With the Group Stage now behind us, our attention now turns to the Knockout Stages and with them, the introduction of the best-of-five format. Only China, South-Korea, and Europe made it out of Groups, with just eight sides in total managing to make it out.
In this week’s preview, we’ll focus on the two European countries taking part still in Worlds. With G2 Esports playing Gen.G and Fnatic facing off against TOP Esports.
Fnatic v TOP Esports
With only China, Korea, and Europe in the Knockout Stage, it wasn’t going to be easy for any team, especially without any major shocks in the Group Stage.TES went 5-1 in their group, with just a shock loss to FlyQuest preventing the perfect record. The loss to FlyQuest, however, will give Fnatic and their fans hope that TES is not unbeatable, so for their sake let’s hope they analyzed that loss with great detail. TES will be favourites to win the entire event, let alone this series. We have them at 2/17 to win the series.
On the Fnatic side, they showed some great gameplay in Groups, though the FNC of old, both good and bad did show through in games. Victory against Gen.G in week one was a major moment for Fnatic, however, they were unable to beat Gen.G in either of their second round of matches. TES does offer up a different challenge, though Fnatic has proven at Worlds 2020 that they are capable of overturning the big sides on their day. Despite that, they’re at 19/4 to win the series, though given that it’s the first time either side has played a best-of-five since playoffs anything could happen.
Gen.G v G2 Esports
With a steller 5-1 record in groups, only a defeat to Fnatic made them not make it out of Groups with a perfect record. Gen.G (4/5) is probably not the favourite here, especially given that it will be LCK third seed v LEC first seed. Gen.G looked like a solid team in their Group Stage, though the loss to Fnatic (albeit in a best-of-one) shows a weakness in the armour of the LCK hopefuls. Equally, they’ll see G2’s less than stellar performances in Groups as a sign of weakness from the LEC side. G2, based on the past form, is probably still the favourite on the lower side of the bracket.
G2 (20/21) had a decent showing in their group, despite two losses to Suning they showed that they are definitely deserving of a spot in the Knockouts. The big question will still remain: can G2 show the form of Summer playoffs or will their regular-season form spoil the party. Gen.G is, however, probably the draw and side of the bracket G2 and their fans would have wished for. They’ll have many chances to get good games under their belts before they head to the Grand Finals. With their likely opposition to be an LPL side yet again, G2 will be keen to overturn that particular gremlin. An important note is that G2 is very clean in best-of-fives, and often show an ability to adapt well to a draft.
*All odds correct at time of writing.