Before the main event, four more teams have to qualify through Play-Ins. The quest remains, who will make it out?
Worlds 2020 is upon us, only days away. The groups have been drawn and nearly all teams have begun scrimming in Iceland. Still, there are four open slots for the main event which can only be determined through the play-ins. The play-ins mimic a shorten group stage, with two groups of five teams competing for two slots per group. The winners will be automatically be slotted into a group where a team of their respective region is not yet present.
Group A consists of Hanwha Life, LNG Esports, Infinity, Peace, and RED Canide. Group B contains Cloud9, Beyond Gaming, Unicorns of Love, Galatasaray Esports, and DetonatioN FocusMe. This mixture of ‘major’ and ‘minor’ regions could make this the most eventful Play-Ins in recent memory.
Group A – Two decisive leaders
The representatives from the LPL (LNG) and LCK (Hanwha) are the clear favorites to make it out of this group. Despite failing to make the Summer playoffs domestically, Hanwha Life showed clear improvement in the gauntlet. Hanwha also has two Worlds veterans on the squad that make them a dark horse to win Worlds generally.
Jeong “Chovy” Ji-Hoon has now reached Worlds for the third straight year with three different rosters. Chovy is largely considered the LCK’s prodigy midlaner and perhaps the most mechanically skilled out of the top four. Beside him from the DRX days is Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu. Deft has made countless Worlds events with EDG, and has not missed a step since returning to the LCK. These two factors alone make Hanwha the clear favorites in the group.
Another former Griffin player, Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yoon, has seen a resurgence in 2021. Tarzan is entering Worlds considered by many as the best jungler in the World, and absolutely outclasses every other opponent in his role in the Play-Ins. These two teams are absolute powerhouses in their group, and if anyone aside from LNG and Hanwha make it to the main event, it’ll be a major upset.
Group B – Potential for an upset
Compared to Group A, the second group of Play-Ins seems 토토사이트 far more volatile. Cloud9 and Beyond Gaming are the two favorites to escape the group, however neither team is infallible. Cloud9 have a strong roster, however showed clear weakness in the jungle and bottom lane during MSI. Cloud9 also fell out far earlier domestically in the LCS.
Beyond Gaming managed to take several games off of PSG Talon, though are unproved on the international stage. Their ADC, Chiu “Doggo” Tzu-Chuan, an impressive showing at MSI as a fill-in for Talon though may struggle to recreate this performance with his usual squad.
Group B has far more ‘dark horses’ than Group A. Unicorns of Love has kept the same roster that finally got them to the group stages last year. DetonatioN FocusMe has made countless Worlds appearances but almost always failed to make an impact. The Turkish squad in Galatasaray Esports also showed promise domestically and could surprise. Overall, C9 and Beyond are poised to take the group however UoL specifically could upset.
