Notes for Tonight’s 4/22 LPL-LCK 4am ET Slate
Draftkings has laid out 2 slates for us for esports, so I will be covering both here. There are 3 games in total with ES/WE being involved in both slates and the RNG/EDG game playing tomorrow.
LPL
ES (-265) vs WE (+190)
This game is a part of both slates and looks to be the highest kill game out of the 3, so this will be an important one to target. WE just barely made it into playoffs on the last day and did so in classic WE fashion. They are very good at team fighting and 5v5’s but that is all they know. This can be a good thing because they understand their win conditions and their strongest picks but it can also hurt them in the sense that when they cannot get these massive team-fights and early leads, they lose. ES have linear win conditions as well, but have shown some diversity within recent weeks. I do not think they will win the LPL playoffs but they are my pick to win this one. ES outclasses WE in basically every lane and they are the better objective control team as well as loving to fight. A potential game stack could work in the LPL/LCK slate as LCK games can be very low scoring. Both sides are playable due to the nature of these slates (especially WE in GPP) but I am on Estar’s side for this game.
Players to watch (ES): Cryin, Wink, ShiauC
Players to watch (WE): Beishang, Jiumeng, Teacherma
RNG (+105) vs EDG (-145)
This game is part of the LPL only 5am ET slate so keep in mind this one does not affect the first slate and will span two days since RNG and EDG play a day after ES and WE. RNG have also kind of limped into playoffs as they have been in very poor form as of late. They have struggled with drafting their team compositions and have little to no direction in late game scenarios. They are extremely skilled individually but the talent can only go so far when other glaring errors exist. Normally I would favour RNG in this match up, but considering their draft errors and recent form I am leaning EDG slightly. EDG should be starting Jinoo and JieJie, but no confirmation on that til tomorrow. They have looked excellent with both of them in, and Scout/Hope are some of the top players at their positions in the LPL. With their current form and RNG’s current form I am slightly on EDG’s side, but this should be a close game in the end. Both teams are in play.
Players to watch (RNG): Betty, Xiaohu, Langx
Players to watch (EDG): Scout, Hope, JieJie
LCK
T1 (-245) vs DRX (+175)
I see a lot of chatter on Twitter about how DRX are being the eventual winners of this match up. While this series is very close I am on T1’s side. They are much better at playing the late game not only in team-fights but also map wide decision making. DRX are skilled individually and match up well with T1, but they are lacking in the team synergy and map rotations side of things where i think T1 has the edge. If DRX can get out to an early lead and aggressively take it to T1, that is their win condition. If a game drags on into the 30 minute range I like T1’s chances much better. More often than not T1 have shown they can play the slow, controlled game and I believe they will take this one.
Players to watch (T1): Teddy, Faker, Canna
Players to watch (DRX): Deft, Chovy, Keria