Worlds 2022 Play-In Day 1 Match Predictions – Worlds are Here!

Worlds 2022 is finally here! After months of anticipation and hype, the year’s biggest tournament will hit North America.

We saw how the Groups Draw were two weeks ago, and now the event will start with the Play-in Stage. Two groups of six teams will battle it out to see who gets the privilege to continue their journey at Worlds 2022! We will cover some of the most important matches and what we can expect from them!

As always, with our predictions, we will be helping you with your LoL Worlds betting and make some sweet cash in this one month full of action! Let’s get right into it!

Fnatic vs Evil Geniuses – September 29th – 23:00 CET

Starting off, the first featured match will be the western battle between Fnatic and Evil Geniuses. The game will be crucial for both teams, especially after what went down for both.

On one hand, EG will have to play with the substitute ADC Kaori, stepping in to take Danny’s starting spot. The first already subbed in during the LCS Summer playoffs and despite playing at a reasonable level, he doesn’t seem to have unlocked his full potential yet.

On the other hand, Fnatic have lost both of their bot lane players Upset and Hylissang, as the two tested positive for Covid-19 prior to flying to NA. Upset recovered and will play on day one, while Hyli will join the team hopefully in Match number 3.

@FNCUpset: “Last game in eu soloq with a Nunu, Teemo and Janna and 2 of them had smite. I am gonna miss it”

The two roster changes for FNC, however, won’t change the way the team functions. The team will likely still play around its bot lane since Wunder has notoriously more success on weakside. FNC might benefit from the meta shift for the mid-jungle duo, as Razork is quite comfortable playing carry-style.

On EG’s side, similarly, the team will still hover around the mid and bot lane. Kaori will likely have adapted to how the team played in playoffs, but the crucial part will be on Inspired. The polish jungler was known for playing carry back in the Rogue days, and just like Razork, he might be incentivized to make it work again.

Overall, I’m expecting Evil Geniuses to take this series. I think that Fnatic’s latest issues, paired with the low amount of practice, don’t make them an attractive team to bet on LoL Worlds. Not only that, but the EU team is also not that great in Bo1, while EG have proved to be better at it. Unless major twists again, the home heroes will be the ones striking first at this year’s Worlds 2022. If you want the odds for this series, you can find the best ones here, offered by Midnite:

Winner: EG
First Blood: Fnatic
Race to 5 kills: EG
Map Duration: over 31.5
Total kills: over 24.5
First tower: EG

Loud vs Beyond Gaming – September 30th – 00:00 CET

Right after the Fnatic vs EG match, there will be a game between two minor regions: PCS representative Beyond Gaming will face the Brazilian team LOUD in their first debut match at Worlds.

LOUD was able to win the CBLOL playoffs with one of the most experienced rosters from the region. Top laner Robo has already been at Worlds and the same goes for their mid laner Tinowns, who performed brilliantly in the latest split.

The bot lane of Brance and Ceos is quite an interesting pairing, as they proved they can play various types of bot lanes with decent success. As for BYG, the team has returned to Worlds after the scandal that blew up last year about their mid laner Maoan. With a full roster of domestic talents, they are looking to redeem themselves.

BYG also play with a bot-centric style, but compared to most teams that focus the lane with junglers, it’s the mid laner Minji usually making the roams. He has the highest KP% at 78.4, which is much higher than usual.

The thing with BYG is that they have a 100% win rate if they are ahead at 15 minutes, but overall they had a negative gold and exp differential across playoffs. This suggests that they are strong at playing the mid to late game. Not only that, but if they can get an early lead, it will be almost impossible to recover.

Out of the two, I’m favoring BYG in this one. Their mid-jungle duo is underestimated for me, as HuSha was considered a must-watch jungler last year. This year, it will be no different, and I’m expecting LOUD to struggle as their macro might not be at the same level.

Winner: BYG
First Blood: LOUD
Race to 10 kills: BYG
First dragon: LOUD
First tower: BYG
Map Duration: over 32.5

DRX vs Royal Never Give Up – September 30th – 05:00 CET

Day 1 of Worlds play-ins will close with the most exciting match of the whole stage. The LPL team RNG will go up against the LCK representative DRX in what might already decide who is the number one team of Group B.

Based on the most recent performances, RNG should be favored. They have the better players on every single role, with mid and ADC being the two where the gap is close.

Jungle might be the position where the gap is the biggest, considering how Pyosik performed during playoffs. It is still unsure on who will be the starting jungler for DRX, as Juhan was much more consistent.

Nevertheless, RNG’s Wei should be ahead of both of them. In addition, the Chinese team is quite a lot more proactive compared to DRX, who will likely suffer in the early stages of the game. If the Korean team is able to hold off RNG until the late game, then there might be a chance for them to win. Otherwise, RNG will just run over DRX. Below you can find the most interesting (and likely) odds for the series:

Winner: RNG
First Blood: RNG
First Dragon: DRX
Map Duration: over 33.5
Total kills: over 24.5
First Tower: RNG

Read Also: LoL Worlds Power Rankings

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