The main event of the Worlds 2021 starts on Monday

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The play-in phase of the World Championship 2021 ended on Saturday. The group phase of the main event starts tomorrow, Monday, with the 16 best teams in this competition. All three LEC representatives are directly involved. In addition, a real blast opens the second act in Iceland.

The MAD Lions are Europe’s great hope for a deep run at the World Championship this year. Norman ‘Kaiser’ Kaiser and his teammates won the LEC in both splits, surprisingly dethroned G2 Esports and overall more than passable at the Mid-Season Invitational 2021.

Especially the recent appearances in the playoffs of the Summer Split showed the strength of the MAD Lions on a very good day, which European fans want to see in Iceland too. On Monday at 7:00 p.m., the Lions in Group D against Team Liquid will have their first chance to excel.

Last year, both organizations faced each other on the first day of the play-in phase. At that time, Team Liquid celebrated a victory in the best-of-one, but this time the LCS finalist will only be an outsider. After a difficult regular season in the summer, TL improved in the LCS playoffs and is certainly not without a chance.

Fnatic against HLE and Chovy, Rogue meets Cloud9

Fnatic will be the first of the LEC representatives to be on duty on Monday. The seven-time European champion starts his Worlds adventure at 3:00 p.m. In Group C, it first goes against Hanwha Life Esports, which qualified for the main event via the play-in phase.

As always, all eyes will be on Mid-Laner Ji-hoon ‘Chovy’ Jeong for the South Koreans. How Fnatic’s Yasin ‘Nisqy’ Dinçer fares against the superstar during the laning phase will be one of the key questions in this duel. In addition, the German AD-Carry Elias ‘Upset’ Lipp can look forward to his very first game at a World Championship.

Rogue concludes on the first day of the group stage. In Group A, the third seed from the European region is up against a team from North America at 8:00 p.m. as for the MAD Lions directly before. After the play-in phase, Cloud9 completes this group.

Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković and Co. got off to a good start in the World Championship, but gambled away on Thursday with two defeats against the Unicorns of Love and DetonatioN FocusMe the direct entry into the main event. As a result, they had to take the detour via a best-of-five series, which was convincingly won against PEACE.

If Rogue wants to play for progress in this extremely difficult group, Cloud9 will likely have to be beaten in both duels. A triumph at the beginning would be very important for moral reasons after the last two particularly disappointing appearances in the LEC playoffs against the MAD Lions and Fnatic.

Two title favorites open the group stage

The start on Monday will be an absolute blast between two of the biggest favorites to win the World Championship: In Group A, the Asian giants DWG KIA and FunPlus Phoenix face each other – the two youngest winners of the most important competition in the League -of-legends-year.

Compared to the second half of 2020, the South Koreans undoubtedly looked weaker this year. Nevertheless, they managed to win both seasons in the LCK and to show their best appearances in best-of-five series. With stars Su ‘ShowMaker’ Heo and Geon-bu ‘Canyon’ Kim, a second Worlds title is within the realm of the possible.

On the other hand, FunPlus Phoenix is returning after a year of absence. With four World Champions in 2019, the Chinese organization reported back to the top of the world. Tae-sang ‘Doinb’ Kim in particular shone this year, which is why his direct comparison with ShowMaker on paper is the big highlight.

The first day of the group stage at a glance:

Monday, October 11th:

13:00 ‘O clock: FunPlus Phoenix vs. DWG KIA – (Group A)
14:00 clock: Royal Never Give Up vs. PSG Talon – (Group C)
3:00 pm: Fnatic vs. Hanwha Life Esports – (Group C)
4 p.m .: Gen.G vs. LNG Sports – (Group D)
17:00 o’clock: T1 vs. DetonatioN FocusMe – (Group B)
6:00 pm: 100 Thieves vs. EDward Gaming – (Gruppe B)
7:00 p.m .: Team Liquid vs. MAD Lions – (Group D)
8:00 pm: Rogue vs. Cloud9 – (Group A)