In League of Legends this week the World Championship begins: the LoL Worlds 2020 will start in Shanghai. Which team has the best chance of becoming World Champion in 2020? And who will be the new star when the champions from 2018 and 2019 are absent? It looks like a Midlaner. He will probably come from Asia and be only 19 or 20 years old. Maybe it will also be a Dane with an evil twin.
When are the Worlds 2020?
The Worlds start on Friday, September 25. Then 10 teams will face each other to determine the best 4 among them. This is the Play-In Stage.
These 4 winning teams are expected to be the morning snack for the 12 teams that are already qualified for the main field. From October 3, 16 teams in the “Group Stage” will determine the 8 participants for the playoffs.
The playoffs run from October 15 to 31 with quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the grand final in the “Pudong Football Stadium,” which can hold over 33,000 people. The question remains how full the stadium will be during Corona.
Since the World Championship is taking place in China, the matches are scheduled late at night from a German perspective. The first games start at 11 PM German time. From the playoffs, they will start at 1 AM.
3 of the 4 best teams from 2019 are not participating
This is what makes the World Championship so special: It is a new era. In the Corona year 2020, almost all the champions and favorites from recent years have collapsed:
- Faker and SKT1, the world champions from 2013, 2015, and 2016 did not make it to the World Championship. They stumbled at the very last hurdle against Gen G., whom they had already lost to in the 2017 final.
- Invictus Gaming, world champions from 2018, failed to qualify.
- The reigning world champions from 2019, FunPlus Phoenix, fell short in China. Last year, the duo of Doinb and Tian looked as if they were playing LoL from another planet. In 2020, the Chinese league LPL was already too tough for them.
Thus, 3 out of 4 semi-finalists from the LoL Worlds 2019 are not participating in the World Championship 2020. Only the Europeans from G2 Esports have lived up to their role as favorites and have qualified fairly confidently.
The only “from the champion guard” that made it to the Worlds in 2020 is Gen G. From the champion team of 2017, at least Ruler is still in the roster. But they are hardly considered to have major chances.
Team from Asia without international experience is considered a top favorite
Who will win the World Championship? The betting odds and experts are quite unanimous. The favorite at the LoL Worlds 2020 is Top Esports from China. This would be the third consecutive year that a Chinese team wins the World Championship, a team hardly anyone expected.
What makes Top Esports special is that they have never qualified for a World Championship before. Their players are considered huge talents. Special attention is drawn to
- the Midlaner Knight (20), who is already being celebrated as the upcoming superstar of the Worlds
- the Jungler Karsa (24), a Taiwanese player who a few years ago played for the exotic team Flash Wolves in the LMS, the LoL league with teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao
The two are considered the best “Jungle-Mid” duo in the world. However, Top Esports lacks international experience. But that didn’t stop the 2019 champions, Fun Plus Phoenix, from winning and blasting everything away in their path.
Who are the co-favorites?
The second strongest team is the Koreans from DamWon Gaming. They have reinforced themselves from the remnants of “Griffin,” who collapsed after the scandal in Korea. There a coach choked a player.
The most important player here is also a Midlaner: Showmaker (20). He is considered a huge talent and is supposed to be “the second edition of Faker.” After DamWon Gaming lacked experience in 2019 and failed on the big stage, the team might now achieve breakthrough. In 2019 it was thought that it could be Showmaker’s World Championship – but DamWon Gaming was torn apart in the quarter-finals against G2 Esports: They want revenge now.
DamWon Gaming was already super talented in 2019, but apparently couldn’t handle the pressure of the Worlds.
The third strongest team in the betting odds is the second team from China, JD Gaming. Their Jungler, Kanavai (19), is considered an absolute top player and expert. But the most important position at the Worlds is traditionally the Midlane, here JD Gaming is slightly weaker positioned than Top Esports with Knight.
In fourth place among the bookmakers is G2 Esports, the team from Europe. They had a strong World Championship last year and made it to the final. With the same team, they are competing again now. Here too, the focus is on the Mid-Lane: The Dane Caps (20) is supposed to deliver. With Top Laner Wunder, Bot Laner Perkz, and Jankos in the Jungle, G2 Esports offers the best talent outside of Asia.
Last year they had an incredible run but completely fell apart in the final when facing FunPlus Phoenix.
Little chance for Europe and the USA outside of G2 Esports
Where do the others stand? The top 4 have odds between 1:2.75 – Top Esports) and 1:8.5 (G2 Esports). After that, it goes down steeply.
- Teams from the USA are given little chance to accomplish anything. Team Solo Mid and Team Liquid only rank 11th with 1:81.
- Fnatic also stands out as an outsider with 1:31.
6 of the 7 top favorites for the LoL Worlds 2020 come from Asia.
Who will be the star of the tournament? There is a strong likelihood that a Midlaner will again be the center of attention in 2020 and how well he harmonizes with the Jungler.
In 2019, the Midlaner Doinb became the star of the tournament, but his Jungler, Tian, was the finals MVP. This year could be similar.
Favorites here are clearly Knight from Top Esports, Showmaker from JD Gaming, and Caps from G2 Esports. These 3 should definitely be watched closely.
The astonishing thing is that all 3 potential superstars of the tournament are only 19 or 20 years old. Here in Europe, we feel as if we have known Caps and his evil twin brother Craps forever. We will probably soon get to know Showmaker and Knight.
Caps is one of the most exciting players in LoL, especially because he has terrible matches where he plays really badly. Then fans say: It’s not Caps playing, but his incompetent twin brother, Craps.
This trend has emerged, which everyone at G2 Esports somehow enjoys. Most of all Caps himself. Hopefully, “Craps” will have something else planned for the Worlds 2020.
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