Wow! What a week, the teams we expected to win flopped and the teams we thought might not put on the best performance came out and blew the the doors off. Of course, we’re still seeing the teams develop, but, based on week 1 I think it’s safe to say this split is going to be full of excitement and intrigue. Sadly, it’s not all smiles and rainbows, as some of the big names who were expected to put in solid fantasy performances were mediocre at best, and others went off like a house on fire.
Players I love in week 2.
Emperor – ADC – G2
Making his second appearance on this list, Emperor had a stellar outing in week 1; totalling 40.86 fantasy points, and looks set to continue in to week 2 with another good pair of matchups against Giants and H2K. I do expect him to fare better in the game against the 0 -2 Giants, Adryh managed only 4 kills on the week, and struggled when pressured by his opponents. While I like Emperor to have a solid performance against H2K, he will be facing off against Forg1vengre who averaged 6 kills per game the previous week, which should make it a tougher matchup, albeit one I believe he should win.
It should come as no surprise that Emperor tops my recommended pickups for those wanting to make an early change at ADC or Flex.
Febiven – Mid Lane – Fnatic
I was quite low on Febiven last week, after all he’s playing with an almost entirely rebuilt Fnatic roster, which begged the question, how will this impact his fantasy stock? The answer, not at all. Febiven looked like same player from last year, racking up a respectable 32.51 points – most of which came in game 1, and while his matchups this week aren’t particularly great, he should be able to put up a solid fantasy performance. Fnatic will be facing H2K and UOL this week pitting Febiven against Ryu and Fox respectively, and while both his opponents are good players. To me, Febiven is just a cut above them.
Piglet – ADC – Team Liquid
Once again, Piglet is off to a hot start, putting up 58.89 points in week 1, which has him second overall in fantasy scoring so far. He’ll look to continue the high points performance against the changed bottom lane of CLG, which now features Stixxay instead of long-time nemesis Doublelift. TL will also be facing team Fox next week, a matchup that Piglet should win handily. If you own Piglet make sure you’re starting him this week, there’s also a good combo opportunity here if you also own TL’s support; Smoothie.
Players I Hate in Week 2
Alex Ich – Mid – Renegades
Also making his second appearance on this list is Alex Ich, who looked totally out of sorts in week 1. It’s apparent that he’s still a very good mechanical player, unfortunately it looks like it’s going to take another week or two for the rust to come off. Don’t get me wrong, Alex put up 31.37 points this week, which is a fairly solid performance, however in terms of what you expect based on what we’ve seen of him previously, it’s well below the line. This week Renegades will be facing Dignitas and Impulse, meaning Alex will be against Shiptur; who is coming off a 60 point outing in week 1, and what I assume will be a game against Gate for TIP who until recently was Impulse’s support.
I’m still confident that eventually things will come together and Alex will become a fantasy monster, but until he puts it all together it’s hard to advocate starting him.
Hai/Bunny Fufu – Support – Cloud 9
Unfortunately it’s because we still have no clarity on who’s the actual starter for C9. This week we saw Bunny start a game, which I had hoped meant the team had selected a starter. For the second game, the team ran Hai instead, this may be related to the fact that Bunny Fufu had an underwhelming game, if you started him this week you got less than 7 fantasy points. I could say there’s a case to be made for using Hai this week, after all he did put up 21.32 points in just one game, but when there’s no guarantee who’s going to start on a game by game basis I simply can’t recommend starting either one.
Pobelter – Mid – IMT
It’s safe to say Immortals is a team that wants to fight, after picking up some of the most aggressive players on the scene, unfortunately for Pobelter he’s got to fight a pair of players who are playing exceptionally. IMT will be face off against TSM and NRG in week 2, pitting Pobelter against Bjergsen and GBM respectively, both of who did a good job in week 1 of limiting their opposite number in Mid Lane to fairly pedestrian performances. Make no mistake, with a 43.12 points performance in week 1 you may be hard pressed to find better options on the free agent pile, in that case just taper expectations for week 2. If you do have better options available, however, sit Pobelter this week.