On October 5, 2021, the World Championships in League of Legends will start. We at MeinMMO are looking at the betting odds to see which team has the best chances of winning the LoL Worlds 2021. Who will be the stars in LoL? Which legends and newcomers should we keep an eye on? What are the chances for the Germans?
When do the LoL Worlds 2021 take place:
- The World Championship begins on October 5 with the Play-Ins.
- It ends on November 6, 2021, with the grand final.
The WC takes place in Reyjvkaviv, Iceland. A total of 22 teams from 11 regions will participate in the tournament.
The 3 top favorites are all from Asia
These teams are favored to win the LoL Worlds 2021: The bookmakers have identified three clear favorites ahead of the start of the World Championship:
- FunPlus Phoenix has the best chances of victory – this is the Chinese world champion from 2019
- DWG KIA comes in close second – the reigning world champion from South Korea
- Edward Gaming is in third place – a very strong team from China that flies under the radar because it doesn’t have the big stars like the other two teams
2 teams from Europe in the extended favorites circle
Who comes next? Outsider chances are given to 5 other teams:
- The MAD Lions are the most successful team from Europe – but their chances of winning the World Championship are considered about 4 times lower than those of FunPlus Phoenix
- Royal Never Give Up – is the third major team from China. Overall, bookmakers consider the LPL to be the strongest league
- T1 – the legendary team around Faker has at least outsider chances. Faker is supported in 2021 by a strong, young support
- Fnatic – the largest team from Europe is seen as relatively far behind in the extended favorites circle
- Gen G. – the veterans from Korea are given similarly low chances as Fnatic
Teams from the USA are all rated equally weak
What about the teams from the USA? All teams from the USA are given terrible odds by the bookmakers to win the Worlds. They are all considered to be on equally weak levels. They are by far the weakest teams in the major regions.
Even the weakest team from Korea, Hamwha Life (the Church of Chovy) still has significantly higher chances of winning the LoL Worlds than the nominally strongest team from the USA, 100 Thieves.
Here it would be a success if a US team even makes it out of the group phase.
What about the teams from Europe? MAD Lions are indeed regarded as co-favorites. They are expected to reach the semifinals.
Fnatic, the largest team in Europe, could at least make it to the quarter-finals.
For Rogue, who have drawn Death Group A, it looks rather bleak.
Duos from Midlane and Jungle could dominate LoL Worlds 2021
Who will be the stars of the Worlds 2021? It seems that midlaners and junglers will again dominate these worlds.
The favorites FunPlus Phoenix and DWG KIA both have excellent duos in these positions:
- For FunPlus Phoenix, “Super-Carry” Doinb plays in the Midlane. He roams the map. Experts believe he is even stronger in 2021 than in 2019. Doinb has an exceptionally high KDA value of 6.4 – only “knight” (Top-Esports) can compete with that value. However, he did not qualify for the Worlds this year.
- In addition, Doinb is complemented by the flexible jungler Tian, who became Finals MVP in 2019. However, his statistics in China this year seem rather mediocre. Other junglers like Jiejie (Edward Gaming), Wei (Royal Never Give Up), or Tarzan (LNG Esports) all had a higher KDA than he did.
- At DWG Kia, Showmaker plays in the Midlane. He is considered one of the mechanically strongest players in the world. Showmaker had a KDA value of 6.0, which was by far the best among all midlaners in the summer season of the LCK.
- His partner is Canyon, who played a tough “Jungle Carry” in 2020 and jokingly refers to himself as a “Graves Bot.”
But both duos have excellent teammates alongside them, who mostly fulfill supportive roles.
Could there be strong newcomers? An exciting rookie is the 19-year-old Frenchman Adam. He was an important part of risky changes that helped Fnatic turn around a disastrous season and breathe new life into the team.
Who are the great legends still playing? Many of the big stars from LoL have since retired. Bjergsen and Doublelift, Uzi and Wolf have all ended their careers in recent years. Although Bjergsen is apparently considering a return.
The midlaner “Faker” (25) remains the biggest name in League of Legends. The South Korean won three world championships by 2016 and has been chasing title number four since then. In 2021, he was able to qualify for the LoL Worlds again with T1 and dreams of making LoL history again with a fourth world title. By now, the “undying demon king” increasingly seems like a “quite killable demon lord.”
With the botlaner “Ruler” (22), an ADC plays at the LoL Worlds who was part of the group that snatched the world championship title from Faker in 2017.
At the Worlds 2021, the Croatian Perkz (22) plays for the US team Cloud 9: He is one of the best LoL players Europe has ever produced.
We could even see German players in the semifinals
What are the chances for the Germans? The German player Felix “Adebagge” Braun led 100 Thieves to the championship title in the USA. But it seems very unlikely that he can get the team out of the group stage. They would have to get past T1 and Edward Gaming – it probably won’t be enough.
Better chances are for the ADC of Fnatic, Elias “Upset” Lipp. With PSG Talon, they have a manageable task ahead, but against “Royal Never Give Up” it could be close. The question remains who will be drawn as the 4th team in group C. If it is “Hamwha Life,” the Church of Chovy, it could get tight for Fnatic as well. However, the quarter-finals should be achievable.
The best chances of going far lie with the support player Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser. He is competing with the MAD Lions in Group D. Here awaits an opponent that they should dominate, “Team Liquid.” Gen G. from South Korea also seems manageable. The MAD Lions could play a good role in the LoL Worlds 2021 – probably as the only team from the West.
A few years ago, it still looked as if teams from Europe and the USA could keep up with the Asians in the long term. Because in 2017, Korea had serious problems as the old players were no longer good enough and the young players were not yet good enough. But China has caught up significantly in recent years – and the new generation in Korea has now found new strength, while the “big names” in Europe must restructure and the USA apparently struggles with structural problems.
In any case, we can look forward to an exciting spectacle in Iceland. The jungler Jankos has ensured this:
LoL: Jungler happily draws absolute death group for Worlds 2021
