i-League 2021 Season 2 Playoffs Predictions

i-League 2021 Season 2 is resuming today and only 6 teams are left in the race. Two of them are playing in the Upper Bracket while the other 4, in the Lower Bracket. Every match is Bo3 until we reach the Grand Final. The reason why this tournament is significant is that 4 of the 6 teams will participate at The International 10.

i-League 2021 Season 2 Partial Results

i-League 2021 Season 2 started with a Group Stage followed by two Upper Bracket rounds before reaching its current state. The standings after the Group Stage were the following:

• 1^st place: Team Aster: 5 W – 1 L
• 2^nd place: Royal Never Give Up: 4 W – 2 L
• 3^rd place: Elephant: 4 W – 2 L
• 4^th place: Vici Gaming: 3 W – 3 L
• 5^th place: Team MagMa: 2 W – 4 L
• 6^th place: Invictus Gaming: 2 W – 4 L
• 7^th place: Aster.Aries: 1 W – 5 L

The bottom team was eliminated after the first stage. The top two teams advanced to the second round of the Upper Bracket. The remaining 4 teams advanced to the first round of the Upper Bracket. In these two rounds, Invictus Gaming defeated Elephant (2 – 0), Vici Gaming defeated MagMa (2 – 0), Aster then defeated Invictus Gaming (2 – 1), and Vici Gaming defeated RNG (2 – 1).

i-League 2021 Season 2 Predictions

The next 3 matches of i-League 2021 Season 2 are the following:

Team Aster versus Vici Gaming

These two teams meet each other frequently but the results favor neither of them. In the Group Stage of this event, Aster won (2 – 1). But the match before that, Vici Gaming won (2 – 0). Prior to this Vici Gaming victory, the teams encountered each other in the Grand Final of i-League 2021 Season 1. That match was won decisively by Aster (3 – 0). So it’s very hard to anticipate who will win. Based on what we’ve seen so far at i-League 2021 Season 2, Aster seems to be the favorite. But only by a little.

Invictus Gaming versus Team MagMa

Invictus Gaming is a much stronger competitor than MagMa. The team did struggle in the Group Stage, but then crushed Elephant in the Playoffs and came close to beating even the winner of stage 1, Team Aster.

The only problem here is that MagMa understands IG’s playstyle very well. Even though Kaka’s team is better overall at the regional and global level, in the direct confrontations MagMa often wins. This happened in the last two matches, including the one from the Group Stage of this tournament. However, it’s a bit far-fetched to believe that MagMa will win for the 3^rd consecutive time against IG. The most likely result here is 2 – 1 in favor of Invictus Gaming.

RNG versus Elephant

RNG and Elephant fought each other 5 times in 2021. RNG won 3 of the matches with a score of 2 – 0 while Elephant won the other 2 with a score of 2 – 1. Overall, RNG seems to have a slight advantage in direct confrontations. Furthermore, in the Group Stage of this tournament, the winner was RNG.

 

Photo credit: Valve