G2 Esports and DAMWON Gaming will clash in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship semifinals on Saturday. This will mark a rematch from last year’s World Championship when G2 Esports eliminated DAMWON from the quarterfinals with a commanding 3-1 win. Let’s take a closer look at both teams so you can make your bets against their League of Legends odds.
G2 Esports Vs DAMWON – League of Legends World Championship Betting Preview
G2 Esports are entering the 2020 LoL World Championship semifinals following a dominant showing (3-0) against Korean third seed Gen.G, who stood no chance against the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) champions. While we expected a slightly closer bout, it’s not entirely shocking to see G2 prevail. They are renowned for strong performances against the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) squads..
That theory will be put to a proper test when G2 Esports are set to clash with Korean first seed DAMWON Gaming, who have looked extremely strong not only domestically, but throughout the opening stages of the tournament as well. It would even be fair to say that DAMWON is the strongest team Korea has sent to Worlds since 2017, when LCK had two teams (Samsung Galaxy and SK Telecom T1) in the grand finals.
The problem we have to deal with when ranking G2 here is that while G2 Esports played well against Gen.G, the latter did not produce any meaningful resistance and made it very easy for the Europeans to win. It’s hard to say whether Caps and co. have already hit their ceiling or if they still have something left in the tank. That is not to say G2 made any notable mistakes against Gen.G, but DAMWON is an entirely different beast compared to their regional rivals.
Still, there are a few characteristics of G2 and DAMWON that we can compare.
G2’s bottom lane is in many ways similar to DAMWON’s in a sense that both teams field players who are extremely smart with their game and know when and where to move. Quality-wise, there is not a lot to set them apart, so unless we see a major upset, the bottom side of the map should be equally matched.
The most important matchup in the series will be the Caps vs. Heo “ShowMaker” Su in the mid lane. These two are regarded as the stars of their teams as well as two of the best LoL players in the world. Even though Caps has gained recognition as a volatile mid laner, he has looked much more consistent this year, so we don’t expect to see “Craps” this weekend.
The last time we saw this matchup (2019 LoL Worlds quarterfinals), ShowMaker did not impress, largely because he lacked any synergy with his jungler. This, however, is not the case this year since DAMWON boasts one of the best mid-jungle synergies at the tournament, which should make this matchup much closer.
On that note, we have to mention the performances of junglers. DAMWON’s jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu has been performing much better than G2’s Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski in the playoffs. But again, we have to note that it’s hard to properly evaluate Jankos’ performance against Gen.G due to the aforementioned reasons.
The most important thing working in G2’s favor is their international experience. Not only have they been at this stage of the competition before, but they are also the type of team that thrives in high-pressure situations.
Unlike G2, DAMWON has never before moved past the quarterfinals. That might not seem like a big deal, but we have seen many players/teams underperform or fall apart completely when they found themselves in unexplored territory.
What’s more, DAMWON is widely known as a team that historically performs well in practice matches but consistently underperforms on the international stage.
Even last year, DAMWON have won each scrim match against G2 but lost the “real match” 3-1. That is definitely something to consider for this bout and a potential Achilles heel of DAMOWN.
Prediction
This match could be much closer than what the odds suggest. While there are arguments to be made that DAMWON fields better individual players and has a better knowledge of the current meta, G2 is far more experienced and has the ability to surprise DAMWON with unique drafts or an unconventional approach to the game, which usually throws LCK teams off guard.
Another thing to note is that LCK teams have far less experience playing best-of-five series and historically underperform in series that end up going into five games. For that reason, it’s worth considering a bet on G2 Esports to win Map 5 if the series goes the distance.
Prediction: G2 Esports to win
Prediction: G2 Esports to win Game 5
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