Play-In Round 1 - 5-7th October - Ten teams are divided into two groups where they play a Single Round Robin format. - All matches are played in a Bo1. - Top teams in each group advance to Group Stage. - 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams in each group advance to Play-In: Round 2. - Bottom team in each group is eliminated.
Play-In Round 2 - 8th-9th October - Six teams from Play-In: Round 1. - The 3rd and 4th placed teams of the same group of Round 1 face each other, winners compete against the 2nd placed team of the other group - All matches are played in a Bo5. - Two winners will advance to Group Stage. - Four losers will be eliminated.
Group Stage - 11th-13th October and 15th-18th October - Four teams from the Play-In Stage join twelve teams with direct entry from China, South Korea, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. - All sixteen teams are divided into four groups where they play a Double -Round Robin format. - All matches are played in a Bo1. - Top two teams in each group advance to Playoffs. - Bottom two teams in each group are eliminated.
Playoffs - 22-25th October, 30th-31st October, 6th November. -Eight teams play in a single-elimination bracket over five matchdays. -All matches are Bo5.
My favourites to win this year are DK, FPX and RNG. It feels biased to put EDG down like that after a great showing in playoffs (and it was for multiple series too), but I feel their controlled playstyle would not fare well vs DK and RNG. FPX is explosive enough to crush any series if they have a good day.
2nd tier is EDG, MAD and T1, potentially PSG once I watch them. They have a good chance to make it far, unless they get some unlucky draws.
What's really uncool this year is that play-in has 4 spots, and there are 4 major region teams participating. I expect LNG and HLE to cruise through with talent alone, meaning that RGE/C9/DFM/Best Wildcard are going to be competing for 2 spots. There is going to be so much salt if a major region team doesn't make it.
You meant RGE moves to Group stage? Ngl, I prefer this over other scenarios, like people hoping that VCS spot would be filled by 4th EU seed (G2 kekw). It means my previous assertion isn't entirely true anymore, minor regions have a chance to grab the 4th play-in spot. I'm hoping for DFM, they looked pretty good at MSI.
On September 09 2021 23:46 DarkCore wrote: You meant RGE moves to Group stage? Ngl, I prefer this over other scenarios, like people hoping that VCS spot would be filled by 4th EU seed (G2 kekw). It means my previous assertion isn't entirely true anymore, minor regions have a chance to grab the 4th play-in spot. I'm hoping for DFM, they looked pretty good at MSI.
Yep, meant to group stage. I think only g2 fans wanted that to happen. I only watched LJL finals but DFM looked good and 3-0d RJ.
I think its crazy that there's basically no delineation in play ins. The format pretends that LNG, Hanwha, C9 and Beyond are all equivalent and that all the others are also equivalent to each other. So there's a world where the play in groups are:
Haha, look at that RGE group, you can't make this shit up. Imo this group is even worse than what they got last year, FPX is a stronger contender than JDG.
In general, the caliber of teams this year looks higher than 2020, if only because there are less 'weak' teams. - Group A is the most predictable, likely to get C9 but FPX and DK should comfortably make it out. Anything else would be a major upset. - Group B is likely to get the Wildcard, EDG and T1 are favorites but I don't think 100T are going to make it easy for them. - Group C is likely to get HLE, looks like a free for all nightmare. RNG is arguably the favorite because they won MSI, but this group is super close and anything looks possible. - Group D is likely to get LNG, that's another 3-4 team slugfest. Imo, GenG lost group draw because MAD and LNG are proactive, smart teams who won't let GenG play their usual boring, standard League.
In other news, Peace (OCE rep) top laner can't make it due to lockdown in Australia closing the Chinese embassy and he was unable to acquire a visa. He will be replaced by Viziscacsi
On September 10 2021 09:37 chipmonklord17 wrote: I think its crazy that there's basically no delineation in play ins. The format pretends that LNG, Hanwha, C9 and Beyond are all equivalent and that all the others are also equivalent to each other. So there's a world where the play in groups are:
I agree. The issue is that Vietnam coming back is going to make it worse not better without an entire overhaul. How do you treat the region next year? Is it really fair to give them the same seeds that they get now after two years out? How is that fair to OPL for getting into MSI groups this year, or for a potential other minor region if they do well this worlds? Take for example if DFM squeak into second in group B and make it out to the main stage, you would have UoL in groups in worlds 2020, PGG in MSI groups 2021, and DFM in worlds group 2021. Is it fair to say VCS deserves two seeds for literally not competing? What if UoL is the ones to squeak into groups and now LCL has made it to groups two worlds in a row?
On September 22 2021 23:34 Gahlo wrote: Closer's having issues with his visa. Hoping 100T and TSM work out a loan so I have somebody to root for this year.
On September 23 2021 08:14 chipmonklord17 wrote: I agree. The issue is that Vietnam coming back is going to make it worse not better without an entire overhaul. How do you treat the region next year? Is it really fair to give them the same seeds that they get now after two years out? How is that fair to OPL for getting into MSI groups this year, or for a potential other minor region if they do well this worlds? Take for example if DFM squeak into second in group B and make it out to the main stage, you would have UoL in groups in worlds 2020, PGG in MSI groups 2021, and DFM in worlds group 2021. Is it fair to say VCS deserves two seeds for literally not competing? What if UoL is the ones to squeak into groups and now LCL has made it to groups two worlds in a row?
Size of the tournament needs to expand if they want to give major regions 3/4 slots, and still allow minor regions to play. This year it's fairly likely that NA/EU/KR/CN will occupy 14 out of 16 Group stage spots, PSG is 15th, leaving 1 spot between PCS seed #2 and Wildcards. VCS isn't even playing, where's the room for them next year?
I'd be up for dropping #3 seeds into Play-ins, and then having a play-in-group stage. That's 10 current play-in teams + 3 #3 seeds + NA #2 seed + 2 VCS = 16 teams, so 4 groups of 4 (not fair to NA or VCS, this is just an example). Top of each group qualifies for Main Stage, 2nd and 3rd teams from each group play against each other for remaining 4 spots. Or could simplify it so that top 2 of every group directly go to Main stage, but imo that's too rushed and punishes a 3rd place team that ended up in an unusually strong group. Dividing into 4 groups would also allow for fairer seeding than what we have right now. Also, this kind of system would still filter out the boring matches between #1 LCK/LPL seeds steamrolling Wildcards, which is kind of why play-in even exists.
To answer your question, their room for next year is that the spot in group's that is now Rogue's is supposed to be theirs. So it would be 13 of 16, PSG + VCS, PCS2/VCS2/Wildcard.
I'm personally a fan of the old TI format where there were two large groups seeding into a double elimination bracket but there's no way that Riot would ever seed it appropriately. I also think the 4th seeds need to go, maybe keep one fourth seed for an MSI victory bonus but that's it.
EPT
