If you played Fantasy LCS last season, you either remember being happy you selected Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen or Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi, or mad that your friend beat you with them every few weeks.
But the biggest mistake you can make in any fantasy game is to simply look at the top of last season's point-scoring list and take the top players in order. Fantasy is about getting the biggest advantage over your opponents by getting the best players at the positions where they make the biggest impact.
So here's what you need to know before entering the pick phase of your fantasy League of Legends drafts.
NA > EU
The actual debate as to whether North America or Europe is the stronger region in League of Legends will rage on, but for fantasy purposes, it's abundantly clear. Due to the new EU match schedule, some EU players won't play twice in certain weeks. NA players, on the other hand, will always play twice in a weekend.
Also, the fantasy season will end after Week 9, so don't count on your G2 Esports aces' fantasy points for a Week 10 matchup with Roccat; you're simply not going to get them.
Both of these factors mean you're simply going to get more points on a weekly basis from North American selections. EU players will still be useful in fantasy League of Legends, but this really reduces their appeal as a first pick. I'm much more likely to start my draft with an elite NA carry over anyone from EU because I want my prized top pick in the lineup week in and week out.
ADCs and Mids score the most points, but...
Yes, the two main "carry" lanes score the most points using the fantasy scoring system, but that doesn't mean they should be viewed on equal terms. Last season, the elite players in the middle of Summoner's Rift were far ahead of the second- and third-tier options, meanwhile, ADCs were very much a dime a dozen.
Take, for example, the edge that NA's top three mids had over their rivals compared to ADCs. The three best mids - Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen, Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and Eugene "Pobelter" Park - all averaged more than 20 points, but no one else was within two points per game of Pobelter. The eighth-best option was under 17 ppg. At ADC, the top six options were all over 19 points per game, and the top 9 were all averaging over 17 per matchup.
The ADC position doesn't fall off as quickly as mids do, so consider using your first pick on a mid-lane ace, but if you're not comfortable with any of the options, ADCs are still your second best choice.
Don't worry about the top lane
If last summer was any indication, investing in the top lane in fantasy LCS is a mistake. No position had a smaller gap from first to fourth, first to sixth, or first to eighth in points per game, and some of the top names weren't preseason favorites at the position. The average of the top four (17.6) was only just over a full point higher than the average of players ranked fifth through eighth (16.0). That's easily the smallest gap in the game.
If anything, the presence of names like Jeon "Ray" Ji-won, Lennart "Smittyj" Warkus, Martin "Wunder" Hansen and Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek among the top eight players at the position means you can wait and take a chance on an unheralded guy you really like, rather than spending big on any of the shiny new players in the top lane in the North American LCS. Leave Lee "Flame" Ho-jong and Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho for your friends to take too early while you wait whoever's left near the end of the draft.
Flex on your opponents
As mentioned above, Mids and ADCS score the most points, and the ADC position doesn't fall off as quickly. Even though the ADC position is in a tricky spot in the meta game of League right now, they'll always have a fantasy-friendly role of killing creeps, securing kills and picking up multi-kills on a regular basis.
As you can see in the chart below, no matter what sized league you're in, the ADCs outside of the "starters" (in a four-team league, 5-8 would be flex candidates, and so on) are better than the similarly ranked mid laners. In fact, ADCs ranked 5-8 outscore the average of the top four players at every other position but mid.
Top ADCs come from top teams, as the best players at the role last year came from Worlds participants Cloud9, Team SoloMid and G2 Esports, so get the two best carries you can and start them both every week. If you don't have a good second ADC, go with a mid at your flex, and never use any other position. It's just not worth it.
Quick notes
The "team" position falls off pretty quickly, so don't be afraid to get yours early. Top-tier teams finish highest, so be as objective as possible and select the team you think will finish the best and lock them in early.
Supports score the fewest points and the position doesn't fall off very quickly, so leave them for last along with top laners. Good supports almost always come from the best teams, so if you find a good team's support hanging around late in your draft, that's your time to lock them in.
Jungle is right in the middle of everything, making for a nice fourth pick after you have a combo of two ADCs and a mid, or two mids and an ADC. The elite junglers, Kim "Trick" Gang-yun and Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin, are a good bit ahead of the pack, but after that, you can feel safe taking any notable player from the fog of war.
First-round rankings
If you're drafting today, here are my rankings for the first round of a Fantasy LCS draft.
Bjergsen
Jensen
Pobelter
Sneaky
Ryu
Perkz
Zven
WildTurtle