Of the four weeks we have had in the Summer Split thus far, this one is definitely my favorite. Between me travelling to Dreamhack and a number of very surprising twists to the my matchup, it was immensely exciting. Here is the roster I had at the end of Week 3:
1. Kev1n – Millenium
2. Svenskeren – SK Gaming
3. Cowtard – Copenhagen Wolves
4. Rekkles – Fnatic
5. Nrated – SK Gaming
6. Wildturtle – TSM
7. Fnatic
8. Mimer – Supa Hot Crew
9. Impaler – Supa Hot Crew
10. Overpow – ROCCAT
I only made one exchange in the Add/Drop pool this week, a record low. I imagine that my trades will become fewer than in the earlier weeks as it becomes clear who is worth keeping on your bench and who you should leave to die in the Add/Drop graveyard.
Added Krepo, Dropped Overpow: I thought I should put my money where my mouth is and pick up a player on a hot streak. Krepo had a dominating performance in Week 3 with 40 points, and if he repeats he could become a valuable trade commodity and possible starting flex player (a support as a flex player? GASP). Overpow scored significantly less than Cowtard, and since dropping him means that every player from ROCCAT is now in the Add/Drop pool, I feel confident no one will pick him up.
The composition of my ten players did not change to terribly much, as mentioned above. However, I did make a few changes and one difficult not-change this week to my starting line-up. Here were my players, with the top 7 being the ones who earn points:
1. Mimer – Supa Hot Crew
2. Impaler – Supa Hot Crew
3. Cowtard – Copenhagen Wolves
4. Rekkles – Fnatic
5. Nrated – SK Gaming
6. Wildturtle – TSM
7. Fnatic
8. Kev1n – Millenium
9. Svenskeren – SK Gaming
10. Krepo – Evil Geniuses
Started Mimer, benched Kev1n: After last week’s performance, Mimer has earned a permanent position as my top laner. Kev1n is certainly strong, but I am convinced that Mimer is the best top laner in EU LCS, and maybe better than those in NA LCS as well. Plus, Mimer has an easy schedule in Millenium and ROCCAT.
Started Impaler, benched Svenskeren: This one was tricky, especially after Svenskeren’s dominating performance last week. The deciding factor was schedule strength: Millenium and ROCCAT seems easier than Fnatic and Copenhagen Wolves. If Svenskeren still outperforms, however, he may just earn a permanent starting position as my jungler.
Started WildTurtle, benched the rest of my alternates: I am not joking with Wildturtle becoming a player that I need to bench in the future. I looked long and hard at my three alternates, but I eventually decided to keep Wildturtle in the flex position. The only reason I did this was that him and Svenskeren seemed to have pretty equal schedules, and I am clinging to the idea that ADC’s should earn more points than junglers, all else being equal.
This week I faced the monster in my league, the only remaining undefeated team. He had regularly posted up great scores each week, so it looked grim. I did my best, and here are my evaluations for the week:
Mimer: 2
Supa Hot Crew is a team where if the team does well, all players do well, but if they do poorly, all players do poorly. SHC got rocked and went 0-2 this week, and as a result Mimer earned a meager 18 points. Pride cometh before the fall, and now I look foolish for thinking Mimer would start for me every week without fail. Such a scrub move.
Impaler: 2
If Mimer had a bad game, Impaler had an even worse game. With 8 points total, he was easily one of the worst performing starters in my entire league this week. Impaler has been demoted in my book to benchwarmer against Svenskeren, only to be brought out in the future in the best of SHC circumstances.
Cowtard: N/A
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?
From the Copenhagen Wolves Facebook page a few hours after their forfeit to ROCCAT:
“Cowtard got sick overnight and informed our team manager that he wouldn’t be able to play. This happened around 04:00 CEST.”
This was a soul-crusher to realize, especially since my match-up this week was against the best team in the league. However, he did show up to Dreamhack and I got him and Unlimited to sign my super sexy Taric mousepad. So it evens out in the long-run, but was really detrimental to my performance.
Rekkles: 5
Do I really need to keep talking about Rekkles? With 54 points this week, he put up another dominant showing. As of right now, he is also the 2nd most scoring player in the Fantasy LCS system. I find no reason why I would ever get rid of him at this point.
Nrated: 3
SK Gaming had a pretty bad week this week. This directly translated into Nrated’s results, where he earned 24 points. However, even though there were also plenty of supports for me to choose from in the pool and even on my bench, he did better than most of them. Furthermore, he managed to earn more than three other players on my team, so I am not that upset at the decision.
Wildturtle: 5
I do not know what Wildturtle to encourage his team this week. All I know is TSM came out like a huge bass-drop in a rave, with WildTurtle yelling “TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?” After beating their consistent rival Cloud 9 and WT earning 40 points in the process, TSM also crushed Curse and he earned another 30 points. With an average of 35 points per game, perhaps the highest average posted by a player this whole season, Wildturtle was easily the top player in the league this week and single-handedly made up for Cowtard’s unfortunate circumstances. I am SOOOO glad I did not bench him.
Fnatic: 4
Even as Fnatic continues to split games, they earn solid 30 points every week. At this point, I’m not sure I want to try risking adding back Millenium or another streaky team that may earn more points. I really like the reliability that Fnatic gives me, and they are never more than five points behind the top team each week.
Kev1n: 2
Kev1n has turned out to be one of the streakiest players I have. He regularly switches from earning 40 points a week, incredible for a top laner, to 20 points a week. This week he earned 40, which is rather unfortunate as I could not capitalize on those points. He may become a valuable trade asset in the future as I look to pick up a more consistent mid-laner (Cowtard has been good, but I want someone on a better team).
Svenskeren: 3
While Sven did not do amazing, he did have double the number of points of Impaler and I should have played him. The only reason I didn’t, however, was because I thought Copenhagen Wolves would be stronger than ROCCAT. Unfortunately, Cowtard got sick and thus SK had an easy time against a team with a substitute. There is no way I could have known this would happen, so I don’t penalize my decision-making here. Sometimes, bad plays are the singular result of bad luck and nothing more.
Krepo: 3
Alright, Krepo did not work out. Despite a commanding performance last week, EG came back to their lackluster performance. Still, picking him up as an alternate did not hurt my performance at all, nor did it give anyone in my league an advantage. Thus, an average score of 3 is given.
This week’s match-up was interesting. Both of us had two members of Supa Hot Crew and two members of Fnatic, so much of our results were mirrored: our SHC members sucked while our Fnatic members were on fire. When I realized that Cowtard would not play and earn points, I immediately typed “gg” into our Facebook thread. However, his LMQ players had a terrible week, while Wildturtle exploded. Somehow, I not only managed to beat the last undefeated person in my league, but also had a score that was higher than average.
Apparently, being down with the sickness can lead to very good results in a Fantasy League! Woot woot! I am now 2-2! Here’s to more victory!
League of LCS 