League of Legends World Championships Semifinals Odds & Predictions

• The League of Legends World Championship Semifinals take place on October 2nd and 3rd
• The last remaining European team of G2 Esports are still underdogs to SK Telecom T1 despite beating DAMWON Gaming
• The other semifinal features a match-up of two teams from the LPL

Four teams remain in the hunt for the Summoner’s Cup. The 2019 League of Legends World Championships head into the semifinals on October 2nd and 3rd, where two teams will advance to the finals.

Invictus Gaming vs. FunPlus Phoenix Odds

*All odds taken October 28, 2019

A Chance to Represent China

The first semifinal is bittersweet for China. With Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix facing off, the LPL is guaranteed to have a team in the finals. However, one of these Chinese teams will have their dreams end in the quarterfinals.

FunPlus Phoenix have finally lived up to their pre-Worlds expectations. Super Carry Doinb was a force in the mid lane and made a strong bid for being the best Ryze player in the World.

FPX showed a variety of strengths in their 3-1 win over Fnatic. At times, Doinb took over but in other instances, FPX excelled through the bot lane and getting LWX ahead. The most shocking development of the series was Tian completely shutting down Broxah. FPX had a huge jungle advantage and they should be able to push that over Invictus Gaming.

An FPX vs IG semifinals feels surreal.

LPL Summer champion
vs
LPL Spring Champion and World Champion

The only team to defeat FPX in a best of in Summer

(and former Young Miracles junglers facing off against eachother on the biggest stage)

— Barento (@RazLPL) October 28, 2019

Invictus was considered the underdog against Griffin however iG advanced with a convincing 3-1 win. The solo laners of iG often get a lot of praise and rarely need too much assistance from their jungler. JackeyLove was a huge performer in their match against Griffin as he showed the ability to excel on hyper-scaling team fighting champions.

During LPL Summer, despite being the lower seed, Invictus actually beat FPX in a close 2-1 set. This series will be explosive and there should be a lot of early kills and tower dives. I expect Invictus to once again prevail and get back to the finals.

Pick: Invictus Gaming (-160), Under 4.5 (-235)

G2 Esports vs. SK Telecom T1 Odds

The Last Hopes for Korea and Europe

Although the quarterfinals saw the fall of Splyce and Fnatic, G2 Esports kept Europe’s dreams alive. It was a fairly confident showing from G2 as Perkz and Caps led the way to a 3-1 win over DAMWON Gaming. G2’s victory came off the back of some spectacular map play that saw Caps and Jankos roam constantly and effect the side lanes.

The only real weakness of G2 was their occasional over-confidence. But that confidence also gives them the courage to make plays that catch opposing teams off-guard. Although they apparently struggled in scrims leading up to the quarterfinals, they always seem to show up on stage.

We won as many games vs Damwon today as over the entirety of worlds during scrims combined. 🙂

The faithful were rewarded. @T1LoL is next huh?
Meeting them in semifinals is a tradition I can live with.

— Fabian 'GrabbZ' Lohmann (@G2GrabbZ) October 27, 2019

Against SKT, G2’s chances of winning depend on if Caps will be able to exert the same amount of map pressure. It’ll be no doubt difficult to mimic what he did to DAMWON against SKT. For the number one Korean seed, Faker didn’t look like the massive playmaker that he’s expected to be. Splyce pushed them harder than expected and made SKT look beatable.

G2 is a much tougher test than Splyce as they have a much wider array of champions and play styles. Back at the Mid-Season Invitational, G2 got the better of SKT 3-2. Ever since then, SK Telecom has been hoping for revenge and they’ll have their chance in the Worlds semifinals. Once again, I think that G2 will edge out SKT and it’ll take everything they have to do so.

Pick: G2 Esports (+130), Over 4.5 (+160)