Four teams remain at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. G2 Esports and DAMWON Gaming will clash in the first of two semifinals matches.
The semifinal looks to be tough for both parties but as the tournament favorites, DAMWON is expected to take home the win. DAMWON went through the group stage smoothly, absorbing only one loss to China's JD Gaming. They played even more convincingly in their quarterfinals match against one of domestic rivals DragonX. The two teams already met in the LCK summer finals, where DAMWON took the victory 3-0 without a problem. History repeated itself in the Worlds quarterfinals, solidifying DAMWON as the best team in Korea by a wide margin.
G2 had a shakier group stage but managed to improve drastically for the quarterfinals. As the second seed from Group A, G2 clashed with LCK third seed Gen.G in the quarterfinals and they managed to handle them without much trouble. G2 has historically done well against Korean teams in recent years and their match against Gen.G proved that once again. Mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther had a world-class performance, particularly with his Sylas. G2 looks like a team that could once again challenge for the Summoner's Cup but will have to get past a scary-looking DAMWON squad.
Perkz, Mikyx are key players for G2 Esports
DAMWON and G2 have a lot of similarities in their playstyles, so the match could be decided by who happens to be sharper on the day of. DAMWON has an advantage because they have been looking more dominant throughout the year, but underestimating a squad like G2 is never wise.
G2 is one of the most experienced teams on the international stage, winning the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational and going all the way to the Worlds 2019 finals. Even though G2 lost the final convincingly to FunPlus Phoenix, that experience will still serve them well on LoL's brightest stage.
DAMWON is a younger squad, but also one that is considered stronger on paper, especially in the laning phase. With Heo “ShowMaker” Su in the mid lane and Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon up top, G2 will have to get up early to match the individual skills of DAMWON. Assisted by jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, DAMWON can make some scary plays happen at all times during a game and they are ready to punish their opponents instantly. DAMWON’s bot lane is often overlooked, but has always been a rock for the team. This means that the G2 bot lane of Luka “Perkz” Perković and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle will have to bring their A-game just to keep the game at an even state.
DAMWON favored to knock out G2 at Worlds 2020
The semifinal against DAMWON and G2 is shaping up to be very exciting, but the bookmakers are heavily favoring the LCK champions. A DAMWON win carries 1.38 odds, while a win for G2 stands at 2.8.
The odds might be in favor of DAMWON, but it could also pay off big to gamble on G2 to make another deep run at Worlds. G2 is always the wild card at a tournament like this and will without a doubt bring chaos to Summoner’s Rift.
