LoL Worlds 2020 Predictions: Preview, Teams and Format

The 2020 League of Legends World Championship is finally upon us. With all the teams already present at the event venues, there’s no better time for a short preview and our LoL Worlds predictions! With that in mind, here is everything you need to know about the teams, structure, and betting strategies for the biggest League of Legends tournament of the season.

Additionally, we provide you with info and links about all the LoL Worlds 2020 resources you will need to safely navigate and stay on top through everything the event has to offer.

LoL Worlds 2020 Preview & Tournament Format

Worlds is happening between September 25th and October 30th 2020 in Shanghai, China. 22 teams from X different regions are set to compete for the Summoners Cup and the glory of being the best League of Legends team in the world. The Worlds Group Draw seeded all participating teams in their respective groups and the stage is set for an all out brawl toward the trophy.

The 2020 event marks the 10th anniversary of League of Legends and Worlds competition and an opportunity to crown a 7th different Worlds Champions team. A full history of Worlds and previous Worlds Champions is available here.

Worlds Play-In Stage

The Worlds 2020 Play-in stage lasts five days, kicking off on September 25th. Ten teams battle for the final four spots in the Worlds Main event. The participants have been seeded in two groups of five and will play a single robin stage before engaging in a series of best-of-five matches.

The Play-Ins Teams are divided as follows:

Several changes have been made to the tournament format for this years event. With Vietnams (VCS) teams canceling their attendance, the whole Play-In stage shifted into a format that better accommodates the remaining teams.

After completing their single round robin stage, the 1st placed team in each group advances directly to the Main Event and the last place team is eliminated. The three teams in the middle will play between each other. First up, the 4th and 3rd place team in each group will play a best-of-five series. The winner of this series will then play a best-of-five series against the 2nd place team, with the winner of that best-of-five also advancing to the main event.

You can read how the new format is actually better then before in our in-depth article.

Worlds Main Event

With the conclusion of Play-Ins all 16 teams for the group stage will be set and the Main Event can commence. At the same time, Worlds 2020 Pick’em will become available for prediction.

The teams already seeded into the Group Stage and awaiting their final participant are divided as follows:

The Main Event follows the good old tried and tested Worlds format. Four double-round robin groups each send their two best teams into the Knockout Stage. A new draw will be completed after the Group Stage to determine the Knockout stage matches. Teams coming from the same group cannot be seeded on the same side of the bracket, meaning they can only meet again in the Worlds 2020 Final.

Read also about LoL Worlds Tickets 2020

Where to watch LoL Worlds?

You can watch LoL Worlds Live at both Twitch and Youtube for both English Language broadcasts. The channels that broadcast each regional league on Twitch will also have their own localized streams in their native languages.

For China, the main broadcasting rights for Worlds 2020 were sold to Bilibili for $113M. Several days after the announcement however, Bilibili shared their Chinese media rights with Penguin Esports, DouYu, and Huya.

We can also expect a LoL Worlds Live Stream on TV at ESPN and other regional broadcasters in the later stages of the event. 

LoL Worlds 2020 Predictions

League of Legends World Championship predictions are the pride and glory of every aspiring analyst, color caster and spectator. Trying to figure out the meta and who performs well is the ultimate self-congratulatory achievement. It also provides us with valuable intel about LoL Worlds Betting and Pick’ems, but this is more of a perk then a feature.

We have scoured all available data and below we present you our selection of favorites and LoL Worlds predictions, for you to use as you see fit.

LoL Worlds Favorites

This year is all about the LPL once again. The outright Worlds favorites reflect this sentiment as we predict both JD Gaming and TOP Esports as potential Worlds Champions. If you are looking into Outright betting for the Worlds 2020 winner you can place a bet on either of these two teams. If you like to play with bigger risks and rewards you can try placing bets on DAMWON Gaming and G2 Esports for larger returns.

Place a bet on either one of these 4 contestants, and your betslips would look like this:

You can expect a return from anywhere between 27.5$ and 85$ for an outright singles bet at GG.BET

Play-Ins Favorites

The Play-Ins will need to provide us with four “winners” once everything is said and done. Based on the groups and format, we expect the following four teams to make it out of Play-Ins.

Group A: Mad Lions & Team Liquid
Group B: LGD Esports & Unicorns of Love

Our Group Draw analysis will provide you with info about why we feel these teams are fit to advance forward.

Main Event Favorites

Main event predictions are hard to make based on how strong the competition is at Worlds this year. Individual match predictions will be made in our Daily Betslip below. Meanwhile, you can select teams likely to advance out of Groups outright. Based on our analysis we come up with the following recommendations:

Group A: G2 Esports & Suning
Group B: JD Gaming & DAMWON Gaming
Group C: Fnatic & Gen.G
Group D: TOP Esports & DragonX

The odds for all these participants are extremely low as they are all heavy favorites on coming out of groups.

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LoL Worlds Daily Betslip

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LoL Worlds Betting Tips

We have already completed a complete Worlds 2020 Betting Guide with all the betting necessities at your disposal. However there are 3 essential betting tips to help you make sense of the chaos:

1. Anything Can Happen

You need to be open-minded and aware that Worlds is no longer easy to predict. Experts and analysts might be claiming that they know which team is going to take the trophy, but it’s nigh impossible to accurately gauge everyone’s power levels when there are so many variables to account for. The best way to circumvent this is to trust your own eyes. Keep tabs on the Twitch stream and try to figure out what are the strengths and weaknesses of attending teams. Finally, use this knowledge to predict how they match up against each other.

2. Pick Your Battles

There’s going to be a lot of teams at Worlds 2020. For many of them, this will be the first international event in their history. For others, the pressure might get so overwhelming that their rosters will implode from within. That’s all to say that it’s incredibly risky to gamble on untested lineups. Whether you’re dealing with a squad of promising up-and-comers or a domestic powerhouse that’s just making its international debut, things can go horribly wrong in a matter of seconds. So think twice before you bet any money on them.

3. Control Your Spending

The final tip in our 2020 LoL Worlds Predictions has to do with spending. The League of Legends World Championship is the biggest tournament in the LoL esports scene, so many punters take it as a cue to make high-stakes wagers. Yet, the principal rules of bankroll management remain the same. You never want to bet more than 5% of your gambling budget on a single matchup—otherwise, you’ll be way too susceptible to variance. And it’s only when you learn to control the swings that you will be able to make money to spend money.

LoL Worlds 2020 Resources

Here are some additional links and places on our platform that will help you in your having the best Worlds 2020 experience.

For a list of potential odds and comparison of coefficients between providers you can look at our dedicated Best Odds for Worlds 2020 section. Additionally, our LoL Worlds Power Rankings will provide you with a breakdown of all the strengths and weaknesses in each participant.

You can take a trip down memory lane with our list of Worlds Songs or get extra insight with our Wiki Section. Finally, Pick’em and Fantasy LoL are the ultimate way to spice up your Worlds viewing experience.

In the end, our daily Esports news will cover every important story happening at LoL Worlds 2020 as the event goes on!