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
Andy “Smoothie” Ta: Cloud9 Support, matches against Echo Fox and Team Liquid
Smoothie led all other supports in scoring in week eight, and now moving into week nine, I expect a similar story. He does not have matchup, that like Immortals and Team SoloMid have against each other, that scares you away. Echo Fox has been playing terribly, and while Team Liquid shows a little more promise against C9 than EF, I do not expect to see them shut down the Cloud9 bottom lane, which if all goes well, should have a very nice weekend.
Jonas “Trashy” Anderson: Jungler for Splyce, matches against Origen and Unicorns of Love
Trashy and the rest of Splyce have been nothing short of amazing for fantasy players who have started a member of the Danish team. Similar to Cloud9’s case, Splyce also has a final week that lacks tough matchups. Number one in the region, G2 Esports, will be playing the number three, and formerly number one team, Fnatic, while Splyce, who after climbing all the way from sixth in the standings, has a very appealing final week to end their split. He is also only owned in 25% of leagues, so he is a great option if you need someone quick for your final week of fantasy LCS play.
Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes: AD Carry for Counter Logic Gaming, matches against NRG and Apex
CLG has been looking more like the CLG we have come to know more and more lately. They too avoid any strenuous final week matches, so they have been putting all their focus into these two games, looking to end strong. Stixxay performed well against these two teams earlier in the split and that is when CLG was looking a little rocky. The first meeting with Apex, the series went to a game three, but Stixxay still managed 51 points in the outing, especially remarkable knowing that some of the points came from a game that ended in a CLG loss. I am not expecting any losses though this week from CLG, so look for Stixxay and the rest of the gang to have a promising final week.
Jeon “Ray” Ji-won: Top Laner for Apex Gaming, matches against Team Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming
I think the fact that Ray plays for Apex is part to blame as to why he does not get a lot of time on the minds of fantasy LCS players, and if you are struggling in your league, there is one week left to change that; take a risk and try out Ray this week. He is owned in just 37% of leagues, which is about where you would expect him to be. In his first meetings against these teams, he managed a total of 46.61 against CLG and then another 24.98 in the Team Liquid match, which would have been about a 71 point week if he played them in the same week. Apex is also in a tight battle for a playoff berth, so you know they have done their homework on these two matches.
Sit ‘em
Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik: Mid Laner for Phoenix1, matches against Team EnVyUs and Immortals
Ahh, Phoenix1, the lone team to defeat TSM, but a team that has also spent the entire split in either ninth or tenth place. The question here is which P1 team is going to show up? They have looked better as of late, but excluding the TSM match, they have lost to all the usual top teams of Cloud9, CLG, and TL, and I do not expect anything different against Immortals. The Team EnVyUs match is the glimmer of hope for this team and their fantasy owners; EnVyUs though needs a win, and they need it badly. They are going to put it all on the line, which may be the formula for them to shut down P1.
Be Weary
TSM vs. IMT & G2 vs. FNC
There are a couple of players who have matches this week that I would just be a little weary about. These players, in my opinion, should not be outright total sits, so the Sit ‘em list is not for them, that is the purpose of this little sub category.
We will start with Team SoloMid and Immortals. These players have been consistently performing at the top of the fantasy charts all season, but now they play each other. You may be saying “well they played each other before and TSM had the upperhand,” but this match is different. The first meeting came in week two when Immortals was still stretching their legs at the start of the season. Lately, they have been looking like the Immortals from the regular season of the Summer Split, while TSM is coming off their first loss of the season. I think the gap between these two teams is now a lot closer compared to their first meeting in the beginning of the split.
Team Solomid’s second and final match is against NRG Esports, a team they have performed well against in the past, while Immortals is due to play TSM’s Achilles heel, Phoenix1. Take a look at your TSM and IMT players, and make a decision from there.
On the European side of things, there is the G2 and Fnatic match. These two teams were formally second and first in that order, but as of late, Fnatic has been slowing down and has dropped to third behind Splyce, with G2 holding the top spot. We know that both of these teams are very good, and have great potential. While I think the series between IMT and TSM will be closer, I do expect G2 to take this one, although I do not expect Fnatic to lay down and rollover; they should put up a fight. Fnatic will play ROCCAT in their other game, a matchup that you like to see a lot, while G2 will play Vitality.
That is it for the Sit ‘em this week, as no one else really stands out to me and I would rather abstain, then give bad advice to meet the usual four Sit ‘em players I like to get in. Good luck to all fantasy players in the final week, I hope you have enjoyed the content I have put out this split. I look forward to doing an even better job in the future for all of you who have read and enjoyed what I have written this season.
All images gracousily provided by Riot Games via their official Flickr Page.
You can follow and get in contact with the author Ryan Kish on his Twitter account.
