Guide to Worlds 2020 Play-Ins Stage
It’s 2020, and the League of Legends World Championship is back with the slogan “Take Over.” This year, Shanghai, China, will be the host city, and the competition will start on September 25th. Because of the pandemic situation, a lot has changed this year for the teams and the format. Today, I will help you explore these new changes and understand the competitors this year.
New Format changes
Because of restrictions from the government, two VCS teams (Team Flash and GAM Esports), are unable to participate in Worlds this years. As a result, the format brings the traditional 24 teams down to 22 teams. This shrinks the Play-Ins stage down to two groups of five, who will battle it out for four slots to make it into the Group Stage (details will be on the next blog).
In this format, each team in the two groups will play Single Round Robin (Best of One) to determine their rankings. The team who placed first from each group will get a ticket straight to Groups Stage, while the last-placed team will be eliminated. The third and fourth in each group will play a Best of Five against each other, and the winner will face the second-place team in the opposing group (details in the picture above). These two teams will play another Best of Five to get the final two tickets on to Group Stage.
Meet The Teams
With excellent performance previously at Worlds, Europe (EU) and China (CN) will have four seeds this year. And because of how competitive in their region, both will be the main highlight or even favorites in the Play-Ins Stage. Sharing Pool 1 with them is North America’s (NA) third seed and Pacific (PCS), who used to be LMS, the second seed. Because of the VCS team not participating, Korea’s (LCK) third seed will go into Groups Stage instead of playing in Play-Ins as isn’t the original plan. The rest in Pool 2 will be wildcard teams from around the globe, including Brazil, Russia (CIS), Japan, Latin America, Oceania, and Turkey.
Teams Highlights
The teams below are those that I followed this year and are the ones that I believe will make it out of the Play-Ins stage, as well as some interesting information to keep in mind during their matches.
Disclaimers: I did not follow every team below for the entirety of their splits, playoffs, and finals. Because of this, my opinions may differ from others, and there may be small gaps in my knowledge.
LGD Gaming
After defeating both defending World Champions in 2019 and 2018, LGD Gaming is expected to be the biggest threat in the Play-Ins Stage despite placing fourth in the LPL Playoffs and second in Regional Finals. Knowing their history of king-slaying at Worlds should make everyone scared of this Chinese team, and this year is no exception.
Key Player: Han“Peanut” Wang-ho (Jungler)
MAD Lions
The LEC is known for bringing young talents onto the international stage every year (MSF, VIT, SPY) and shocking everyone with how well these rookie teams perform. Although MAD Lions finished in fourth the LEC Summer Playoffs, they were dominating in Best of One with their creativity and entertaining post-game celebration.
Key Player: Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser (Support)
Team Liquid
From standing 9th in the Spring Split to 1st in the Summer, with one roster change and a new Head Coach, Team Liquid had an insane comeback to make it onto the Worlds stage for the third consecutive time. Additionally, three main awards in 2020 Summers Splits (MVP of the Split, Rookie of the Year, Coach Staff) are in Team Liquid’s hands, so other teams should be careful at them.
Key player: Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-In (Support)
Unicorn of Love
The most underrated team not just in Pool 2, but also in the Play-Ins Stage overall, which is the representative of CIS. This team was almost unbeatable this year, only losing two games the entire year! Also, the two recent international games they had (MSI 2019 and Worlds 2019) they were at game five on making it out of Play-Ins. It will be interesting to see that they might have the potential to create upsets at any time against Pool 1 teams.
Key Player: Lev “Normanz” Yakshin (Mid)
Papara SuperMassive
Papara SuperMassive is a very familiar face from Turkey for everyone that followed international events, and are known for getting many talented Korean players on their roster. This year, the Turkish representative looks very stacked both individuals’ mechanics and experience on the international stage.
Key Player: No “KaKAO” Hoi-Jong (Jungler)
Conclusion
This will be the 10th anniversary of the Worlds Championship, and it will surely be exciting time to watch the highest ceiling of competitive play, and to see what Riot Games can bring to viewers, even in the Play-Ins. In the next blog, I will be talking about the Group Stage, where the best representatives from each region will play against each other for a seed in Playoffs, and what my perspective is on the Groups.
