Worlds 2020 Playoffs Stage Preview

Worlds 2020 is about to enter its Playoffs Stage. Over the next 4 days, we’ll be able to enjoy 4 incredible matches that will show us who the top 4 teams in the world are at this point. In this article, I will take a look at these matches and provide a little bit of background for each of them.

Top Esports – Fnatic

Along with DAMWON Gaming, Top Esports is probably the strongest team in the race. They are the Chinese champions and their Group Stage results speak for themselves: 5 wins – 1 loss. Interestingly enough, in spite of being considerably better than their group opponents, none of the top contenders managed to finish with a record of 6 wins and 0 losses. The best result was 5 W – 1 L. Three of the 4 group winners had that score. The other finished with only 4 wins and 2 losses. This happened in Group A, where Suning had some tough opponents to beat.

But let’s get back to this matchup. Fnatic finished the Group Stage with 4 wins and 2 losses. The fact that they managed to beat Gen.G Esports once is impressive, but Top Esports is still much stronger than Gen.G. I would put the odds for this match at 80 – 20 in favor of Top Esports. The Bo5 format makes it really hard for Fnatic to win unless they truly are stronger. And they’re not.

Suning – JD Gaming

No doubt, this will be a nice match to watch. But unfortunately, Suning finished 3^rd in the LPL while JD Gaming came very close to winning. Based on the previous results that occurred between these two teams, JD Gaming is the clear favorite. In a Bo5, Suning’s chances of winning are less than 30%.

Gen.G Esports – G2 Esports

Gen.G Esports is the 3^rd best team in South Korea. Will that be enough to ensure victory against the 2019 Worlds Finalist? It’s hard to say. Gen.G had a relatively easy group. TSM was non-existent, LGD Gaming is just the 3^rd best team in China and Fnatic didn’t have its best season, in spite of finishing 2^nd in both splits of LEC. My guess is that G2 Esports will win here. Perkz and his squad looked great during the Group Stage of Worlds 2020 and it’s hard to believe that the strongest team in Europe won’t find a way to beat the 3^rd best team in LCK.

DAMWON Gaming – DragonX

We’ve seen this matchup before because both of these competitors are from South Korea. DAMWON Gaming should easily win here. The final score will most likely be 3 – 1 in their favor. But you should also expect a 3 – 0 result. In the Grand Final of LCK 2020 Summer Playoffs, DAMWON Gaming encountered DragonX and simply walked over them.

 

Photo credit: Riot Games