Betting: July 27th (LCK, LPL, LMS, EU LCS)

LOL Champions Korea 7/27 Schedule:



Hanwha Life eSports (-323, -1.5 @ +103)
@ Over/Under 34:00, Total Kills 18.5
BBQ Olivers (+237, +1.5 @ -133)



SK Telecom (-323, -1.5 @ +103)
@ Over/Under 34:00, Total Kills 18.5
Jin Air GW (+237, +1.5 @ -133)

Handicapped: Hanwha -1.5 @ +103 (3 units)

Hanwha had a few really bizarre games this week and last. The full sub lineup got some time and when that wasn't the case they were getting really really wonky with funneling and swapping strategies that ultimately resulted in throwing a game to Jin Air and a match to SK Telecom. With SK Telecom not too far behind them and both teams in the hunt for that last playoff spot still it's pretty weird to see these teams throw in the proverbial towel. There is a pretty clear difference in the top five teams but it's not impossible for either of these teams to go on some sort of miracle run, they have the talent and history to do so which makes these decisions so odd to me.

Anyway I think we need to look at this match two different ways; with and without the starters playing. To me, Hanwha's sub squad looked pretty awful and got completely obliterated when they played. When they're only half a series behind Afreeca I can't see them marching that lineup out again until they're statistically eliminated. I'm going to place this wager under this assumption for the best value but you're more than welcome to wait until game time for a likely weaker line.

I'm not going to look into BBQ's recent surge, if you can call 2-2 in your last four series a surge. Afreeca refused to play an ADC as if to try things out when they easily could have sat back and let BBQ beat themselves. Both BBQ wins were off of unforced errors in my opinion so I'm going to call that win a fluke. The Jin Air series they looked decidedly better in all three games to me but just got out scaled by Anivia Gangplank in game one. So what's all this mean? They're still the worst team in the LCK and to me it's not particularly close but at least they've shown some fight. In the middle of the season they looked defeated and like they didn't care so it's nice to have the spicy, scrappy BBQ back.

I'm going with Hanwha to 2-0 for 3 units. Not only are they a substantially better team with better individual talents and drafting but they need the game wins and more importantly the series with such a heated race for the 5th playoff seed. I have no idea why they were messing around with the sub lineup but I just can't see them doing the same here with so much on the line. Then again this is BBQ so maybe they'll think they can get away with murder.



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Handicapped: SK Telecom -1.5 @ +103 (1 unit)

PROP: Map 1 total time OVER 34:00 @ -114 (0.5 unit)

PROP: Map 2 total time OVER 34:00 @ -114 (0.5 unit)

I can't believe I'm saying it but Pirean has been quite good for SK Telecom. I'm not sure if Faker is going to start this series or not but Pirean has been good enough that I'm going to treat this mostly the same and look at the full lineups. The last meeting between these two was a 2-0 by SKT with a 25 minute win and a long, for that patch, 46 minute slugfest win in game two. It was SK Telecoms first match win of the season. Jin Air didn't exactly look good going into that series either. Both teams have improved, SK Telecom a bit more so if you ask me, but are still on the outside looking in at what we'd consider playoff calibur in the LCK. SK Telecom played a decent series against KT Rolster in the Telecom War and then took care of business against the HLE subs but then punted a game to BBQ because they're insistent on making Bang play non-marksmen. I think if this team cares at all about staying in the hunt they'll do what they're good at and play scaling, protect the carry compositions. A lot of Korea has been trending back toward that this past week anyway and that style suits both of these teams. 

There's a lot to like for both squads here but I'm going with SK Telecom who have more to play for in this series than Jin Air do as well as the better overall lineup even without Faker playing. I also think if you put both of these teams in a slower paced, controlled, Korean style game like I'm expecting Teddy and Bang can match each other at which point I think SKT have the stronger "other four." Thal and Pirean have been good recently and Grace is very underwhelming. I also think that UmTi is significantly more likely to make a game ending mistake either early or late. He's not a good control jungler and I expect these to be longer, slower paced games. 

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LOL Pro League (China) 7/27 Schedule:

FunPlus Phoenix (-233, -1.5 @ +136)
@ Over/Under 33:00, Total Kills 24.5
Vici Gaming (+176, +1.5 @ -179)


Royal Never Give Up (-417, -1.5 @ -123)
@ Over/Under 34:00, Total Kills 23.5

Team WE (+292, +1.5 @ -105)

Handicapped: FunPlus -1.5 maps @ +136 (0.5 units)

This FunPlus Phoenix team really doesn't impress me but Vici are just so bad that I can't say no to any kind of plus line against them. We'll keep this light because I think it's more of a bet on the bad team to stay bad. I'm not looking too much into FunPlus' win against RNG or their game win against JD. This is just Vici being terrible. 

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Handicapped: RNG -1.5 maps @ -123 (1 unit)

RNG just punted a series to FunPlus Phoenix because they were, simply put, messing around. If you don't believe me then watch the games. Instead of closing game one they let FunPlus stall to almost an hour and split them out. They immediately thrashed them in 23:12 the next game. Game three they were well on their way after securing a dragon and an easy gank mid they then converted on a dive top and took top tower. LetMe then got caught before both of the next dragons to allow FunPlus to get two Infernal drakes. It looked as if he wasn't even talking to Xiaohu who was in the vicinity each time. Walking away from him to try to outplay the 2v1. Lwx got a few kills on Xayah and seemingly out of nowhere RNG lost. I'll give credit to FPP for that game three but not for the series win. Team WE are coming off of a hard fought 2-0 win against Suning in which they trailed in both games before scaling with bot lane Orianna. Suning have been better than this but the fact still stands that WE were behind in both of these games and RNG, even without Uzi are a whole other level in comparison. This should be a 2-0 for RNG. I can see it being sloppy for game one, perhaps the OVER 23.5 kills in map one is the play here... hmmm 


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League Masters Series (Taiwan) 7/27 Schedule:

Machi eSports (+175, +1.5 @ -185)
@ Over/Under ??, Total Kills ??
G-Rex (-250, -1.5 @ +127)


AHQ eSports (+247, +1.5 @ -137)
@ Over/Under ??, Total Kills ??

J Team (-385, -1.5 @ -104)

Handicapped: J Team -1.5 @ -104 (2 units)

Disclaimer, I haven't watched a lot of the LMS, mostly just sticking to J Team and Flash Wolves games but J Team have been solid. They're firmly in control of the #2 spot in the LMS to me even if it doesn't look like it. HKA aren't as good as their record. Anyway we get J Team against an AHQ team that is tied for last place with Team Afro who were by far the worst team in the league last split. I mean what a fall from grace for the former Worlds representatives but we aren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth here. AHQ's only wins are against 5th place G-Rex and tied for last with them Team Afro. That's it.... Like that's their only game wins. They've even been swept by 6th place Machi. This line actually seems too good to be true but I'm going to limit action due to my lack of complete awareness of the LMS.

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EU LCS (Europe) 7/27 Schedule:

Misfits -417 @ Unicorns of Love +297

ROCCAT -238 @ H2K +180

Team Vitality -217 @ Giants Gaming +166

G2 eSports -208 @ Splyce +159

(pending)