LPL Regional Finals 2020: Final Spot for Worlds

LPL Regional Finals 2020 is about to end. Just one match remains and in this article, I will make a summary of what happened so far and what the odds are for this final dispute.

LPL Regional Finals 2020 Participants

These are the 4 participants of LPL Regional Finals 2020:

Suning

Suning is an excellent Chinese team that finished the Group Stage of LPL Summer 2020 with 12 wins and just 4 losses. That’s a win rate of 75%. In the Playoffs, they were unfortunate enough to encounter Top Esports in the Semifinals and that was their demise. However, they did win the 3^rd place match against LGD Gaming.

LGD Gaming

LGD Gaming finished the Group Stage of LPL Summer 2020 in 6^th place with a record of 10 wins and 6 losses. This team then went on to compete in the Playoffs Stage, where they won against Team WE and Invictus Gaming. In the Semifinals, they lost against JD Gaming (1 – 3). Their final match for the 3^rd place ended with another defeat against Suning (0 – 3).

Invictus Gaming

Invictus Gaming finished the Group Stage in 3^rd place with 12 wins and 4 losses, but then had a poor performance in the Playoffs and got eliminated by LGD in the Quarterfinals.

FunPlus Phoenix

And finally, we have FunPlus Phoenix, a team that achieved greatness in the 2019 season but is now a shadow of its former self. FPP finished the Group Stage of LPL Summer 2020 in 8^th place with 9 wins and 7 defeats. They did qualify for the Playoffs, but lost the very first match against Victory Five (1 – 3).

Results

LPL Regional Finals 2020 only had 4 participants at its start. These were all strong Chinese teams with a decent track record in the region. And in some cases, even globally. For instance, FunPlus Phoenix is the ongoing world champion while Invictus Gaming finished 3^rd – 4^th at the last World Championship. Add to that some powerful competitors such as Suning and LGD Gaming and you get a tier 1 regional event with some very hyped matches.

LPL Regional Finals 2020 began with Suning versus LGD Gaming. The match ended with an easy victory for Suning (3 – 0). As a result Suning qualified for Worlds 2020, where they will play in the Group Stage.

In the first round of the Lower Bracket, Invictus Gaming won against FunPlus Phoenix (3 – 2). Thanks to this victory, Invictus Gaming will have a unique chance to qualify for the Play-In Stage of Worlds 2020. But in order to get there, they will need to defeat LGD Gaming.

Lower Finals

Judging by what happened this year, I would put LGD as the favorite in this dispute. But this is going to be a tricky match, simply because Invictus Gaming is much more experienced than them at this competitive level. When it matters most, world-class competitors tend to do much better than their recent form. And that’s because they don’t succumb to the pressure.