League of Legends European Masters 2019 Odds & Preview: LDLC Favored

• The fourth season of the European Masters begins on September 9th
• The tournament is comprised of the best 20 teams competing across European Regional Leagues
• The French team of LDLC enter as the pre-tournament favorites after winning La Ligue Francaise 2019

The 2019 Summer League of Legends European Masters begins on September 9th. Along with regional pride, the 20 teams are competing for a €150,000 prize pool. LDLC are the early favorites to win this iteration of EU Masters after they stomped their way to winning LFL Summer.

Odds of Winning EU Masters Summer 2019

Odds taken 08/09/19.

Representing France

LDLC made it known that they are the best team in France after dominating their regional league, La Ligue Francaise. The team is coached by European legend YellowStar and the roster has multiple members with experience playing in the LEC, or formerly the EU LCS. Eika, Djoko and Steeelback have all played professionally for a number of years giving them an immediate experience advantage over teams that have only played in the regional leagues.

In the LFL, LDLC cruised through the regular season and finished with a 12-2 record. That put them straight into the finals where they clean swept Vitality.Bee 3-0.

La Ligue Francaise is one of the stronger regional leagues in Europe and LDLC made quick and easy work of it. The only teams they lost to during the regular season were Misfits Premier and Gamers Origin.

Neither of which qualified for the EU Masters tournament. The only other french team taking part is Vitality.Bee but they still have to take part in the Summer Play-In to qualify for the Main Event. Three out of seven teams competing in the Play-Ins will advance to the next round.

Other Top Contenders

Right behind LDLC in the odds are Giants, mousesports, and BIG. Just like LDLC, Giants had a stranglehold of their regional league, SuperLiga Orange, and finished first in the regular season at 14-4. In the finals however, Giants were pushed to the brink by OrigenBCN.

Giants did hold on to win it all in game 5, but they were challenged much more than LDLC was in the LFL. That’s not necessarily a negative as competing in a nail-biting best-of-five could better prepare Giants for some of the stressful moments to come in EU Masters. This team doesn’t have players with LEC experience so tense moments like do-or-die game fives are huge for their young carries in Deadly and Milica.

BIG and mousesports are no strangers to one another as they duked it out in the Premier Tour 2019 Summer. These two teams met in the grand finals with mousesports earning their spot to EU Masters with a convincing game 5 victory.

Since they did not win their regional league, BIG still has to qualify for the Main Event just like Vitality.Bee, but they are still one of the favorites to win despite that. The Premier Tour is the regional league of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and it’s one of the toughest leagues in Europe. So even though BIG aren’t the number one team from the Premier Tour, they’re still a dangerous group to watch out for.

The UK Challengers

Two teams coming from the UK League Championship offer some great value. Fnatic Rising and Excel UK were far and away the top two teams in their region. After splitting results in the regular season, Fnatic Rising got the eventual edge over Excel with a 3-1 win in the finals.

Their mid laner, MagiFelix, also got some playing time with the main Fnatic roster in the LEC this split and he’s one of the most hyped up players currently not starting in the LEC.

Excel on the other hand have way worse odds despite being one best-of-five away from winning their regional league. Of course, they too still have to qualify for the main event but they should be able to be one of the three qualifiers with their team full of LEC veterans.

Pick: LDLC (+165)