The best Worlds 2020 Pick Em predictions

William Davis Published 30/09/2020

This article covers the Worlds 2020 group stage. If you’re looking for Pick Em predictions for Worlds quarterfinals and playoffs, you can find them here!

Now that Play-Ins are done, it’s time to get excited for the 2020 World Championship main event.

This year, the rewards are not as interesting as the ones players available 2019. The player that earns the most points in the event will receive a Pick’em Poro Prophet Icon, and nothing else. Regardless of the underwhelming rewards, Pick’ems is the best opportunity for players to show their knowledge about League of Legends esports.

There are some familiar faces in the main event, but it’s also full of fresh faces and first-timers. Many of these players have never played at an international event, so viewers might not be familiar with their names.

WIN.gg has got you covered, and will guide you through the Worlds 2020 main event Pick’ems.

G2 Esports gets an easy ride in 2020 World Championships

G2 Esports
Team Liquid
Suning
Machi Esports

Group A is looking like the group of a lifetime for G2 Esports. Out of the LPL teams competing in the event, Suning should be the easiest opponent for them. This is a team that lacks the star power of the other squads, although they are pretty consistent.

In group A, consistency might be the name of the game. G2 is known for having weak early games and losing sight of the goal in the late game. Those tendencies can be easily exploited, but that’s not reason enough to discard G2 as the top team in group A.

Team Liquid has a real chance to make it out of groups. In play-ins, Liquid showed a consistent and dominant performance that took everyone by surprise. As long as Liquid gets a draft easy to execute, the North American team should be able to get enough wins to advance.

If there’s one team that might go above the expectations is Machi Esports from the PCS. In Play-Ins, PSG Talon surprised everyone with a dominant performance despite playing with mostly substitute players. If PSG’s performance is any indication of Machi’s level, the teams in the main event are in for a surprise.

Better jungle will win Group B

JD Gaming
DAMWON Gaming
Rogue
PSG Talon

The meta favors hyper carry junglers and group B has the best junglers in the tournament. Considering the teams in this group and the style they play, it would be silly not to predict JD Gaming as the top team. Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok is the best jungler in the world right now. He singly-handedly carried JDG to victory on several occasions and is likely to do the same at Worlds.

DAMWON Gaming is looking like the team that will put the LCK back on the radar. DAMWON changed its style after the Mid-Season Cup where it faced the LPL squads. DAMWON is an oddity in the LCK because the team likes to fight and is not afraid of going for the high-paced games. DAMWON can accelerate but also play slow. It dominates the laning phase and can go for the aggressive skirmishes if necessary.

Rogue has a fighting chance. But being realistic, it won’t make it far in the tournament. The European team can throw some punches, but it’ll need more than that to take down DAMWON and JDG. It’s a battle of David and Goliath for Rogue.

PSG Talon defied the odds and secured the first place in the group stage. The PCS team is playing with mostly substitutes and yet, managed to come out on top. Unfortunately, PSG got seeded into the hardest group in the event and it will need more than luck to survive the group of death.

Group C is the battle of the legacies

Gen.G
Fnatic
TSM
LGD Gaming

Fnatic, Gen.G, LGD Gaming, and Team SoloMid are some of the most notable brands in esports and all of them have something to prove at Worlds. Fnatic has lost three consecutive LEC finals against G2, TSM had to re-acquire its 2017 roster to have a fighting chance of making Worlds, and Gen.G hasn’t won anything since its rebranding.

Every group has a clear narrative and for group C, it’s the battle of the bottom lanes. Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk, and Martin “Rekkles” Larsson are three names that need no introduction. There have to be thousands of highlight reels with crazy plays by these players. While their teams don’t play a bottom-lane-focused style, their performance will set their team apart from the competition.

LGD Gaming joins group C after a shaky play-in run. Despite the solid performances in the best-of-five series, LGD is still not on the same level as the teams in this group. Since the team already proved to be bad in best-of-ones, it would be a surprise if LGD manages to get more than one victory in this group.

Based on domestic performances and the look of the meta to this point, Gen.G and Fnatic are looking like the safest picks for group C.

TOP Esports the undisputed king in group D

TOP Esports
DRX
Unicorns of Love
FlyQuest

Group D will be decided by mid lane differences and TOP Esports just happens to have the best mid laner in the tournament. Unfortunately for the other teams in the group, TES also has one of the best ADC in Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo along with solid players in every other role. TES is the team to beat in group D and the clear pick for number one.

Going down the list, things start to get interesting. DRX might be a safe pick for second place, but its inconsistency might get the team eliminated from the event early. When DRX plays well, it’s the best team in the world. But when it doesn’t, things start to get sad for DRX fans. Like group A, the second place in group D will be decided by the consistency of the teams.

If FlyQuest has something playing in its favor it’s the stability of its roster. FlyQuest might not be a flashy squad, but it knows how to play a steady game with little to no mistakes. For his first Worlds appearance, top laner Colin “Solo” Earnest is going up against some merciless opponents. Targeting Solo is a strategy that worked for teams in the LCS and it might be go-to strategy for teams in group D.

Unicorns of Love finally made it to main event after four tries. UoL comes out of groups looking like the team that can upset any group, and that might be the case in group D. DRX and FlyQuest are both volatile squads that cannot underestimate UoL. If everything goes according to plan, however, Unicorns of Love can only aspire to get third place at best.

Group Stage Pick’em will be available between September 30 at 4 PM, PT and October 2 at 11 PM, PT.

William Davis

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