Week 5 of the League of Legends Championship Series signals the halfway point of the Spring Split, at which point every team will have played every other team. For fantasy purposes, this gives us our strongest set of data so far, and should help make those crucial decisions for the stretch run to the end of the season and a potential Fantasy LCS victory.
Basically, this week is a play around Baron Nashor. If you lose, your opponents have a big advantage. If you win, you're set up for success.
So let's figure out how to take that Baron.
Picks
Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, Mid lane, Echo Fox
While it's unlikely to find Froggen on waiver wires in many leagues, there is a good chance he's on someone's bench (he's owned in 79.1 percent of leagues, but only started in 58.5 percent). That should absolutely change in Week 5, as his Foxes will be the last team to get the fantasy benefit of facing Team Envy, and a rematch with Immortals is also on the cards. This means facing the weakest team in the league (Envy) followed by the best matchup for mid laners in either region outside of Origen (Immortals). He's a must-start at mid or flex.
Rasmus "Caps" Winther, Mid lane, Fnatic
"Baby Faker" gets a two-match week in Week 5 ... and gets to play the aforementioned Origen, the best matchup for mid laners in Fantasy LCS by a wide margin (21.47 points per game allowed, compared to second-place Immortals at 19.7). His other matchup is against Splyce, whose best fantasy matchup against is mid lane, meaning he has one of the best possible two-match setups possible in the EU LCS.
Cody "Cody Sun" Sun, AD Carry, Immortals
Counter Logic Gaming has been the best matchup in NA LCS for pretty much every position so far this season, and the bot lane is no exception. CLG allows 21.15 points per game to ADCs, the most in NA and just behind Origen across both regions. Immortals' marksman had a solid Week 4 and should have another good week at the halfway point, with Echo Fox and mistake-prone Yuri "Keith" Jew joining CLG as his opponents.
Passes
Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin, Jungle, Team Liquid
If Team Liquid wants to find success this season, it will need Reignover to carry it as far as he can. The problem with that: Everyone else knows that, too. As we saw in Week 4, when Reignover is forced onto a fifth or sixth-choice jungle option who can't carry, he doesn't have the same impact or same big scores. He's almost certain to be the focus of pick and ban phases from here on out (or until the meta shifts) and faces the toughest non top-2 NA matchup for junglers (Team Dignitas) in Week 5. Consider new Fnatic jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen if you need a one-week replacement, as he'll get an ideal matchup with Origen and a decent one against Splyce.
Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes, AD Carry, Counter Logic Gaming
Don't bench Stixxay if it means putting a support or top laner in your flex spot, but if you have a better ADC and flex option (like Cody Sun, Froggen or Caps, for example), he's a strong candidate to take a week off. Immortals are the toughest matchup for opposing bot laners thanks to the emergence of Cody Sun and the experience of Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung as well as the ease with which opponents camp and frustrate Eugene "Pobelter" Park in the mid lane, instead. CLG's other opponent, Team Liquid, is not a great matchup for marksmen, either. Martin "Rekkles" Larsson is a solid replacement for this week.
Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell, Top lane, Team SoloMid
Like Stixxay, don't bench Hauntzer for an obviously bad option, but he's not a great pick for Week 5. Matchups with Cloud9 and Flyquest mean everyone on the TSM roster is in a tough spot, but with top lane being an easier position to replace in your lineup, he's likely the easiest to sub out for a European option. Paul "sOAZ" Boyer and Martin "Wunder" Hansen are both fine picks, as is Lee "Flame" Ho-jong from NA if he's still available.