The 2021 LoL Worlds is currently underway and the Group Stage is about to begin. During the Play-Ins, 10 teams fought hard to qualify for this stage and 4 of them have joined the other 12 competitors. In this article, you will learn more about these 16 teams that are left in the race and their chances of winning the tournament.

LoL Worlds Schedule

The Group Stage of LoL Worlds 2021 takes place in two rounds, between October 11th – 13th, and between October 15th – 18th. At the end of this stage there is a short break, followed by the Playoffs: October 22nd – 25th, October 30th – 31st, and November 6th (Grand Final). This is the complete LoL Worlds 2021 schedule. The location of the matches is Reykjavik, Iceland, whose time zone is 2 hours behind Germany.

LoL Worlds Teams

The 4 LoL Worlds groups are the following:

Group A

·       DAMWON Gaming

·       FunPlus Phoenix

·       Rogue

·       Cloud9

The two favorites to qualify from this group are DAMWON Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix. Both of them come from the game’s strongest regions, South Korea and China. Compared to the other two competitors, they have far better rosters and far greater achievements. Just consider the fact that DAMWON is the winner of Worlds 2020 while FPX is the winner of Worlds 2019.

Given the situation, Rogue and Cloud9 have little hope of advancing to the Playoffs. But that doesn’t mean they can win a single game. After all, the competitive format is Bo1, not Bo3, and each team plays against each of the other 3 competitors twice. Based on the strength of the teams and their recent results, DAMWON is likely to finish in 1st place with a score of 5 W – 1 L, while FPX will probably take 2nd place with a score of 4 W – 2 L.

Of course, if Cloud9 or Rogue is in great shape, the situation may change. But based on the fact that C9 finished LCS Summer 3rd and got defeated at this edition of Worlds by both Unicorns of Love as well as Detonation FocusMe, the North American squad is unlikely to cause serious upsets and steal one of the favorites’ tickets to the Playoffs.

As for Rogue, its results in LEC this year weren’t bad: 2nd place in the Spring Split and 3rd place in the Summer Split. But we saw what happened last year, at Worlds 2020, when the team had its first participation to the LoL World Championship in its history and failed to escape immediate elimination, finishing 13th – 16th with a record of 1 W – 5 L. And one of its opponents was DAMWON Gaming.

Group B

·       EDward Gaming

·       100 Thieves

·       T1

·       DetonatioN FocusMe

Group B of LoL Worlds 2021 is going to be quite challenging for the underdogs, 100 Thieves and DetonatioN FocusMe. EDward Gaming and T1 are considerably stronger than them, but the Bo1 format gives everyone a chance to qualify for the Knockout Stage.

In particular, DetonatioN FocusMe is a relatively unknown quantity at this point. At first glance, its chances of taking 1st or 2nd place in this group are very slim, but keep in mind that this team finished the Worlds Play-Ins in 1st place by defeating C9 in the tiebreaker.

100 Thieves is one of the great North American hopes at Worlds 2021, but relative to EDG and T1, its strength is quite modest. Historically, NA teams haven’t done very well at this tournament, either because they weren’t good enough or simply because they choked when it mattered most. Perhaps 100 Thieves can change that, but it’s unlikely that it will succeed, despite being the winner of LCS Summer 2021.

T1 is finally back to Worlds after missing the tournament in 2020. Faker, still regarded as the best LoL player in the history of the game, has probably trained hard for this moment. His team finished LCK Summer 2021 in 2nd place (1 – 3 against DAMWON in the Grand Final) and then won the LCK Regional Finals. These results suggest that the team is in great shape. If T1 was able to get these results in one of the most competitive regions on the planet, imagine what it will do against the likes of 100 Thieves and DetonatioN FocusMe. Even EDG might be in trouble here.

EDward Gaming is regarded as one of the favorites in Group B, mainly because it won LPL Summer 2021. To win such an important competition is not easy, given the strength of the Chinese region.

Group C

·       PSG Talon

·       Fnatic

·       Royal Never Give Up

·       Hanwha Life Esports

Hanwha Life Esports may have gotten here via the Play-Ins, but its results in LCK suggest that it will actually win this group. Its biggest rival will not be Fnatic, nor PSG Talon. Instead, the South Koreans will probably have a much harder set of matches against Royal Never Give Up. The Chinese squad won both the LPL Spring as well as Mid-Season Invitational. In LPL Summer it messed up a bit, finishing 5th – 6th, but then it won the LPL Regional Finals.

The reason why it’s hard to give Fnatic and PSG Talon credibility in a group like this is that their regional leagues are much weaker than the LPL and the LCK. Europe was in disarray this entire season and G2 missed LoL Worlds 2021 completely. Fnatic somehow got through, but its inconsistent results are likely to lead to disaster when the opponent is exceptionally good.

Group D

·       MAD Lions

·       Gen.G Esports

·       Team Liquid

·       LNG Esports

This is by far the toughest group of the 4 and the one that offers the most exciting esports betting opportunities. Each of these 4 teams is strong enough to contest each of the other 3. But, as usual, it’s probably safe to assume that the Chinese competitor (LNG Esports) and the South Korean one (Gen.G Esports) have a significant advantage over the European and North American ones.

Just take a look at LNG’s 4 Play-In matches at LoL Worlds 2021. Regionally, the team struggled this season because the competitive level in China is extremely high. But as soon as it started to compete against opponents from other regions, it became obvious that LNG is actually a very strong team.

As for Gen.G Esports, its track record in 2021 speaks for itself: 2nd place in LCK Spring and 3rd place in LCK Summer. This is comparable to Liquid’s results in LCS, but LCK is stronger than LCS.

MAD Lions is by far the strongest team in Europe at the moment and a lot of people want to see them succeed. But let’s not forget what happened in 2020. The team finished 19th – 20th place after it had done reasonably well in LEC.