League of Legends World Championships Picks and Predictions: Top Esports the Betting Favorite at +175 Odds

• The main event of the League of Legends World Championship begins on October 3rd
• Team Liquid, Unicorns of Love, LGD and PSG Talon were the final four teams to qualify through the Play-Ins
• The #1 seed out of China, Top Esports, are the slight favorites to win at +175

The field of 16 is set and now the main event of the League of Legends World Championship is ready to go. The past two World Championships have been won by teams out of China’s LPL. The League of Legends Worlds Championship odds currently have another Chinese team, Top Esports, as the favorite to win at +175.

Odds to Win LoL Worlds 2020

All odds taken Sep 30 at Bet365

Defending the Crown

For a while, Korea was known as the hands-down best region in the world when it came to League of Legends. Over the past couple of years, that honor now goes to China as they’ve won back-to-back World Championships thanks to Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix. Although neither of those teams will be present at Worlds 2020, there are other formidable teams that could easily make it three straight for China.

The favorite of the tournament is Top Esports. As the #1 seed out of China, it’s easy to see why. Their star mid laner ‘Knight’ led the LPL in kills during the summer split and has quickly claimed his spot as one of the best players in the World. Although he lacks Worlds experience, the rest of his team makes up for it as ‘Karsa’ has been a staple at Worlds, and ‘JackeyLove’ won it all a couple of years back with iG. There’s a lot of reason to buy into the hype.

The second seed out of China could prove to be their biggest competition. JD Gaming didn’t just keel over and let Top Esports win the LPL title in Summer. The grand finals set between the top two teams in China went all the way to game 5 with Top eventually winning the series. But there really isn’t a huge gap in skill between these two teams. Top Esports should definitely be the favorites but JD Gaming has good value behind them. JD Gaming also beat Top Esports to win the Spring Split so they’ve done it before and they can beat them again.

International Challengers

When they’re not favored to win it all, Korean teams will always be in the conversation when it comes to winning Worlds. This year, their top contender is DAMWON Gaming who made their Worlds debut last year. They had a very strong showing as they won their group with a 5-1 record. They were eliminated by G2 Esports in the quarterfinals but DAMWON has only improved since then.

Hello @TOP_Esports_ , @DRXGlobal ,@FlyQuest !

Nice to meet you 😊

And special greetings go out to @PowerOfEvilLoL 🥳❤️🦄#Worlds2020 #ThinkPink pic.twitter.com/Rh7HLARvZR

— Unicorns of Love (@UnicornsOfLove) September 30, 2020

The roster has stayed together and rose to the top of the LCK with a dominant showing in summer. DAMWON capped off a 16-2 regular season by sweeping DragonX in the finals. When it comes to Korean teams, DAMWON is really the only choice as they completely stomped the other teams in the region.

As far as Western teams are concerned, G2 and Fnatic out of Europe could be worth a look as EU has had a representative in the finals in consecutive years. G2 went back to Europe and although there were some roadblocks, they won when it mattered. G2 won both the spring and summer splits and should be able to get out of Group A. I believe that they’ll be able to beat China’s Suning Gaming and once again challenge for the World Championship but they’ll be in very tough.

I truly believe that only four teams are really in contention to win it all this year but there’s a lot of unknowns. Just look at the crazy amount of upsets in the play-ins that saw LGD struggle in best-of-ones and MAD Lions fall short of the main event. Playing live is much different than playing online so teams could perform differently now that they’re back on stage. With that said, I think JD Gaming presents the best value and could definitely challenge Top Esports for first place.

Pick: JD Gaming (+450)