Worlds 2020 Group Stage Preview: Suning
By s. samek
Let’s take a look at Suning and their journey to the Worlds 2020.
Suning qualified for the League of Legends World Championships in 2020 after a good bit of improvement from their 2019 season. As they make their first trip to Worlds we take a closer look at how Suning got this far and what we can expect from them at Worlds 2020. They are matched up in Group A with G2, Machi, and Team Liquid, and are expected to fight for one of the top two spots and get into the knockout round.
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The Season
Suning had a rough 2019 season as they finished 10th in the Spring Split and tied for 8th in the summer. Things didn’t look to be improving in 2020, as they went 7-9 and finished in 11th place in Spring 2020.
They then made a couple changes to the roster for summer promoting Bin to full-time starter in the top lane instead of having him split time with Yu “Biubiu” Lei-Xin. The move paid off dividends.
They finished the Summer Split regular season with a 12-4 record, good for fourth place. They then won a quarterfinal match with V5, before losing to Top Esports in the semi-finals of the LPL playoffs.
After sweeping LGD in the third-place match to finish third in the Summer Split, Suning had earned 70 championship points. That was good enough to put them directly into the Regional Finals. They then swept LGD once more to get the third seed for Worlds 2020 and the automatic spot in the group stage.
The Roster
Top Lane – Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin
Bin is a rookie this season after spending time with Suning’s academy team in 2019. He showed some promise being named LPL Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week in Week 10 of the LPL Summer Split.
He is making his first trip to Worlds and at only 17 he is highly rated fourth on our list of best top laners at Worlds 2020. I would call him one of the players to keep an eye on in group A, especially against G2’s Wunder, who was rated only one spot below him at number five.
Jungle – Lê “SofM” Quang Duy
SofM also makes his Worlds debut in 2020. He had some success during the LPL Summer Playoffs winning five MVPs, which was the most of any player in the playoffs. This helped him be rated as the number five in the jungler Worlds ranking. He is another player I look forward to seeing if the success against tough LPL teams will translate to success on the Worlds stage to go along with that high ranking.
Mid Lane – Xiang “Angel” Tao
Angel has been with Suning since 2018, but last season he was briefly the team’s top laner, before switching back to mid lane this season. He rated as the number seven mid laner at Worlds on our list of the best mids at the World Championship. It should be fun to see how he matches up against Caps, the highest-rated mid laner in his group.
AD Carry – Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng
Huanfeng is another rookie who spent time with Invictus Gaming’s Academy team in 2019. He earned the LPL Rookie of the month award for July and was the number five ADC in our Worlds ranking. He’s got some serious potential and should be fun to watch to see how well he does during his first trip to Worlds.
Support – Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh
On a squad full of rookies, this is SwordArt’ s sixth trip to the World Championship. His highest finish at Worlds was a quarterfinals spot and he did that twice during Season 3 and Season 5. He was rated number seven in our Worlds support ranking.
Next. Pros offer valuable insight to add to broadcasts. dark
90/50/10 Predictions
90% odds that…They get out of groups. Suning has a pretty easy group, and they are favorites to advance in one of the top two spots.
G2 looks to be their main challenger, but I feel like an on-fire Team Liquid, or maybe even Machi if underrated could knock this team out in the group stage. Even if Suning doesn’t seem to be as good as a team as the top two LPL seeds. I don’t think they are weak by any means and they have earned their favorite status.
50% odds that…They see an LPL team in the knockout stage. Each group stage group has an LPL team in it and most have been named favorites to advance out of their group. If each LPL team makes it out including Suning they have a 50% chance to see one of them in the knockout stage. So, if you’re a fan of LPL rematches you just may see one here.
10% odds that…They win the World Championship. I feel like Suning isn’t a direct favorite to win like DragonX, G2, Damwon, or Top Esports is, but I don’t feel like it would be a surprise if they did win it all. They seem to have a dark horse type vibe to them, where they can hang with any team in the tournament and it’s not an outrageous pick to suggest a possible Worlds win for them.