
I would also like to add as a little FYI, he is only owned in 53% of leagues, and within that, he is only being started in 37%. Get your things together people; start this guy already.
Benjamin “LOD” deMunck: Team EnVyUs AD Carry, matches against Echo Fox and Team Liquid
Last week was not a good week at all for Team EnVyUs, as they played both TSM and Cloud9, and lost both matches 2-0. Team EnVyUs has sort of found their place in the LCS as a team that is slightly above the midfield, but just below the top tier teams of Cloud9, TSM and Immortals.
With that said, I’m still confident in EnVyUs’s ability to perform against mid to low tier teams, and some say the best way to get better is to be beaten and learn from it. With any luck, EnVyUs took a lot away from their disastrous week four, and will improve in week five.
This week, they play EchoFox and Team Liquid, both teams that EnVyUs can succeed against. LOD has been EnVyUs’s highest scoring player throughout the split and I fully expect him and the rest of Team EnVyUs to get the train back on the tracks and continue to find wins and success in the NA LCS.
Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu: H2k-Gaming Top Laner, matches against Team ROCCAT and Origen
Odoamne has quietly been performing consistently since the start of the Summer Split. H2k is really a team that has flown under most people’s radar, not making too much noise, until they celebrate of course: “H2 what? H2 points. H2 what? H2 points.”
Odoamne will play Origen and Team ROCCAT, who currently find themselves in ninth and tenth respectively. The decision to start Odoamne this week is heavily influenced by this matchup, you really could not ask for anything better. In his first matchup against ROCCAT, he scored 44 points. Combine that with what you can expect to be a similar number against Origen and it makes for a pretty solid week, especially out of someone like Odoamne who does not make a lot of noise but will just perform consistently, which in fantasy sports is all you can ask for.
Sit ‘em
Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider: Origen Jungler, matches against H2k-Gaming and G2 Esports
While Amazing has decent weeks in the past, I do not see him doing anything outstanding this week. This will be the first time that Origen matches up against H2k, so there is some potential there for a decent game, though H2k has looked good. That includes a 2-0 win over Fnatic and a split 1-1 series against G2. H2k has the capability to shut down a team like Origen, who currently sit in ninth in the standings.
The same goes for G2, the fourth highest scoring team in the league. If G2 finds an early advantage, that will set up a matchup where Amazing does not have much to do. Keep in mind that the last time these two teams matched up, Amazing found just 16 points. With that, I think it is a wise decision to leave him on the bench this week.
Kim “Veritas” Kyoung-min: Unicorns of Love AD Carry, matches against Splyce and FC Schalke 04
Veritas has had a very standard fantasy LCS season for a mid tier AD Carry, with strong showings against teams like Origen and ROCCAT. However, when you look at his previous matchup against FC Schalke, he only totaled 11 points, which stands as his season low thus far.
His next match is against Splyce, who he is yet to play, but what does not bode well there is the fact that FC Schalke, a team that shut down Veritas, lost a 2-0 to Splyce. UOL is the underdog team in both of these matchups, and if you exclude last week’s outing against H2k, UOL has not won a series since week one against Origen, the ninth place team. UOL is behind both Splyce and FC Schalke in the standings, win/loss records, and I fully expect the game, so I do not have high hopes for Veritas this week.
Son “S0NSTAR” Seung-ik: Giants AD Carry, matches against Fnatic and Team ROCCAT
S0NSTAR made my winners list in week three, but since then, he has not backed it up much, appearing to be more of a one week wonder as opposed to a serious fantasy option, especially considering the other AD Carrys that are in the league. He is due to play Fnatic this week, a team that won the first meeting in swift 2-0 fashion and held S0NSTAR to just 12 points, and I expect similar things in week five.
The next matchup gives you a little bit more hope, but still not enough. ROCCAT actually has a higher win percentage than Giants, but falls behind them in the standings due to a worse win/loss record. Even if S0NSTAR has an above average series against ROCCAT, I doubt it will be enough to make up for the projected lack of points in the Fnatic series. So the safe move for S0NSTAR this week is to leave him on the bench.
Lee “Shrimp” Byeong-hoon: Jungler for Apex, matches against Immortals and Phoenix1
Apex has two very different matchups this week. They will first play Immortals; not much needs to be said about this team, as they sit in second in the standings and have only lost one match thus far, which was against TSM, the current league leaders. I would expect Immortals to have a firm grip on this match, and do not see Apex scoring many points.
On the flip side, Apex plays Phoenix1, a team who is yet to win a match. You would think this would be a huge positive for Shrimp, but the last time these two teams met, he was held to just 24 points. For perspective, he scored 26 against Cloud9.
If you have to start him, the best case scenario is a semi-decent game against Immortals, followed by a strong showing against Phoenix1, but I doubt either of those come to fruition.
All images graciosuly provided by Riot via their official Flickr page.
