LoL Worlds Predictions: Royal Never Give Up One Of The Best In The Play-Ins

• Fnatic will start as heavy favorites in their game against Loud
• Evil Geniuses aiming to bounce back from demoralizing defeat in opener
• RNG should be too strong for Isurus in their game on Saturday

The biggest LoL event of this year, the World Championships are already off to a flying start. The group stage of the play-ins will extend through the weekend and Monday, and after the second knockout round, only four out of twelve will seed through to the Main Event.

Teams are playing for their pride, their countries, and of course the lion’s share of the prize pool in excess of $2 million dollars. The top four in each six-member group will have a shot at qualifying for the Mains, while the bottom two will be eliminated. Since each has played at least one match, let’s take a look at how they’ve all fared so far.

Fnatic vs LOUD Pick

Fnatic

Fnatic vs LOUD Prediction

Fnatic top their group while having won both their games so far, while LOUD have a 1-1 record. The former are expected to top their group and slot directly into the Mains, and most would pick them as the favorites in this contest too. If you’ve followed the CBLOL though, you’d probably also know that underdogs LOUD shouldn’t be underestimated for a single minute.

Fnatic Unbeaten So Far

LEC third seed Fnatic have done well so far at the play-ins. They’ve already taken on the two toughest opponents in the group and won both games with ease under 30 minutes. In both contests they’ve focused not on kills or taking down their opponents but building up their own lead through a hefty gold and tower count.

Bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp of course was an exception, accounting for 15 of the team’s total 27 kills across both games. Their three matches from here should be a cakewalk, and more likely than not they’ll coast through to the main event undefeated.

Brazil’s LOUD May Not Be Strong Enough

LOUD are the sole representatives of Brazil’s CBLOL at the Worlds, and what a year they’ve had. After seeding fourth in the CBLOL round robin, they took down the tournament’s top dogs and favorites to secure their maiden title at the event, and made it to the Worlds for the first time.

Despite starting out with an embarrassing loss to Beyond Gaming, they made up for it with a dominant showing against Japan’s DetonatioN FM. Jungler Park “Croc” Jong-hoon starred with seven kills, while Thiago “tinowns” Sartori and Diego “Brance” Amaral picked up five each.

While the core of their roster has mostly remained the same, LOL have chopped and changed their junglers quite a lot over the past few years but now seem to have hit the jackpot with croc.

Evil Geniuses vs Chief Esports Club Pick

Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses vs Chief Esports Club Prediction

Both teams are coming off losses from their first games, and are under heavy pressure to open their account. With only five games to play in the group stage, teams cannot afford more than a couple of defeats.

Evil Geniuses are backed to come good in this contest, but it will be a fascinating one. Both are known for their ability to attack when cornered, and pulling the game back when defeat seems inevitable.

Evil Geniuses Beaten Badly By Fnatic

EG suffered a humiliating defeat to Fnatic in their first game of the play-ins, managing just two kills to Fnatic’s ten. Muhammed Hasan “Kaori” Şentürk has been promoted from the academy to replace bot laner Kyle ‘Danny’ Sakamaki, and the team seems to be struggling in his absence.

You can’t really blame Kaori, called up to the Worlds out of the blue after the ‘Prince of Pentakills’ Danny took an indefinite mental-health break at the end of EG’s LCS season. After dominating the round robin, EG’s abrupt loss of form in the playoffs was painful to watch.

They struggled to make it past TSM and Team Liquid, then were knocked out by 100 Thieves in the penultimate round and the same players who had lifted EG to their maiden LCS title just six months ago couldn’t get close to defending their title.

Chiefs Esports Club Representing The LCO

Few teams have achieved the same kind of dominance as the Chiefs in the past split of the LCO. Their record this past year is absurd, verging on superhuman. In split 2 of the LCO they topped their round robin group with 21 wins and zero – yes you read that right, zero – losses.

They swept Order 3-0 in round two of the playoffs, and defeated Pentanet.GG to 3-1 in the final. That loss to Pentanet in the final series of the LCO was their only loss in a split that went on for almost three months.

Royal Never Give Up vs Isurus Pick

Royal Never Give Up

Royal Never Give Up vs Isurus Prediction

This should be a fairly one-sided contest. RNG have been in the circuit for a long time, with experience in tournaments all over the world while Isurus are playing in the Worlds for only the second time in their history. RNG haven’t played any games so far and will be eager to get up and running soon.

Royal Never Give Up One Of The Best In The Play-Ins

RNG didn’t have a great time during the LPL summer. They seeded fourth in the regular season, but were knocked out in their first round of the playoffs 1-3 by Edward Gaming. Still they had another chance to make it to the Worlds through the Regionals.

There they came up against the same opponents, and Edward came out on top once more winning 3-2. RNG had to win the qualification match against LNG Esports to make it, and they scraped through in the series decider.

They have been to the Worlds enough times to know current level of performance isn’t going to cut it, and will want to step up their game coming up against the best of the best.

Just Second Worlds Appearance For Isurus

This is the second time Isurus are appearing at the Worlds, the first in 2019 where they finished 17th-20th. They’re the only representative of Mexico’s LLA, and are coming off an excellent split.

After seeding second in the round robin with a 9-5 record, they turned in ferocious performances at the playoffs taking down tournament favorites Estral Esports 3-2 in the final to bring home the title for the fifth time.

While they might not be at the same level as some of the other teams they’ll come up against, their opponents for starters, the experience and lessons playing at the global stage will do them a world – pun not intended – of good.

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