JD Gaming vs. Victory Five: Demacia Cup 2020 betting analysis

It looks to be a true David vs. Goliath match when Victory Five takes on JD Gaming in the Demacia Cup 2020 quarterfinals. 

All four Worlds 2020 representatives from the LPL are set to appear on the playoffs stage of the Demacia Cup 2020. For V5, this means that they will run into JDG after playing a solid group stage. Even though V5 looked hot during groups, this best-of-five match will be a whole different affair from anything they’ve seen. Taking on Guo “ppgod” Peng and the crew is JDG.

V5 managed to make a perfect run in group C, where they went 4-0 after beating eStar Gaming, Young Miracles, TT, and LYA. On paper, this was probably one of the easiest groups V5 could have hoped for and they took advantage of it. V5 showed that it should still be considered a solid LPL team and will now look for its first trophy.  

The former LPL champions haven’t played an official match since the 2020 World Championship, where they got knocked out by Suning in the quarterfinals. The result at Worlds wasn’t as good as many fans had hoped for, but JDG still looked like a very serious contender.

For the 2021 season, JDG has made some solid upgrades to the roster by adding former Team WE duo Su “xiye” Han-Wei and Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun to the mid and bot lanes, respectively. Only xiye will be available for play during the Demacia Cup, so he might debut against V5. 

The most anticipated matchup in this quarterfinals will likely be down in the bot lane, where fan-favorite ppgod and JDG support Zuo “LvMao” Ming-Hao will come face to face. Both players are known for their aggressive playstyle, which could result in some big fights. It’s expected to see both supports on heavy engage champions that can set up their team for success. This quarterfinal could turn into a bloodbath, so don’t miss out on it. 

JDG is expected to knock out Victory Five of Demacia Cup

Because of their recent performances in the LPL and at Worlds, JDG is the obvious favorite in this best-of-five quarterfinal. With that said, V5 has always been a wildcard in the LPL and knows how to pull off an upset. Fans saw that even JDG can be shaky under pressure at Worlds, so V5 might try to exploit that. 

The bookmakers are still fairly confident that JDG will take home the victory since a win for JDG gives odds 1.41, compared to V5 giving 2.68 odds. A case can be made that the return on a JDG bet is strong enough to consider, but one can never feel too confident when betting against V5. 

The quarterfinal between JD Gaming and Victory Five is played on December 25.