eSports LPL Day 1

WE ARE BACK! It seems like it never left in some ways, but despite being treated to some offseason tournaments nothing can truly compare to games that actually matter. While the contests aren’t in the same class as this past summer during the boom, they’re still pretty decent so after you read this article go check them out and reserve some spots.

We have a two gamer with some heavy favorites and In my opinion a few advantages that maybe we can exploit.

Top Esports (-650) Vs Suning (+380)

This is a rematch from the world semi-finals when TES was upset by Suning en route to their unlikely finals appearance. Both of the teams return almost their same rosters from that semi-final, the exception being new Supports for both sides. TES was able to roll through everyone in the Demacia Cup and are rightfully huge favorites coming into this match.

Looking at TES they’re a team that largely last year was carried by Knight who had some breathtaking mechanical displays throughout both splits. As the meta shifted a bit in worlds it was former world champion JackeyLove that seemed to take center stage as the team’s primary carry. TES brings out a new support in Zhuo who at times during the Demacia cup looked excellent, at others simply average. However, in either scenario, I think TES overall benefits from his presence and it makes them better which is pretty scary to contemplate.

On the Suning side they two replaced their Support Swordart with ON. While I share the popular opinion that Swordart was a better piece for this team, I’m not someone that thought he was one of the better supports and thus this loss while something to monitor doesn’t bother me as much as others. One surprise with the rosters was that Suning’s ADC huanfeng will be back for this game after surviving a one-month suspension for his extra martial affairs during Worlds last year. Many thought he would have to serve the suspension over the first month of the season, that appears to not be the case and makes Suning far more live than they would have been otherwise.

Oh My God (+350) Vs Edward Gaming (-575)

As can be seen by the odds this game is equally lopsided in the eyes of oddsmakers. OMG was one of the worst teams during the summer split last year and overhauled their lineup. The problem is that they didn’t exactly bring in many heavy hitters. Returning to the squad from last year is Cold and Eric, two players that in their own right weren’t exactly exciting. Joining them from RNG is New a top lane player that performed decently the last split. Wuming a Mid lane presence that seemed to arrive on the scene with RW as they hit a winning streak mid split, but cooled off. Finally Aki in the Jungle coming over from the TES challenger team. Of the three and the entire squad, he seems to be the one with the most upside. It would be difficult to get him into the LPL in the TES organization as they have one of the best Jungle players in the world and as such we find him here.

EDG’s offseason was similar to OMG’s in that there are some new faces mixed with some familiar ones. The difference being some of these pickups were a bit more high profile.

Viper will be starting in the bottom lane coming over from Korea. A member of some of the Griffin teams that fell short of delivering a title. He struggled last split with a bad Hanwha life team and now finds himself in China in a league who’s playstyle looks like it will be more in line with unlocking his potential. Meiko joins him as a support and returns for his 7th year with the squad. Scout returns in Mid as does Jiejie in the Jungle. Flandre will man the top lane as he comes over from LNG.

DFS Take

It’s hard to see upsets in these sets of games. For what it’s worth I think that Suning has a better chance of catching a slipping TES team that might still be a little full of themselves. On the other hand, I can just as easily see a quick 2-0 from TES wanting to enact revenge from last year and on a mission to capture what they likely view as their only missing trophy, the World Championship.

In terms of OMG beating EDG? Yeah, it’s possible but if it were to occur I suspect they’d be the lower scoring winner of the two matches. I’ll stick to stacking 2+Team for them.

TES/EDG Stacks

This will obviously be the most popular way of going about it. There are plenty of ways, but the most optimal seems to be TES 3 / 4 EDG allowing you to grab someone like Knight or JL as your captain.

Here are a few Captain’s that will likely lead you to different builds

Angel-SN

Jackeylove/369-TES

EDG-Jiejie

OMG- Anyone!

I’m mixing my exposures but I’m thinking both these games end in 2-0’s.