Can Unicorns of Love win the League of Legends World Championship?

We continue to break down why each team can, or cannot win the League of Legends World Championship, now moving on to the Unicorns of Love.

The Unicorns of Love (UOL) are back and finally at the League of Legends World Championship.  Let’s discuss some reasons as to why this team has what it takes to win a championship, or why they won’t win it all.

Why the Unicorns of Love will win Worlds

1. Best in Russia

The new-look UOL comes to us from the CIS region and LCL, where they wasted no time in winning their first split in the league. They finished 12-2 and in second place in the summer regular split then took out Elements and Vega Squadron to take the LCL championship.

More from International Tournaments

• 2023 League of Legends Worlds Finals Preview
• 2023 League of Legends Worlds Quarterfinals Bilibili Gaming vs Gen.G
• 2023 League of Legends Worlds Quarterfinals Weibo vs. NRG Recap
• Worlds 2023 Swiss Round Three Preview
• League of Legends 2023 World Championships Storylines to Watch

Now despite the LCL not being the strongest region, I don’t think it cheapens the win.

UOL defeated Vega Squadron the team that represented the LCL at 2019 MSI in the finals. This was after Vega knocked Gambit out from the playoffs, a team UOL tied with for the best record in the summer split. Gambit was also last season’s world representative for LCL and took Cloud9 to five games in the play-ins knockout round.

UOL isn’t a team that didn’t have to take on the best in their new region. They embraced the challenges of a new region and won it outright.

Being a regional champion should give you an edge at worlds as hey if you can beat one region why not try to beat them all?

2. Edward

One of the key players for UOL is support Edward “Edward” Abgaryan.  He is one of the foremost veterans to ever play this game since he started in 2011 with Team Empire. Edward brings Worlds experience as well.

During Season 2 he was a part of the Moscow 5 team that lost in the semi-finals to the Taipei Assassins. He then made worlds in 2017 and 2018 both with Gambit. In 2017 they didn’t make it out of the play-in groups, while in 2018 Gambit made it to the play-in knockout stage before falling to Cloud9 three games to two.

I feel like having that veteran presence will help this team. With a good bit of teams having to adjust to the World’s stage for the first time, it’s good to have some experience to help ease your way into the tournament. Edward brings that for UOL.

He also spent a brief time this year coaching in Europe, so who knows what information he can pass along to UOL about the European teams to help with preparation for some of the tournament favorites.

3. The next Albus NoX Luna

Probably one of the most well-known league underdog stories is that of Albus NoX Luna. This team made an unlikely run to the quarterfinals of the World Championship in 2016.

That year they won the LCL Summer Split playoffs to get a chance at Worlds. They then beat Lyon Gaming in the International Wildcard qualifier bracket stage to then advance to the Worlds group stage.

In groups, they finished at 4-2 and in the second spot behind ROX Tigers and ahead of CLG and G2. Unfortunately, the dream run ended at the hands of H2K in a 3-0 sweep, but the point still stands. If a team from this region was able to make a run like this, why can’t UOL?

Why UOL Won’t win

1. Bad match-ups in the knockout stage

UOL tends to be pegged as the second-best team in their group. While finishing second would advance them to the knockout stage of the play-ins, it would probably mean they would have to face a top finisher from groups, most likely Damwon, Splyce, or Hong Kong Attitude. They may have a chance against the latter two teams, but they still would be the underdog, and if it’s Damwon I would say they would need a miracle to survive.

2. Region struggles

Yes, Albus NoX had a great run in 2016. Yet after that, there hasn’t been too much success for the LCL in the Worlds bracket.

Gambit represented the region at the past two worlds and failed to get out of play-ins both times. They even went winless in their play-in group stage in 2017.

Granted UOL finished better than Gambit and is a new team maybe they can represent the region better. I don’t think they will do worse, but who knows if they will do any better. The LCL isn’t n any regions to watch list, but there hasn’t been any reason too.

3. Not enough talent

UOL was rated as the 16th best team at worlds in our rankings. this isn’t bad, but you’re only better than eight other teams. Although they are rated better than pretty much every play-in team other than Splyce, Clutch, and Damwon, this means if they play up to that rating they should get into groups and then lose.

It shows they have some talent to battle with lower, or similar rated teams, but what’s going to happen against higher-rated teams? Can any of the UOL laners stand up to the talents of G2, Fnatic, SKT, or RNG?  I don’t think they can.

UOL lacks a true world-caliber talent to lead them the whole way home. It’s going to be this lack of talent that ends their run early.

UOL could be the dark horse, or unicorn of this years worlds. It  just depends on a little bit of luck and a couple of upsets. Yet if they can pull off an Albus NoX Luna 2016 run I won’t be entirely surprised.