Get ready for Fantasy LCS with our mock draft

As you may know, Fantasy LCS is live and ready for action. With it comes the hardest, and yet most important part: The Draft. Just to give you an idea of what things may look like come draft day, we figured why not go ahead and put together a mock draft? We assembled eight of our best Fantasy LCS players and practiced a draft to see what might happen on draft day and, more importantly, to discuss their draft strategy. Keep in mind, Fantasy LCS drafts aren't over quick and take a lot of time to get through -- as will this article, so strap in! Pick Order:

1. Thomas Watts
2. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
3. James "Obscurica" Chen
4. Trent Murray
5. Kelsey Moser
6. Josh Augustine
7. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke
8. Alex Manisier

Editor's Note: Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke auto-drafted. If you miss your draft, your team might look like his. Don't be like RoboTayCo.

Round 1

1. Thomas Watts -- Rekkles: Everyone on Alliance (now Elements) scored huge points last season. While Rekkles wasn’t on the team at the time, he’s been a consistent killer for years in Europe.
2. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman -- Piglet: Rekkles is my clear #1 pick; since he was gone and I was #2, Piglet seemed like a strong pick to go with. I’m feeling Team Liquid as #2 or #3 team NA team this year, and wins do a lot for ADC points.
3. James "Obscurica" Chen -- Sneaky: One of the top-performing ADCs in NA, can always be relied upon to get points or be fed them by his team.
4. Trent Murray -- Froggen: Three AD carries went before me, so rather than starting my draft with the fourth carry, I opted for the best mid laner, and planned to take a carry with my next pick.
5. Kelsey Moser -- Meteos: Despite last split's Meteos pick giving slightly less than expected returns, he's still a solid selection to fill the jungle slot.
6. Josh Augustine -- Shook: Lots of ADCs went early, so I knew I could get an ADC later and get roughly the same quality. So I wanted to grab top talent in another important role. Also, Alliance carried all of my teams to victory last year. I owe them.
7. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke -- XiaoWeiXiao I picked XiaoWeiXiao because that is what the computer selected for me. I am a robot. Beep boop.
8. Alex Manisier -- Balls: Every power pick was snapped up, so I decided to use my two picks to get best-in-class players that I could field every week without the need for substitutes. As such, I got Balls and Nyph. Nyph is the best LCS support points-wise, while Balls performs well in just about every game. In hindsight, I could have picked up two strong carries to deny the other players, but I ended up being quite happy with these picks.

Round 2

1. Alex Manisier -- Nyph: As above, so below.
2. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke -- WildTurtle I am a robot. Beep boop.
3. Josh Augustine -- Bjergsen: I suddenly realized I'd made a huge problem by not taking a mid or ADC in the first round. I debated between Bjergsen and Altec, but ended up going with the safe pick.
4. Kelsey Moser -- Forgiven: Forg1ven seemed like a steal for the second round pick given a general prognosis for success for SK Gaming.
5. Trent Murray -- Altec: I consider Altec a steal at this point. He's going to have a great season and may end up as the third best carry by the end of the split.
6. James "Obscurica" Chen -- Lustboy: As 3rd pick in the second round, I can expect to have a number of good carries left over next pick, which means I should pre-empt everybody else on good supports. Lustboy's perfect here.
7. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman -- Woolite: With 6 ADCs drafted and only 3 mids, I decided to go for another ADC. I should probably have gotten a mid, knowing that the only person in between me and my next pick already had Rekkles.
8. Thomas Watts -- Nukeduck: Admittedly a bit of a reach at the end of the second, but Nukeduck was a mechanical monster before being banned for toxicity.

Round 3

1. Thomas Watts -- LemonNation: With Lustboy and Nyph off the board, I wanted to go support here. Yes, LemonNation has a penchant for an early death, but his laning partner Sneaky is on the short list for top western AD Carry.
2. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman -- Pobelter: For my third pick, I got the mid I’d wanted anyway. He’s been dominating everybody in mid lane and his team is full of talent.
3. James "Obscurica" Chen -- PowerOfEvil: Arguably UOL's mainspring, and gets glossed over in the first couple rounds as veteran carries are considered safer picks.
4. Trent Murray -- Hai: I believe that you should take your flex as early as possible since mid laners and carries are worth so many more points than everything else. Hai was the most reliable pick left on the board.
5. Kelsey Moser -- Fox: He seemed like the best choice at mid.
6. Josh Augustine -- Xpecial: Okay, I may be insane for not taking an ADC here, but if Piglet is the #1 pick, you better believe Xpecial is going to be getting awesome points every week too.
7. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke -- Wickd I am a robot. Beep boop.
8. Alex Manisier -- Fenix: Most strong carry picks were gone at this point, and I knew I had to get two carries now or I would be forced to pick up scraps later. Doublelift was the best-scoring AD Carry left, so that was a no-brainer. Fenix was my mid pick, because he's an all-rounder on a team with strong carries in Quas and Piglet, and he should be able to rack up good points for me.

