Fantasy Love/Hate: Week 8
You've only got two weeks left to break into that top spot of your Fantasy LCS league. Choose carefully and put some time researching each of your specific options. I believe in you!
For Fantasy Week 8, We Love...
Adrian (vs. Team Solomid, Team Dragon Knights)
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Team Impulse may be looking to replace trusty Adrian "Adrian" Ma with a support that speaks Korean, but that shouldn't stop him from putting up another monster points this week for fantasy owners while he's still here.
Adrian's closest thing to a slump in recent weeks was dropping to the #5 support slot in Week 6. But he was #1 last week with his 62-point impression of an AD Carry for fantasy owners, and he looks set up to do it again this week.
Team Impulse is a wrecking ball that no one in NA looks capable of dealing with right now. Least of all Team Solomid and Team Dragon Knights, who both went 0-2 last week and had trouble keeping up with TiP's bot lane in particular.
TSM gave up, on average, 21 points to support players last week, and TDK gave up 24. Adrian and the other crazies of TIP will milk them for all the fantasy points they're worth.
Hjärnan (vs. Giants Gaming, Copenhagen Wolves)
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As a commenter pointed out on last week's Love/Hate article, there were a lot of tough fantasy schedules in Week 7 -- and H2K arguably got hit the hardest. Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss saw his fantasy points drop in half from 51 points (#12 overall) to 27 points (#64 overall). Such is the life of ADCs, doomed to rise and fall with wins and losses.
H2K struggled last week, but they'll make a huge return this week against the vulnerable Copenhagen Wolves and the rising Giants Gaming. We talked in Week 5 of this column about how Hjärnan is the H2K player with the highest highs and lowest lows. This is a high week, and that means big points for fantasy owners. Start him with confidence!
Move (vs. Team Dignitas, Team 8)
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There's no safer starts in NA than players on the Gravity squad, who are in the middle of an impressive 6-game win streak. They've shown very few signs of struggle in their wins, and have had no problems scooping up consistent fantasy points for owners.
Thanks to the sudden drop in Team Dignitas' performance, this week looks like it should be little more than a speed bump for Kang "Move" Min-su and crew. Their opposing teams gave up an average of 22 points to opposing junglers last week -- and that's including Team 8's upset over TSM.
Move should score even more than that if Gravity can hold it together as we close out the regular season.
But We Hate...
Kiwikid (vs. Gravity, Team Solomid)
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The Dignitas hype train is officially suspended. This late into the season, you can't afford to take risks on unlikely comebacks against Gravity and Team Solomid.
Alan "Kiwikid" Nguyen was a great starter while Dignitas was riding high (#5 support in Week 4), but after a few rough weeks (#18 support in Week 7), it's time to cut sentimentality and bet your trophy dreams on a more reliable starter.
Betsy (vs. Origen, Unicorns of Love)
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Gambit has been looking much improved in the past two weeks, but this week's schedule adds way too much risk. Especially for mid laner Felix "Betsy" Edling, who took the heaviest fantasy hit last week, dropping to 18 points -- lower than any other player on Gambit.
If you're desperate enough to consider starting Betsy, you should look for NA players to pick up instead. There are a lot of really soft schedules there this week, and you should be able to find something available with better odds than this.
Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Veigar, 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.
