Fnatic vs. Top Esports: Worlds 2020 betting analysis

Fnatic will take on tournament favorite Top Esports in the quarterfinals at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. 

Fnatic did a great job in the group stage by taking games from LGD Gaming, Gen.G, and Team SoloMid. The European squad almost took the top seed in the group but fell short to Gen.G on the final day. A second seed is still acceptable for Fnatic, especially considering the very unpredictable group it had emerged from. 

On the other hand, Top Esports was in a more comfortable group and was never in real danger of not making it out. The LPL champion did drop one unexpected game, falling short against FlyQuest as they did show some potential weaknesses that can be taken advantage of. Beating TES in a best-of-five series will be a whole other task, but the Chinese side doesn’t seem to be unbeatable. 

Jungle matchup is key between Fnatic and Top Esports

Going into the match, Fnatic will have to bring their absolute best game of the year. Fnatic has already shown a high level of play throughout 2020, but Top Esports will be the team’s toughest opponent so far. 

Fnatic jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek will be the most important player in this jungle-centered meta. While Selfmade is a rookie at the Worlds stage, he has been the best-performing member of Fnatic so far and he has to keep the ball rolling. His games on Graves have been world-class, while his Evelynn is something to be feared even by Top Esports. 

Going up against jungler Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan will be hard, but not impossible for the young Polish talent. Karsa has not been used to being in the carry position this year, so it might not be a role he is comfortable in. 

Just like Selfmade, Karsa has been playing a lot of Graves so far and has also had great success. The pick will probably be highly contested and may be banned out by both teams when they are on the red side. Selfmade might have a small edge when it comes to his champion pool, so attempting to ban out Karsa could be a good idea for Fnatic. Selfmade can pull out pocket picks such as Hecarim or Evelynn and still be dominant. 

Besides the jungle matchup, it’s hard to find positions on the map where Fnatic has an edge. This means that they have to perform at their absolute best and hope to catch Top Esports on the wrong foot. Fnatic can’t be afraid to take fights and will have to play aggressively to punish any mistakes made by Top Esports. Otherwise, the Chinese squad will likely dominate the series. 

Top Esports is heavily favored against Fnatic at Worlds 2020

Even though Fnatic has been performing great at Worlds 2020 so far, there is no denying that they are heavy underdogs for this quarterfinals match. Having Top Esports go out this early in the tournament would shock the world, so Fnatic will have to play their best series to stand a chance. 

A win for Top Esports won’t give more than odds 1.1, while a Fnatic win gives odds of 5.85. There isn’t much value to gather from betting on Top Esports, so this might be an opportunity to take a risk and go with the underdogs from Fnatic.

The quarterfinal between Top Esports and Fnatic kicks off on October 17.