2021 League of Legends World Championship Play-In Odds, Matches and Picks

• The 2021 League of Legends World Championship begins with the Play-In Stage
• Round 1 of the Play-Ins runs from October 5th to October 7th
• Once both rounds of the Play-In Stage are concluded, six of the ten teams will be eliminated

The highly anticipated League of Legends World Championship kicks off on October 5th, 2021 with the beginning of the Play-In Stage. The first round features 10 teams split into two groups of five. After a single round robin, the bottom team will be eliminated, the top team will advance to the group stage, and the 3 middle teams will move on to round 2 of the Play-Ins.

FunPlus Phoenix is the favorite in the League of Legends World Championship odds, but are obviously not playing in the play-in round. The team with the best LoL Worlds odds in the play-in round are LNG Esports at +2000.

2021 League of Legends World Championship Play-In Round 1 Odds

Odds as of October 2nd at Betway

Cloud9 vs Detonation FocusMe

No matter how good of a team you are, you’re always at risk of an upset. Maybe a draft didn’t go the way you wanted to, or maybe one early mistake snowballed out of control. Upsets happen, and upsets will happen during the Play-In Stage, but it’s not very easy to predict when. North American teams have been known for their fair share of letdowns during Play-In stages. They’ve also lost several high profile games to teams from teams outside of the major regions. This makes Cloud9 a team that’s interesting to bet against.

At the Mid-Season Invitational just a few months ago, Cloud9 had two best-of-one matches against Detonation FocusMe. Each team ended up walking away with a win. DFM also came close to a victory over DWG KIA at that same tournament. Detonation FocusMe is a team that’s more than capable of an upset, and they have some international experience to help make it happen in the early stages of Worlds. They’re game against Cloud9 on Tuesday October 5th presents and opportunity for some value. DFM will already be warmed up from their earlier game, and Cloud9 will be coming in nerves for their first match of the tournament.

This is by no means a guarantee as Cloud9 should be the favorites to win their group. With that said, Detonation FocusMe has already done it once, why not take a longshot bet that history could repeat itself.

Pick: Detonation FocusMe (+175)

Hanwha Life Esports vs LNG Esports

The new structure of the 2021 World Championship means that we get to see a match between the LCK and LPL in the Play-In Stage. It just so happens that both of these teams that are destined to qualify for the Group Stage, were placed into the same group in the Play-Ins. LNG Esports and Hanwha Life Esports are both the fourth seed to qualify from the LPL and LCK respectively. Both teams finished eighth in their league’s summer regular seasons, but were able to run the gauntlets to make it to the World Championship.

LNG Esports are the the -167 favorites in this matchup, and it’s difficult to argue after they picked up best-of-five wins over RNG, Top Esports, World Elite and Rare Atom in the LPL Summer Playoffs and Regionals Finals.

Both of these teams will find their way to the Group Stage eventually. For now, I’d trust the perceived strength of the LPL and stick with the favorites to win the very first match of Worlds 2021.

Pick: LNG Esports (-167)