The 2023 League of Legends World Championship: Preliminary Play-In Stage Predictions
The highly anticipated 2023 League of Legends World Championship is right around the corner. Before the main event kicks off, teams will battle it out in the preliminary play-in stage to secure their spots in the newly formed Worlds Swiss stage. Let’s take a look at three predictions for the play-in stage.
Prediction #1: WQS Winner Cruises to a Swiss Stage Appearance
This year, we’ll witness a fierce grudge match between the fourth-place teams from Europe and North America in the Worlds Qualifying Series. The winner of this match will secure a place in the play-in stage bracket. We expect either Team BDS or Golden Guardians to emerge victorious and dominate the play-in stage. With their strong performances and experience, they are the clear favorites to advance to the Worlds Swiss stage.
Prediction #2: LOUD Finally Climb the Mountain
Brazilian team LOUD has all the necessary pieces in place to make it past the play-in stage this year. They had a dominant run in the CBLOL and come to Worlds with a roster that nearly advanced last year. The new bracket system gives them an advantage, but they will face tough challenges against Vietnam’s GAM Esports and likely PSG Talon. However, with their favorable format shake-up and experience, we believe LOUD will finally break through and secure a spot in the final field of 16.
Prediction #3: Asia’s Minor Region Squads Take Another Step Back
While minor region teams from Asia showed promise a couple of years ago, they have struggled to reach the same heights recently. At MSI earlier this year, major region teams dominated the top eight spots, pushing out minor region representatives PSG Talon and DetonatioN FocusMe. We expect a similar outcome this time around. The play-in format guarantees at least one minor region team in the Swiss stage, but we predict that they will continue to face challenges and fall short of their earlier successes.
Worlds officially begins with the Worlds Qualifying Series on Oct. 9, followed by the play-in stage on Oct. 10.
League of Legends, World Championship, play-in stage, preliminary, predictions, WQS winner, Golden Guardians, LOUD, Asia’s minor region teams