RADIO
Nathan's expert League of Legends (LoL) DFS advice and DraftKings, FanDuel lineup picks for LPL & LCK on 1/20/22. His top LoL value plays and eSports DFS recommendations.
Welcome, all, to another day of the greatest DFS game and Esport to follow. Today we have two toss-up LPL games and 2 very lopsided LCK matches. I'm happier with the texture of today's slate than yesterday's overall so should be a fun one!
Roster changes will be addressed if need be when mentioning each team. As a friendly reminder, if you can't stomach any sub risk or don't enjoy waking up mid-REM sleep, then figure a way to roster players that don't hold any sub risk. The LCK is tricky when it comes to starting lineups, and we are usually given the LCK starting lineups about an hour or so before lock, for the first series. (@KorizonEsports on Twitter is a good lineup source, as well as @kenzi131) We are going to try and project starters based on who has recently been starting. LPL starters are found earlier and on Twitter too.
I'll provide my League of Legends advice, analysis, and picks, for this LPL & LCK slate on DraftKings and FanDuel that locks at 3:00 AM on Thursday, January 20th, 2022. If you have any questions about the slate or anything please reach out to me on Twitter @nvanhareDFS. I'll do my best to provide some useful analysis. The odds listed are from Pinnacle. Let's jump right into the matchups
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LCK Matches
3:00 AM: T1 (-673) vs. DRX (+469)
I'm going to keep the analysis for the LCK matches relatively short here. This game is historically going to favor the side of T1 incredibly. They are a team that doesn't like to lose for years now, and this year isn't much different. DRX is a team full of players we all know, but that haven't played well together to kick this split off. I have no idea if it's just a chemistry thing or if these players just don't have the skill to all compete at the top level together, I'm sure by the end of the season we'll know. But for now, I have no idea what to make of it so I have to imagine this line is a bit unfair for DRX here. T1 is definitely favored but -673 seems a bit much.
I don't think that playing T1 in cash is going to be the best bet, DRX is a team of players hat doesn't feel good to stack much against for safety. T1 in GPPs seems fine as I think that a majority of main stacks generally focus on LPL with projections and kill totals being higher. This game could go and show us that LCK still can play high paced if they want to. DRX is also an interesting stack in GPPs. These guys are not bad at LoL, they've had a tough start but +469 is brutal for them and will reduce ownership to nearly 0 if you want to take a shot, I know I do.
Top T1 plays: Oner, Keria, Guma
Top DRX plays: Pyosik, Zeka
6:00 AM: Gen.G (-701) vs. BRO (+485)
Not much to say here. Gen.G is the second best, if not the best team in this region. Brion is brutal at best. Going to be a spot where I will wish you good luck if you choose to use them but will be avoiding myself, Brion that is. Gen.G seems like the obvious cash stack and they also like to push the pace with high Kill participation rates. This makes them a decent GPP option as well, I'll be using them in sporadic amounts.
Top Gen.G Plays: Ruler, Peanut
Top BRO Plays: Hena, Lava
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LPL Matches
4:00 AM: RA (-109) vs. V5 (-111)
This is the most contested game we have tonight in my opinion. RA has a mostly stagnant roster from last year but also has strive at the MID spot and Zorah at support. V5 has built a very solid team and with Rich rejoining the roster today the prospects of this team can only increase. This one is truly a toss up in my opinion and I would use both sides in different lineups tonight. V5 is a pace-pusher while Rare Atom play relatively slow, it's unclear as to who will dictate the pace but that means that you can get away easier with playing both large and small stacks of both sides in this matchup.
Photic and Rookie have looked good and make for a good pairing in most of your V5 stacks. When using RA in stacks I would look to make sure to include Leyan.
Overall, avoid in cash, good spot in GPPs, hope you get the coinflip right! I feel a bit better about the V5 side but I think that's a common sentiment, which means ownership leans that way too.
Top RA plays: Leyan, Strive
Top V5 plays: Rookie, Photic
6:00 AM: BLG (-190) vs. OMG (+155)
OMG might be one of the highest two owned teams today, which is impressive as they are an underdog. People love the ceilings that they've been putting up and they've had a hot start to the year. They haven't played too fierce of competition though and BLG is a much more impressive team than they're used to. Creme and Able are very good players, but do they compare to FoFo and Doggo? Probably not, although that's for you to decide. What I can tell you is that OMG is likely to come in owned higher than BLG due to pricing and recency bias, what you make of that information is up to you.
In cash I feel as if BLG is a good spot, Double LCK is the highest % both win, but the teams you'll make with that don't feel great as opposed to the BLG teams you can. In GPPs I really don't suggest using OMG at their ownership, BLG seems like the much better play.
Top BLG Plays: FoFo, Breathe
Top OMG Plays: Creme, Able
Summary
- TLDR: OMG is chalk, I dislike them. DRX has a shot even with odds being insanely against them, they feel a bit too lopsided. GenG is too good for Brion to matchup with and RA V5 is a coinflip.
- GPP Stacks: I hate OMG here, they're likely the mega chalk on the slate as an underdog that has performed super well, I love slamming BLG, both sides of the other LPL match, and don't mind shots on weird LCK main stacks.
- Cash Stacks: I think cash is pretty clearly BLG with one of the LCK sides.
Good luck tomorrow RotoBallers!
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