DFSGhost 
As we await the beginning of the 2021 splits, there is some League of Legends (LoL) action in the DraftKings lobby as LPL teams face off in the NEST tournament. For those that haven’t realized already, this tournament is unranked, meaning teams have been mixing in new starting lineups, using plenty of substitutes, and players we have no seen before – what this means is normal favorites, such as, say, any team versus BLG, is no as automatic in this tournament considering these are scrims; scrims are when these teams get together for unranked matches to prepare for the upcoming split – think of it as not only NBA or NFL preseason, rather it is more as if two teams got together just to play a scrimmage for fun. There are still big prizes to be won, so let’s get to it:
LoL Matchup #1: RNG (-138) vs FPX (+100)
The first matchup of the slate is a true coin flip. FPX will be without star MID, Doinb, but we’ll see the strong bot lane of FPX with both LWX and Crisp starting. Lele has been surprinsgly active for an RNG side that has fully moved from Betty to GALA at the AD carry position, but I side with FPX in the bot lane. In the mid lane, we all saw what a force Cryin was with eStar, but he is still adjusting to play ever since he rejoined RNG and is a potential sub candidate with Xiaohu stepping aside for this one. Fellow starters New (TOP) and XLB (JNG) take the rift for RNG, while FPX will be without both Tian and a top laner considering both GimGoon and Khan have moved on in free agency. I’ll side with RNG for a 2-1 victory, but will have plenty of FPX due to the combination and upside of the bot lane duo of LWX and Crisp.
RNG: New, XLB, Cryin, GALA, Lele
FPX: xiao7, Youxin, Insulator, LWX, Crisp
LoL Matchup #2: RW (-250) vs LGD Gaming (+175)
This is one game where I will not be having exposure to both sides; RW has starting 4 regular starters religiously throughout the tournament, and nothing has changed here today. With Youdang (JNG), Wuming (MID), ZWuji (ADC) and Ley (SUP) all set to hit the rift for the Warriors, there is no reason to think LGD takes this one other than purely hedging or going for a low owned stack in a large field tournament. Nearing the top of the LPL for consecutive splits in kills per map and deaths per map, RW games are wildly entertaining – and great for DFS. They’re pricey, but well worth the 4-man stack.
Pick: RW (-250)
Starters: BoWen, Youdang, Wuming, ZWuji, Ley
LoL Matchup #3: Team WE (-175) vs EDG (+125)
The third matchup sees another entertaining LPL squad in Team WE taking on EDG. The former will be without their star jungler, beishang, where frigid is projected to start for the favorite. On the flipside, EDG’s lineup remains in question, so make sure to pop in discord for updates. Ultimately, I’ll side with WE here simply because they have the best player on the rift in Jiumeng (ADC) and the formidable bot lane duo he makes with Missing (SUP). While BBD has shown flashes of upside as an AD carry, there’s too much uncertainty in this lineup for me to trust it on such a variable slate – Shanks is the real deal in the mid lane and is the future of the team, so he, along with the bot lane duo mentioned, as the priority for me here.
Pick: Team WE (-175)
Starters: Coten, frigid, Shanks, Jiumeng, Missing
EDG: xiaoxiang, JieJie, ___, BBD, ___
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