Worlds 2020 Play-In Team Breakdown: LLA’s Rainbow7
By Josh Tyler
We look at Latin America’s Rainbow7, their path to Worlds 2020, and how they might fare in the play-in stage.
We’re only one week away from the start of Worlds 2020, which begins on September 25 with the first matches of the play-in stage. For those unfamiliar with the play-in teams, today we will take a deep dive into one of the members of Group B, Rainbow7.
The Summer Split champions of Latin America’s LLA, the team has already been warming themselves to fans in North America and thanks to their play on the Chinese solo queue ladder. Now that they’ve made it to Worlds 2020, let’s take a look at who they are, how they got here, and how far they might go.
The Season
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It’s been a strong season across the board for Rainbow7. They finished second in the LLA’s 2020 Opening Season (their “Spring Split”), finishing with an overall record of 13-5. In the playoffs, however, they were upset in the second round by Isurus Gaming, the fourth seed in the regular season, and finished in third place.
During the Closing Season, it looked like Rainbow7 hadn’t gotten over that playoff loss as they limped into the playoffs with a 10-8 record, including a 2-2 mark in the second phase of the season where the standings are whittled down to the final two teams. With the dominant All Knights riding high and Isurus surging in the second phase of the season, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Rainbow7 would again bow out before the finals.
In fact, Rainbow7 nearly lost in the first round against AzulesEsports, needing a fifth game to close out the LLA’s third seed. In a rematch against Isurus in the second round, Rainbow7 prevailed in four games. That brought them to the finals and a meeting with the All Knights, the best team in the LLA throughout the year. After losing the first two games, Rainbow7 pulled off the reverse sweep to take down the All Knights and win the LLA championship.
The Roster
Top Lane – Emmanuel “Acce” Juárez
A veteran top laner who has been in the LLA since 2016, Acce is making his international debut here with Rainbow7. His champion pool is very heavily reliant on his main champion, Aatrox, who he picked as recently as the first round of the playoffs despite the pick having fallen out of the meta. Outside of that, he has some strong showings on Shen and Ornn.
Jungle – Brandon Joel “Josedeodo” Villegas
Maybe the biggest “star” of the pre-Worlds bootcamp, Josedeodo made waves for being among the first players to make Master tier on the Chinese super server. His champion pool is quite diverse, with lots of Graves and Lillia, but also some Trundle, Sett, and Volibear. His most-played champion, though, is Lee Sin.
Mid – Tomás “Aloned” Díaz Valiente
Another player making his international debut, Aloned is much younger than his two teammates at only 20 years old. However, he hasn’t exactly been one of the stronger mid laners even in LLA, which is concerning for his performance at Worlds 2020. That said, his champion pool is quite exciting with plenty of Zoe and Akali games under his belt.
ADC – Francisco Rubén “Leza” Jara Barragán
Leza is actually an interesting player because he switched roles midway through the season, moving from mid lane to the bot lane. Impressively, he’s managed to pick up most of the meta picks (particularly Ashe, who he has the most games on overall) and not had to rely on mid lane picks in the bot lane. Unfortunately, his performance in the new role has been shaky at the best of times and I don’t expect that will improve on the world stage.
Support – Facundo “Shadow” Cuello
Not to be confused with the MAD Lions’ jungler Shad0w, this Shadow has probably been Rainbow7’s best player this year, outperforming even Josedeodo. He’s been particularly dominant as a laner on engage picks like Nautilus, but he has also shown that he can play enchanters like Karma quite well.
20 champions that dominate pro play but suck in solo queue. dark. Next
90/50/10 Predictions
90% odds that…Acce pulls out his Aatrox in at least one game and pops off on the pick. It’s always the one they don’t expect that gets ’em.
50% odds that…Josedeodo plays himself into a roster spot on an LCS or Academy team in 2021. I hope that the young support Shadow also gets some consideration.
10% odds that…Rainbow7 is not the last-place team in Group B. Sorry but, I don’t really see a world where this team manages to win more than two games and even that could be considered an over-performance for them.