Fantasy Love/Hate: Week 2
I hope your draft went well (you followed the advice in our draft guide, right?) and that you started off your leagues with a win. If not, don't worry -- there's still plenty of time to make changes and catch up!
Here's where you can get started this week.
For Fantasy Week 2, We Love...
Niels (vs. SK Gaming, Copenhagen Wolves)
Like we mentioned in our draft guide, the new-but-not-new crew of Origen likes killing champions. They looked extremely solid (and surprisingly coordinated) in their two wins last week.
Jesper "Niels" Svenningsen was only the #8 ADC last week with 53.4 points, but don't let that deter you. His KDA was near flawless (14/2/14), even though they won their matches too fast for the points to really rack up.
SK Gaming could be a short match this week, but the Copenhagen Wolves have a history of dragging things out.
Origen looks like the real deal. Grab Niels while he's still under the radar.
Flaresz (vs. Team Liquid, Team Dragon Knights)
Like Jatt said while shoutcasting the Enemy Esports and Team SoloMid game, there's a ton of upside on this NME squad. They have the skills, but look uncoordinated -- like you'd expect from a team new to the NA LCS this Split.
The most interesting Fantasy LCS player on the squad is top laner Cuong "Flaresz" Ta. He's a playmaker in every sense of the word. When NME had six kills on the board against TSM, Flaresz had five of them. Everyone else on the squad only had one kill participation. He was the one making them happen, often getting solo kills against isolated opponents.
Being a try-hard that's not afraid to trade lives may not be exactly what NME needs but, boy, it is exactly what Fantasy LCS owners need.
We saw a huge upsurge in top laner points this first Week compared to last Split. Many like Flaresz (who averaged 22 points/game against TDK when they played in the Challenger Finals) are stepping up to be playmakers that bring home real fantasy points.
Even if you don't go with Flaresz, take a look at your top laners and see what's available for pickup. Underdogs like Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaha, Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell, Paul "Soaz" Boyer, and Jesper "Jwaow" Strandgren all made the top six, and you need to keep up with the times.
Team Liquid (vs. Enemy Esports, Gravity)
It wasn't just that Team Liquid had an undefeated record in Week 1, it was how they secured it: through careful and systematic deconstruction of the enemy base. In two games they took down 6 Dragons, 5(!) Barons, and 22 turrets.
That absolute, slow crushing earned them 42 points, more than any other team. Disclaimer: There's some risk here because TL played both of the teams that went winless last week, but they looked solid enough that I'm willing to bite.
But We Hate...
Diamondprox (vs. H2K, Fnatic)
If you drafted part or (Teemo forbid) most of Gambit's squad, you need to be patient. You can't throw away all of your draft picks for what's available for pickup after only one week.
But you don't have to start them. Like we talked last Split, don't be afraid of a slumped player's first week back. Especially this early, just start your safe picks and avoid hasty add/drops until we have more sample games to pull data from.
No player suffered from the slump more than jungler Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov, who was only half of a point away from being the worst fantasy jungler last week (13.9 points). Even if Gambit beat H2K this week, which is possible, I wouldn't expect big numbers yet. Their other opponent, Fnatic, held enemy junglers to 12 points/game last week.
Keane (vs. Cloud9, Team Liquid)
The sky isn't falling, Gravity owners -- the team actually looks pretty solid and I think we'll be able to get good fantasy points out of them on the right weeks.
But this is not a right week. This is a very, very wrong week for their mid laner, Lae-Young "Keane" Jang, who scored 38.6 points in Week 1 (#11 mid laner). Team Liquid held opposing mids to 17.5 points last week and Cloud9 limited the explosive Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg to a paltry 18.2 points.
But what about Cloud9's implosion against Team Dignitas? What if they collapse again when Gravity faces them? As a Keane owner, you better hope they don't collapse! They gave up less points to the mid laner that beat them (15.8) than the mid laner they beat (18.2) last week.
Cloud9 doesn't brawl. That's bad for their own fantasy points, but it's also bad for their opponents' points, even when they lose.
Besides, as much as I've advised against owning C9 players in Fantasy LCS this Split, I don't question their ability to win games without a ton of data to back it up. We've barely started the Split, and C9 have a history of struggling early, but they always come back swinging hard.
Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Nautilus, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest Next at Daybreak Games. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.
