The League of Legends World Championship is on the horizon! The groups for the play-ins and the main event were drawn on Tuesday afternoon. Who won, who lost and who’s worth keeping an eye on?
Worlds, the biggest event in professional League of Legends, is less than two weeks away. As usual, it will bring some of the best teams in the world to show which squad and which regions are best.
Tuesday evening saw the draw ceremony for the first two stages of the tournament, the play-in groups and the main event groups. Due to the absence of the two Vietnamese teams, the format of the play-in groups had to be changed and the ten teams will be divided in two groups of five, with the top teams qualifying for the main event automatically and the next three teams of each group playing for the two remaining spots.
Worlds 2020 Play-Ins Draw Review
Group A presents us with the ever-popular EU vs NA conflict as Team Liquid and MAD Lions will likely fight for the first place. The LEC has recently been in better shape than its American rival, but MAD looked worse against the stronger European teams than TL did against its rivals. Further down, the TCL has shown itself to be one of the stronger minor regions, so Supermassive is worth keeping an eye on. Still, that might be one of the easier groups for Legacy or INTZ, as all of these teams have occasionally not been in the best of shape.
Group B, meanwhile, has a clean favorite in LGD Gaming. Considering that LPL teams have dominated the last few events and the PCS has not been in great shape lately, it would be shocking to see LGD anywhere but in first place. After that, though, things get a lot more exciting. With the inclusion of the LMS, the southeast Asian region has become significantly strong and its traditional rivals from Vietnam will not be present at this Worlds. Unicorns of Love were on an absolute tear this year and could prove dangerous to any team in either group, and the CIS region has already given EU and NA teams a run for their money in the last two World Championships. As for Rainbow 7and V3 Esports, it is likely that they will be fighting for the fourth place, but they can surprise.
Worlds 2020 Main Event Group Draw Analysis
Group A looks to be a good group for G2 Esports and Suning. Machi esports is the PCS champion, but it is unlikely to be a serious rival for the LEC champion or China’s third seed. With no Korean teams in the play-in, the strongest team they can expect out of the play-in would be the likes of Team Liquid or Unicorns of Love.
Group B, meanwhile, features two teams many would see as favorites to win the entire event - LCK Champions DAMWON Gaming and LPL’s second seed JD Gaming. In that setting, LEC’s Rogue looks like a distant third. It would be a small miracle for them to get through to the playoffs - and an even bigger one for anyone coming from the play-ins.
Group C is arguably the most even one. It features the LCS champion and North America’s best hope for a playoff seed, Team SoloMid. However, TSM will have to face off against LEC finalist Fnatic and the LCK third seed Gen.G. Also, barring a huge surprise, China’s LGD Gaming will be heading for this group as well. This group may well be the “group of death” where everyone can fall.
Finally, Group D will likely see Chinese champions Top Esports and LCK second seed DRX fight for the scraps. The third team in the group are the LCS finalist FlyQuest, who despite two very decent seasons would face a very hard struggle. If Europe’s MAD Lions make it out of the play-ins, they will join this group as it is the only one without a LEC representative, but it would be hard for them to make it to the top 2 as well.
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