Worlds 2021 Pick'Em: What Is That?

Pick'em Worlds 2021
Who is your pick to win the 2021 World Championship? | © Riot Games

The 2021 League of Legends World Championship is only one week away, and Riot has opened up the Pick’Ems for fans to choose who they think will take home the Summoner’s Cup. Each year, we get to boast and predict the outcome, and each year, we’re wrong. So, how will you fare in 2021?

Pick’ems is a tradition in League of Legends, much like the Worlds Song. Without it, the World Championship just wouldn’t be complete, right? So, since Pick’ems opened up over the weekend, we’ve decided to share some of our thoughts and tier lists for the upcoming 2021 World Championship.

What is LoL Worlds Pick’Em?

The pick’em is a League of Legends tradition in which players from all over the world can try and predict how the World Championship will turn out. It involves various stages where players can predict the outcome of groups and then the outcome of the knock-out phase as well.

This year, due to the move from China to Europe, we won’t be able to choose our play-in pick’ems, sadly. In a Twitter post by Riot, it was explained that the uncertainty of which teams would make it to Iceland also factored into the removal of play-ins.

This comes after an insensitive placeholder was shipped when the pick’em page went live. When clicking on the play-in pick’em, a text showed up stating that ‘they [Riot] do not support this fiesta’. Riot has since apologized for the mistake of shipping the placeholder text live, but fans are still unhappy about the event, since minor regions feel like they’ve been disrespected by the company.

What Are the Worlds 2021 Power Rankings?

There are a total of 22 teams competing at this year's League of Legends World Championship. To give you guys, who might not follow every single pro league, a little help, we’ve made the EarlyGame power rankings in which we rank the top teams at this year's World Championship.

The S+ tier teams are made up of FPX, DAMWON KIA and EDG who have shown insane skill throughout the year and look to be making a deep run at this year's World Championship. Will DAMWON make it back-to-back championships, or will the top 2 seeds of the LPL spoil them?

Here is a complete list of our EarlyGame Power Rankings:

Worlds 2021 Power Ranking
Do you agree?

What Are Our Individual Worlds 2021 Pick’Ems?

Since League of Legends Worlds shouldn’t just be about serious power rankings, we’ve had some fun in the office to create our own individual pick’ems for the 2021 World Championship. These picks are not to be taken too seriously, of course, since personal bias will come up when making a solid Top 8 list before the World Championship.

Worlds 2021 Pick’Em of Michelle, our editor and passionate T1 fan:

  • DAMWON KIA
  • EDward Gaming
  • FunPlus Phoenix
  • T1
  • Gen.G
  • Hanwha Life
  • MAD Lions
  • Cloud9

She decided to go the realistic route and chose DAMWON as her favorite to win the 2021 World Championship. Quite surprising since she is a huge Faker fan. (Editor: calling me out like that... wow.)

Worlds 2021 Pick’Em of Thomas, our token TSM fan and Marketing Manager:

  • TSM
  • EDward Gaming
  • DAMWON KIA
  • Royal Never Give Up
  • Gen.G
  • T1
  • Fnatic
  • LNG

We’re also rooting for TSM to make it out of worlds… wait… hold up, something went wrong with his pick’em!

Worlds 2021 Pick’Em of Henri, our Partnership Guy who has hopes for NA – but not enough for his pick’em:

  • FunPlus Phoenix
  • EDward Gaming
  • DAMWON KIA
  • Royal Never Give Up
  • T1
  • MAD Lions
  • Fnatic
  • LNG

He did say that MAD Lions and Fnatic could make a deep run if they play at the top of their game and steal some spots from teams like RNG and T1.

Worlds 2021 Pick’Em of Sabrina, our League of Legends Content Lead and weeb cheering for the LJL:

  • EDward Gaming
  • FunPlus Phoenix
  • DAMWON KIA
  • T1
  • LNG
  • Royal Never Give Up
  • Hanwha Life
  • Team Liquid

She wanted to put in DFM instead of Team Liquid, but after looking at the potential groups, she realized that DFM probably wouldn’t make it into the top 8. RIP.

Worlds 2021 Pick’Em of Christian, our Community Manager and the one who enjoys spicy picks:

  • EDward Gaming
  • T1
  • FunPlus Phoenix
  • MAD Lions
  • Royal Never Give Up
  • DAMWON KIA
  • Fnatic
  • Team Liquid

Another NA hopeful has joined the crowd. Will Team Liquid be able to impress us, or will they fail miserably at this year's World Championship?

Those are our picks for this year's picks. Have we triggered you, or do you agree with anyone on our team? Will NA make it out of groups? That is the main question we have, as usual. Hopefully, you guys have fun with your pick’ems as well and that you get some good rewards!

The guides, the videos, the lore, it's all here! EarlyGame will help you become Challenger!

Sabrina Ahn

Sabrina Ahn is the League of Legends and Riftfeed Lead. During her time at Concordia University in 2014 she fell in love with LoL and is playing it since – how she hasn't lost her sanity is still unclear....