Griffin and Fnatic See Odds Plummet During Group Stage of League of Legends World Championship

• The League of Legends World Championship Group Stage in underway
• Is it the right time to capitalize on the number two seeds?
• Best bet to claim the Summoners Cup

With the first half of the Group Stage in the books, it’s time to take another look at the updated odds table and re-evaluate which teams pose the biggest threat to win it all at the League of Legends World Championship. There have been a few upsets so far in the Group Stage but for the most part it has more or less followed the script up until the halfway point.

As far as it goes in the odds table, there have been a few changes since the last time we took a look prior to the beginning of the Group Stage.  Mainly the drop off from both the LEC number two seed, Fnatic, and the Korean number two, Griffin. Is there any value on betting on either of the teams to emerge victorious when the odds are so good? Or should you stay clear of both and put your focus elsewhere?

League of Legends World Championship

*Odds taken on 10/16/19

Numbers Two’s Worth a Look?

Both of the number two seeds from arguably the top two regions in the World, have both seen their Lol World Championship odds fall substantially in the table since the beginning of the Group Stage. Griffin came in with +800 odds which have doubled, and Fnatic was sitting at +1600 before dropping off to +4000.

The reasoning behind the drop off varies for both teams. Fnatic, is in possibly the toughest group in League of Legends World Championship history. They are playing against SKT, arguably the best team in the world, and Royal Never Give Up, a team they have historically struggled against.

One of the biggest flaws in their game up to this point would have to be the fact they keep putting their star ADC, Rekkles, on mage picks. He is considered by many to be one of the best European ADC’s of all-time, and the fact they keep sticking him on non-traditional picks in the botlane is one of the biggest reasons they are siting at 1-2 thus far. If they decide second week to let Rekkles, play traditional champs he’s more comfortable with, there’s a chance they can make it out of the Group Stage.

As for Griffin, they sit with a 2-1 record right now and looked poised to come out of Group A with the number two seed. I think the reason behind their odds dropping so much in the table resides in the drama currently going on with the organization.

They made the controversial decision to let go of their head coach, who many attributed much of their success to, just days before the World Championship which left many scratching their head. Since then he, as well as a former player for Griffin, have gone public about how their organization has acted behind closed doors which has stirred up controversy in Korea and has lead to their team getting a lot of hate.

If it's at all true that Sword is being played again due to cvMax being fired then 1) that's a joke and 2) maybe cvMax was important after all.

— Thorin (@Thorin) October 15, 2019

My thinking is that Griffin, may start feeling the pressure from outside influences and their play may reflect that. Though, I never really considered them as  a real threat to win the League of Legends World Championship in the first place. I would say there’s no real value in capitalizing on either teams drop in the odds table and would advise steering clear of both Fnatic and Griffin.

A Two-Horse Race

Like I have echoed all year long, there are only two teams that I can see coming out with the World Championship and those teams are SKT and G2. They are both just in another league above all of the other top teams in the world, and it shows through the first half of the Group Stage as they are the only two teams with perfect 3-0 records.

I would expect that the unbeaten streak will continue for both teams in the back half of the Group Stage portion of Worlds, with each team maybe dropping one game tops. If somehow the two powerhouses meet up prior to the final, they might as well crown whoever wins as World Champions, because no other team in the tournament will be able to beat either in a best-of-five series.

Pick: SK Telecom T1 (+200)