Worlds 2020 Play-ins playoffs Elimination Round has rounded up with LGD and Papara SuperMassive winning their respective series. LGD now faces Legacy Esports and Papara SuperMassive face Unicorns of Love in the Qualification Round.
The play-ins playoffs day 1 has wrapped up and there will be two more best of five series tomorrow. The series will be between LGD vs Legacy Esports and Papara SuperMassive vs Unicorns of Love. The winner of either series will qualify for the Group Stages and keep their dream alive in Worlds 2020.
Qualification Round Series Preview
The expectations are immense for all the four teams remaining in the playoffs. Its a do or die mentality where the win put you in the Group Stages and a loss means their journey in Worlds is done. We will preview both series and our analysis of how the series should go.
Series 1: LGD Gaming vs Legacy Esports
LGD played spectacular today and got that 3-0 victory vs Rainbow7. They face Legacy Esports in a best of five series with a spot at Group Stages on the line. LGD has bounced back from their poor performance in play-ins groups and they seemed formidable today. LGD was better than Rainbow7 in every way today and it showed. Legacy Esports placed 2nd in Group A and they look like a well-coordinated team with good individual players.
Going into this series, Legacy Esports will be tested to the limit if LGD continues their level of play tomorrow. After today’s series vs Rainbow7, LGD’s gold differential per minute jumped to +160 from +17 which is a major improvement. Furthermore, it shows how much LGD has improved from 2 days ago. They looked more in control in the mid-game and kept mistakes to a minimum while punishing opponent’s mistakes.
Legacy Esports are a team that relies on team fighting prowess and using good fights to their advantage for objectives. Their mid laner, Tally, is a playmaking and team fighting mid laner who has played mostly champions like Galio and Sett mid. Babip and Raes are their key carries who look to win them games. However, their stats are not very good as their gold differential per minute and gold differential at 15 minutes rank at the bottom half. They will need to improve on that to challenge LGD.
Babip vs Peanut in the jungle looks to be the lane to watch. Both teams rely on their jungler to gain them advantages which they can use to take objectives or win fights. Based on today’s series, Peanut has played a lot of Kindred and it is expected that Kindred will be denied for LGD by Legacy. Also, we expect that Twisted Fate will also be banned because Xiye has looked incredible on that pick.
On the other side, Tally played a lot of Galio and Sett and we expect LGD to play around that to nullify those two picks. Tapoon has also played a lot of Ornn and given Ornn’s current record in the play-ins, that will be a banned champion. Legacy has to pull out some new champions in order to contest LGD in the series.
Series 2: Papara SuperMassive vs Unicorns of Love
Papara SuperMassive are coming off that 5 game series against the Mad Lions where both teams won on the blue side. It will be interesting to see how Unicorns of Love adapt to the blue side picks and bans from SuperMassive. Also SuperMassive looked dominant in the games they won with KaKao playing a huge role in those wins.
Unicorns of Love finished 3-1 in play-ins groups and lost to PSG.Talon in the tiebreaker. They are looking to securing their first Group Stage berth in the history of the CIS region. SuperMassive are an opponent they cannot underestimate and must play accordingly.
SuperMassive after their games today rose to +25 from +5 in gold differential per minute and rose to +861 from +715 in gold differential at 15 minutes. KaKao is their player to watch since he controls the early game while Snowflower is their primary playmaker in the support role.
Unicorns of Love have +34 on gold differential per minute and -346 on gold differential at 15 minutes. They are not a very early game-centric team. They rely more on team fighting prowess and unconventional pick. Keep an eye on Ahahacik as their primary playmaker with Nomanz being their main carry. The biggest wild card about the Unicorns of Love is their unconventional pick and ban phases. Hence, SuperMassive should prepare themselves for some curveballs in drafts.
From what we have seen from both teams so far, Bolulu vs NoManz could be a problem for SuperMassive. Today, Humanoid from Mad Lions exploited the matchup and expect NoManz to do no less. KaKao vs Ahahacik should be the most closest and impactful matchup of the game with both teams relying on their junglers to make some plays.
Lilia should be on the ban priority list for Unicorns of Love seeing how good KaKao was able to utilize that champion. Also, the top lane matchup should be watched carefully as either top laner winning in lane can spell disaster for the other team. SuperMassive should also be mindful of the different picks Unicorns of Love can throw at them.
Predictions:
For LGD vs Legacy Esports, we are going to predict LGD wins 3-1. After today’s performance, it is undeniable that LGD are much better in the playoffs and Legacy will need to play significantly better especially in the early game to beat LGD.
For Unicorns of Love vs Papara SuperMassive, we are going to predict Unicorns of Love goes 3-1. SuperMassive’s series against Mad Lions exposes some of their weakness which Unicorns of Love can exploit. Also, a team like Unicorns of Love who play unexpected picks and have played non-AD champions in the bot lane is something to take into account.
Meta in short:
Based on today’s series, Ornn looks to be 100% presence for Worlds going forward. Expect that to be banned for most of the games tomorrow. Also, Ashe seems to have dropped out of the meta with her win rate being disastrously low. Expect to see a fair share of Nidalee, Graves, Sett, and Camille. Twitch should be also picked a few times in these games.
