League of Legends:2021 Worlds Groups Announced

League of Legends World Championship Groups Announced for play-in stage and first group stage.

The League of Legends World Championship is rapidly approaching.  In light of this today we received the pairings for the group stage and Play-in stage.  Let’s take look at the groups and break them down a little bit.

Starting with the play-ins groups where there are two groups of five. Group A is Hanwa Life, Infinity Esports, LNG,Peace and Red Canids.

Hanwa Life is the fourth seed out of the LCK, while LNG is the forth team from the LPL. They have to be early favorites to get out of this group and even into the main event. Infinity won the LLA and are going to their second international League of Legends tournament of 2021.  Peace won the LCO 2021 Split 2 after finishing second during Split one.  Red Canids won the CBLOL title to earn a spot at Worlds for the first time.

Group B is Cloud9, DetonatioN FocusMe, Beyond Gaming, Unicorns of Love and Galatasaray Esports.  Cloud9 finished as NA’s third seed after going to MSI this season after winning a spring title. DFM makes another trip to Words having last been here in 2019. Beyond Gaming is the second team from the PCS,also making their first trip to Worlds. Then we have the return of Unicorns of Love as champions of the CIS. Galatasaray is making their Worlds debut in 2021 as well.  I would say that Cloud9 and UOL should be the favorites to advance out of this group to the main draw.

Group A of the main stage is DWG Kia, FunPlus Phoenix, Rouge and a play-in team. This is a pretty high powered group. The last two League of Legends World champions in DWG Kia and FunPlus Phoenix highlight this group. Rouge was the third team from the LEC and was given an automatic spot in the group stage due to the VCS not being able to participle.

Group B is 100 Thieves, Edward Gaming, T1 and a play-in team.  This group features the LPL summer champion, the LCS summer champions and T1. Through T1 may only be a three-seed they should be hungry to keep adding to their trophy case which includes the most worlds titles.

Group C is Fnatic, PSG Talon,Royal Never Give Up and a play-in team.  2021 MSI champions RNG highlight a group with the LEC’s second seed and the PCS’s best squad in PSG Talon. Look for Fnatic and PSG Talon to battle for the second spot out, behind RNG. Cloud9 could also fight for that spot if placed in this group. I could also see Hanwa Life making a run in this group as well.

Group D is Team Liquid, Gen.G,MAD Lions and a play-in team. From a seeding standpoint Mad Lions has an advantage as a one seed, coming in against a pair of two seeds in Team Liquid and Gen.G. Though this group could get a lot harder if LNG joins this group from the play-ins.  Through the top four regions each having a team in this group would be competitive and fun.

I think overall the groups look pretty competitive. It’ should be fun to watch when the action gets started in a couple weeks.