DraftKings LOL Daily Fantasy Strategy for a Beginners 50/50 Contest: Not the Outcome I was Looking For

The Contest

The LOL $10 Double Up (LCS) is a 50/50 contest. Whereas other contests might have a single winner or a selected few, this format registers the top half as winners. Curiously, this contest allows for eleven entrants total and labels the bottom six as the losers. Each of the five winners takes home $20, making for a $10 profit. The total prize pool is $100.

My Picks

As opposed to going off of my own strategy, imperfect due to how new I am to the scene, I decided to follow the advice of other sources. This decision was deeply reinforced by the reduction of my balance from twelve to two dollars. Previously, I deemed ADC and Top as the two most important positions. Today, I learned that it is actually ADC and Mid that are of the greatest importance. This is because those two positions tend to score the most kills which are the main factor in earning fantasy points. Of course, the performances of all positions can be impacted by which champions are chosen to play them.

Nevertheless, a strong offense is imperative. Top lane can play defensively or offensively, which is why it’s superseded by Mid. Additionally, I also made my picks based off of inter-player compatibility or, as labeled “favorable matchups.” My highest scoring players needed to be from the same organization, as that’s inherent proof that they can work well together as teammates. Now, another part of my strategy was to select a team that would play well in the early game. The early game is crucial. Specifically, a team that “play[s] strong early will focus on a strategy of securing dragons and towers and also get one or two barons.”

When I looked for an organization to make the backbone of my lineup, I was searching for those that play well in the early game. Enter: Cloud9. In an interview, C9 Reignover explained that he “had a huge impact in the early game” when he had been a player. Now, as a coach, he coordinated the early game the team. And now that I knew my foundation, I made my picks.

Team Captain

My fifth pick in the process. I was not particularly concerned with this position. It didn’t really matter that much to the strategy, as it’s meager 1.5x boost didn’t compare to the boost granted by favorable matchups. That said, I chose to pick up Solo from FOX for $8,400. The fantasy points per game (FFPG) of this player was 19.8. The opponent rank (OPRK) of this player was 8th. When picking a Team Captain on this strategy, concentrate on making a safe pick that doesn’t put too much of a dent into your budget.

Top

My fourth pick in the process. I hired Kumo from Cloud9 for $7,000. Of the positions that remained after picking my ADC, Mid, and Team, I put my attention on Top. As said before, it could be played defensively or offensively; whichever it would be, I wanted it compatible with my strategy. The FFPG of this player was 31.5. The OPRK was 5th. So, what this told me was that this player would score well. The high FFPG and team matchup certainly indicated so.

Jungle

My sixth pick in the process. The Jungle is a place where many points might be scored, but overall this isn’t a very reputable position for scoring. Especially with the focus on early game, where the ADC will be working on the dragons and getting the bigger points while Support assists, the stakes aren’t dire for this position. One thing Junglers have is independence. That made it much easier for me to pick Panda, a player from FOX, for $4,200. I wanted some compatibility, just to be safe and stick to the strategy, so I chose a player who matched with my Team Captain. Panda’s FFPG (22.2) and OPRK (6th) were lackluster, but that didn’t bother me.

Mid

My second pick in the process. Looking for that favorable matchup between this position and ADC, I hired Nisqy from Cloud9 for $8,400. His FFPG was 26.0, fairly good, and his OPRK was 6th. So, even though he wasn’t highly selected by opponents, I wasn’t concerned. All that told me was that, potentially, they had not gone with Cloud9 as their foundation. Obviously, that’s assuming that they were using the same strategy as I was.

ADC

My first pick in the process. All I had to do was find Cloud9’s ADC among the player pool. I anticipated this to be my premier scorer. With an FFPG of 23.0, an OPRK of 4th, and a salary of $8,200, I picked Sneaky. Now, this player wasn’t very astonishing, but that’s all right. For this type of competition, all I needed to do was pick a player that could score more than half of the entrants.

Support

My final pick in the process. Initially, I wanted to pick a Cloud9 Support. However, DraftKings has a cap on the number of players from the same team that can be on this lineup simultaneously. The maximum—four players—was already filled by my Team, ADC, Top, and Mid. Supports aren’t known for being reliable high-scorers. What I wanted was a Support who could help out, that’s it. All they had to do was not be horrible, and assist while the high-caliber ADC farmed. For that purpose, I picked Aphromoo from 100 Thieves. His salary was $5,000 which I was just able to pay with the last of my budget. His FFPG was 16.8 and his OPRK was 9th.

Team

My third pick in the process. I hired Cloud9. That was necessary to get the most out of the favorable matchup strategy, and critical to the early-game blitz strategy. The organization’s FFPG was 14.6 and OPRK was 9th. Again, I didn’t need to pick an outstanding team, just one that was safe and strategic. For $6,200 this team didn’t eat up that much of my budget.

The Results

The entrant in 10th place out of the eleven scored 138.32 fantasy points. I scored 18.02 fantasy points.

I am clearly a part of the majority of beginners that come out as Net Losers. So, this strategy of selecting based off of early-game performance and a favorable matchup with a certain team didn’t work out as hoped. But this is not the fault of the strategy. My overall inexperience was without a doubt the factor that brought about this outcome. A rough start doesn’t mean this train hasn’t started moving. I’ll expand my knowledge of the game and become more familiar with the site day-by-day. Completing missions to get crowns will help me be able to continue to play in contests that’ll put my abilities to the test. I’ll research more tactics to try, and you can follow the journey right here, on Lineups.