With the most celebrated League of Legends tournament, The World Championship, just around the corner, the group stage teams and play-in teams are all locked and loaded.
Headlining the tournament are Chinese teams JD Gaming and Top Esports. The oddsmakers at bet365 favor these two teams with odds at 3.50 and 3.75 respectively. Coming out of the tough LPL circuit, both teams are certainly favored to beat out their competition from all over the world.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: September 13th, 10:00 A.M. (EST)
The experience of mid laner Yangao and toplaner 369 will be key for JD Gaming’s chances of having a deep World Championship 2022 run. The team took the 2022 circuit by storm after failing to qualify last year. Yangao winning the LPL Summer playoff MVP award certainly cemented him as one of the best at his position.
Top Esports will also be led by previously crowned World Champions Tian and Jackeylove, who won for their respective teams way back 2019 with FunPlus Phoenix for Tian and the year prior for Jackeylove playing under Invictus Gaming.
Defending champion Edward Gaming, also hailing from China, plans to defend their title at this event. Last year’s MVP Scout will look to prove once again that his skills are well above his peers. As the team kept their 2021 roster coming into this year’s tourney, Edward Gaming’s longevity and chemistry are bound to get tested against all the roster shuffles of their opponents.
Meanwhile, Korean teams Gen.G, T1, and DAMWON Gaming are also considered top contenders to raise the trophy. These three teams made the top 4 last year with DAMWON Gaming finishing as runner-ups. Each of these three teams have a World Championship winning player. Of course, all eyes will be on the living legend Faker, who has managed to nab three World Championships thus far. As the most decorated LOL player of all time, the iconic player is arguably the greatest eSports player of his chosen game.
DAMWON Gaming won the World Championship in 2020 and have maintained three of the five players from that roster as they’ve only their bot and support duo. The change might prove fatal though as DAMWON won the LCK Regional Final. ShowMaker, their midlaner, will be tested against the best midlaners in the entire world including Faker himself.
It has been a recurring theme in League of Legends’ biggest event for Asian teams to dominate the tournament. With that said, there are so many up and coming teams from Europe that might cause an upset.
Will the trend of Asian team dominance continue? Or will a dark horse emerge victorious?
