League of Legends – Worlds 2021 Finals Preview

With the biggest match of the year upon us, it will soon be time to determine the best League of Legends team in 2021. The LCK first seed and the LPL first seed clash in a World Championship grand final for the first time, something that fans and analysts wanted to see before the tournament started. We provide a preview of what the matchup might look like.

Preferred Playstyle

Damwon Kia are known to be a more top side-focused team, usually leaving Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun on an island while Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee would roam to secure vision and make plays in the rest of the map. Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu is still the best jungler in the tournament, punishing opponents by counter-jungling, and his presence in teamfights is immense. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and Heo “ShowMaker” Su can usually get advantages on their own in the laning phase, and their usual lane priority enables Canyon to get more leads.

Damwon Kia usually have a good enough early game, but it is in the mid to later stages of the game that they shine. They set up very well around objectives, and their team fight execution is also rather good. This fact is illustrated by their game 2 win against the MAD Lions, where they came back from a huge deficit, and they started doing so by contesting Baron Nashor.

Edward Gaming, on the other hand, are quite the opposite. They usually play towards their bot lane, focusing on unleashing Tian “Meiko” Ye on the map while leaving Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun on an island. Park “Viper” Do-hyeon is also the central carry, and the team tries empowering him either through ganks from Zhoa “Jiejie” Li-jie or Lee “Scout” Ye-chan’s roams. In the LPL,they are more of a reserved team, and they take games at a slower pace than others. This doesn’t mean that they are incapable of aggression in the early stages of the game, though. In addition, they can surely outperform enemies in skirmishes.

Contested Picks

As team fighting and skirmishing top laners will be of utmost importance, Graves will be either highly contested, or may be outright banned. However, neither top laner has shown an inclination to play Kennen, so other top lane champions such as Jayce and Lucian may be prioritized.

Between the two junglers, Canyon has the bigger champion pool, and can play utility junglers such as Trundle or Poppy, and can even pilot the Qiyana. Both junglers have shown an inclination to pick Lee Sin, though, as it is the best jungle champion in this tournament. And while Jiejie has defaulted into the Jarvan IV whenever Lee Sin is unavailable, Canyon has not shown as much willingness to pick it.

If not banned, both mid laners would go for the Twisted Fate. After all, ShowMaker does have a skin of the champion. Scout has often defaulted to the Ryze, while the DK mid laner has shown a propensity to take Leblanc or Syndra. If push comes to shove, we might see either of them pick the Zoe.

Viper has shown to shine on the more team fighting-oriented bottom laners, and thus has shown greater preference for the Lucian and the Ezreal. Ghost, on the other hand, goes for the Jhin more, and has also shown to pick Ziggs if the team composition asks for it. Miss Fortune will be the most contested bottom lane pick, though.

One cannot be too sure of what Beryl will play as he has played ten champions so far at Worlds, but as enchanter supports such as Lulu and Yuumi are strong at the moment, these might be an option for him. On the EDG side, though Meiko is very proficient on enchanters, the team suffers a bit whenever he is not the main initiator. If it comes to initiating supports, Leona will for sure be a sought-after pick.

Prediction

Damwon Kia will take the match, 3-1. With how the meta is shaping up, and with their superior play around objectives, DK look like the clear favorites to win it all. EDG have had sloppy series against Royal Never Give Up and Gen G, and Damwon have prevailed over tougher opponents in the MAD Lions and in T1.

We might be witnessing the birth of a new League of Legends dynasty.