Round 4

1. Alex Manisier -- Doublelift: As above, so below.
2. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke -- Selfie I am a robot. Beep boop.
3. Josh Augustine -- MrRallez: This is the same ADC I was going to get in Round 2. Waiting this long actually paid off in some significant upgrades in my other roles. MrRallez was so consistent for me last season, and that's the best I can ask for picking my ADC this late.
4. Kelsey Moser -- EDward: Following strong performances from Gambit toward the end of LCS last year, and at IEM Cologne, Edward has the potential to be a sleeper.
5. Trent Murray -- Quas: He somehow fell to the fourth round. I feel better about this pick than any other in my draft. Quas has a chance to be the number one top laner this season.
6. James "Obscurica" Chen -- Vivicsacsi: As with PowerofEvil, a major player in UOL's successes. High-impact top laners should also have a major point difference between them and more passive counterparts.
7. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman -- Impact: I decided to rely on synergy, putting Piglet’s teammate Impact on his team.
8. Thomas Watts -- Mimer: Mimer quietly had a solid season in the top lane for Supa Hot Crew, and propelled my team to a second place, much to the chagrin of my freelance compatriots.

Round 5

1. Thomas Watts -- Elements: This is probably my worst pick, and that can be attributed to just having to draft through a pair of runs on positions I targeted in previous rounds. Team points can be finicky, and not as variable as some positions, but if Elements does what Alliance did, then this pick is solid.
2. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman -- Helios: He was about the only jungler left. Perhaps junglers should be picked earlier than I’d expected.
3. James "Obscurica" Chen -- Svenskeren: Though Svenskeren's high kill counts might not necessarily be strategically great for his team, he's ideal for fantasy drafts.
4. Trent Murray -- IWillDominate: I would have like to take Diamond here, but he went a bit earlier. I tried to keep my team as diverse as possible, but I had to take a jungler and Iwdominate was the safest choice available.
5. Kelsey Moser -- Overpow: though I don't have high expectations for Overpow as a top laner, I think ROCCAT overall has a chance of doing well as a team and allowing him to pick up points by proxy.
6. Josh Augustine -- Dyrus: What a steal. Dyrus has always been one of the most consistent top laners and, last year, he gave big spikes when occasionally carrying games. Grabbing him this late really saved my lineup.
7. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke -- Diamond I am a robot. Beep boop.
8. Alex Manisier -- Jankos: I needed a jungle and flex pick. I debated over the jungle pick for a while and was hesitant to grab Jankos, since he's not a well-scoring jungler. However, his solo lanes are much better this season and he's a good jungler in general, so I think he'll do well. My flex pick ended up being Shiphtur - he scores well whether he wins or loses, and Dignitas tends to get drawn into long games where Shiphtur can score a lot.

Round 6

1. Alex Manisier -- Shiphtur: As above, so below.
2. Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke -- Aphromoo I am a robot. Beep boop.
3. Josh Augustine -- Freeze: I've got a good feeling about Freeze. And with all the shake-ups in EU, there will be plenty of matchups for him to abuse. They can't play Elements every week, right? Then we're safe.
4. Kelsey Moser -- SK Gaming: SK still seems like a team to all-in on, so I picked them up as my team selection.
5. Trent Murray -- Adrian: This was a reach, plain and simple. There were better supports paired with better carries available, and I reached for Adrian over all of them. Should have taken Vander or Nesbith here, or maybe Cloud 9.
6. James "Obscurica" Chen -- NiQ: An experimental pick, as though Gambit did well last IEM, their new roster's still largely untested. Nonetheless, a carry in the flex position pads the score well.
7. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman -- VandeR: Vander was the best support remaining, and he’s laning with Woolite. I’d rather double down on a gamble than shore up my roster with a bunch of players who will have to play against each other.
8. Thomas Watts -- Kikis: Jungler who set IEM San Jose on fire while helping his team score a surprise second in the sixth round? He also got nominated for MVP in that tournament? Mr. Commissioner, here’s my envelope, and I’ll take my diamond in the rough.

We'll forego the last few rounds as they mostly involved filling in the bench, but for an in-depth look at each round and to see everyone's final roster, you can view the full draft here. Stay tuned to Lolesports and the Fantasy LCS site for more Fantasy LCS content. Article image courtesy of ESL