LoL Worlds 2021 is coming to an end and there is only one match left to be played: the Finals. In this article, you will learn what happened so far and what you can expect from the most important League of Legends match of this season.
LoL Worlds 2021 started with a few upsets. In Play-In Round 1, LNG Esports finished ahead of Hanwha Life Esports in Group A, while DetonatioN FocusMe finished ahead of Cloud9 in Group B. In both cases, the favorite failed to do what was expected of them. And how do we know that Hanwha Life and Cloud9 were the favorites? We know this not only because of their results up until that point, but also because of their results during the LoL Worlds groups. Both C9 and Hanwha Life qualified for the Playoffs, while LNG and DetonatioN did not.
The Play-In Round 2 ended with the expected results: Hanwha Life and Cloud9 claimed their spot in the Group Stage of Worlds 2021. But this stage was very challenging for a lot of teams. Some of the groups had the most balanced results in the history of Worlds. The complete results were the following:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
No less than 3 of the 4 groups needed tiebreakers. And in Group D, the situation was absolutely unbelievable.
The Playoffs of Worlds 2021 went as expected. But because of the massive skill difference between some of the teams and their competitors, 3 of the 4 Quarterfinals finished with an anticlimactic result: 3 – 0. However, thanks to the insignificant skill difference between most of the Chinese teams and their South Korean opponents, 3 other matches (1 Quarterfinal and the 2 Semifinals) needed 5 games to conclude.
The Playoffs results of this year’s edition of LoL Worlds were the following:
This year, the LoL Worlds results have been the ones that were expected ahead of the tournament. The South Korean and Chinese teams dominated the race and the LoL Worlds Finals will be a clash between the best competitor from each of these two regions: EDward Gaming versus DAMWON Gaming. If the players from DAMWON Gaming will be the LoL Worlds winners, DAMWON will become the second team in the history of the game to win 2 consecutive LoL World Championship titles.
The Grand Final of LoL Worlds 2021 will take place on November 6th. And the favorite seems to be DAMWON Gaming. Since the 2nd part of 2020, this team has been playing better than anyone on the globe. First, it won LCK Summer 2020, crushing DragonX in the Grand Final (3 – 0). Then it defeated Suning in the Grand Final of LoL Worlds 2020. Then, in the 2021 season, it won both LCK Spring and LCK Summer. It also came close to winning Mid-Season Invitational 2021. The Grand Final was lost against RNG (2 – 3), but that was most likely a fluke.
In the Group Stage of Worlds 2021, DAMWON Gaming finished with 6 consecutive wins. And keep in mind, these were Bo1 matches, in which anything can happen. The Playoffs results were close for Khan and ShowMaker, who nearly got eliminated by a determined T1. Faker and his crew looked hungrier than ever after missing Worlds 2020. But in the end, DAMWON came back from the score of 1 – 2 and won the match.
EDward Gaming achieved something similar in the Semifinals, winning 3 – 2 against Gen.G Esports. A lot of people expected the South Korean side to win but in the end, the Chinese proved to be just a bit stronger. This result is good for the show. Otherwise, the LoL Worlds 2021 Finals would have been a purely South Korean battle.
In 2021, EDward Gaming’s results were not that impressive, apart from their win in LPL Summer. In LPL Spring, the team finished 3rd and failed to qualify for MSI. But the Summer Split was indeed a success, although not an entirely dominant one. EDG finished the Group Stage of LPL Summer 2021 in 2nd place with a record of 12 wins – 4 losses. And it was only in the Playoffs that they found a way to win. But even there, Team WE sent them to the Lower Bracket and forced them to then win 3 consecutive matches to claim the title.
The match could go the distance because both of these teams are strong. But without a doubt, DAMWON Gaming is the favorite. The only thing that fans are probably hoping for is for EDG to have a good day and avoid a 0 – 3 defeat. Such a result would be an anticlimactic end to a great tournament.