RNG vs. Unicorns of Love: MSI 2021 betting analysis

RNG and Unicorns of Love are looking to fight for first place in group A at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational when they clash on the second and third day of the group stage. 

In the unusual group A at MSI, only three teams are battling to advance further into the tournament. All three teams are aiming for top two in the group, but RNG and UoL might not be satisfied with second place. Instead, it looks like the two teams will be fighting for first place after they both took down Pentanet.GG during the first day of the event.  

This matchup won’t just be exciting because it’s a battle for first place in the group, but also because both teams played clean in their opening match against Pentanet. Even though Pentanet is considered the weakest team at the tournament by many, there is no doubt that RNG and UoL pulled off the victories because of strong play. 

For both teams, a lot of focus has been on the junglers so far. In RNG’s first game, Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei absolutely crushed the opponent on Rumble who looks to be a top-tier jungle pick at the event. Wei ended the game with a 6/1/10 record and looks to be the key to victory against UoL. 

The same goes for UoL jungler Kirill “AHaHaCiK” Skvortsov, who has been a rock for the team for the whole season. Against Pentanet, he was also the facilitator on Nidalee and created a lot of pressure all over the map. His score of 2/0/6 was clean and a statement that AHaHaCiK can most likely go toe-to-toe in the early game with Wei. 

With a lot of eyes on the jungle, it’s still no secret that RNG should be the better team in all positions on the map. With that said, the completely new meta and best-of-one format leave a lot of opportunities for upsets. Neither RNG nor UoL have really been tested yet, so complacency could potentially strike in this match. 

RNG will enter the match knowing that they should win, leaving absolutely no pressure on UoL. The underdog role isn’t something UoL is afraid of, which was proven at the 2020 World Championship where the team made it all the way to the main event. If UoL wins, it might end up as the biggest upset at the tournament but it is nowhere near impossible.  

What it takes for UoL will be an early-game lead against RNG for it to be possible to snowball a lead that even the LPL champions can’t control. It is unlikely, but the odds in a match like this speaks towards betting on the underdog. 

RNG vs. Unicorns of Love rosters

RNG roster: 

• Top – Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao
• Jungle – Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei
• Mid – Yuan “Cryin” Cheng-Wei
• Bot – Chen “GALA” Wei
• Support – Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming

Unicorns of Love roster: 

• Top – Vladislav “BOSS” Fomin
• Jungle – Kirill “AHaHaCiK” Skvortsov
• Mid – Lev “Nomanz” Yakshin
• Bot – Stanislav “Lodik” Kornelyuk
• Support – Aleksandr “SaNTaS” Lifashin

RNG highly favored against UoL at MSI 2021

It’s always hard to bet against the LPL champions but in this game it might be worth the risk. RNG will clearly have a big edge in raw skill but upsets are bound to happen at an event like MSI, even big ones. Looking at the odds, there is absolutely no value to collect on an RNG win so UoL could be the way to go. 

At Worlds last year, fans got to see PSG Talon beat JD Gaming so it’s by no means impossible that a smaller region can take down the Chinese overlords.  

A win for RNG won’t give more than odds 1.08 in this case while a big odds of 6.5 can be placed on UoL. Given the best-of-one format, it’s possible to find some value in UoL while a bet on RNG won’t give any notable profit. 

RNG and UoL will bump heads for the first time on May 7, followed up by another match on May 8.