Before the start of the LPL 2024 Summer regular season, Rare Atom and Team WE looked like two prime candidates to top Group Nirvana. Three weeks into the split, we know there is no clear favourite to win this section.

Team WE enter the fourth week on a three-game losing streak, with defeats against ThunderTalk Gaming, Oh My God, and Ultra Prime. Most of their issues stem from a passive playstyle and an unwillingness to actively search for opportunities to get ahead, and that could be a problem on Thursday.

Rare Atom did not produce the most convincing performance in their last series either, yet they are 4-1 and will have side choice. For those reasons, Rare Atom are a much wiser pick at plus money with top betting sites.

Royal Never Give Up suffered their fourth defeat of the split on Monday when they lost against Rare Atom. It was a concerning display from RNG, who had their moments but made way too many mistakes to be left unpunished.

Invictus Gaming won their second game of the split on Friday when they swept EDward Gaming. While they still have some work to do, it was a much better performance than against Oh My God at the start of last week.

Even though the rule for Group Nirvana is to back the underdogs if the betting odds go far above even money, Royal Never Give Up have looked bad enough to make Invictus Gaming a better bet at this price.

Weibo Gaming took a bite out of Bilibili Gaming on Tuesday, proving they can dance with the LPL top dogs. LGD Gaming, on the other side, lost their fifth consecutive game of the split on Saturday against Top Esports.

The teams are trending in opposite directions, but there is an unwritten rule never to trust Weibo Gaming as heavy favourites. Moreover, LGD Gaming are not as bad as their record suggests, as it takes a solid team to fight back from early deficits so consistently.

Weibo Gaming should win, but since both teams are volatile, it is fair to believe LGD Gaming can take at least one map.

Esports betting tips

According to the top esports betting sites, Ultra Prime should defeat Royal Never Give Up in 65.8% of scenarios. That’s a generous number, especially considering this is a match between two weak LoL esports teams.

Ultra Prime have side choice, which helps, but they’ve not shown much more than Royal Never Give Up over the last three weeks. UP are averaging 1911 gold per minute (GPM) and 71 gold difference per minute (GDM), compared to RNG’s 1797 GPM and -226 GDM, but the latter had to play EDward Gaming, Oh My God, and Team WE, all three offside.

Ultra Prime should be favoured with side choice, but they have not done enough to deserve this number. The value is with Royal Never Give Up to win at outsider odds.

LNG Esports are the only team besides Bilibili Gaming in Group Ascend with a perfect record, having beaten Ninjas in Pyjamas, Weibo Gaming, and Top Esports over the last two weeks. The question here is: how long can they keep playing like this?

Bilibili Gaming remain the LPL’s top dogs. However, the eye test and stats show that there is not much to set them apart from LNG Esports besides their more explosive early game.

Even though Bilibili Gaming should win this match more times than not, LNG Esports are running hot and have enough quality to push the defending LPL champions to their limits.

Esports betting tips

Invictus Gaming lost to ThunderTalk Gaming on Wednesday in two maps. They came close to tying the series, but like all bad teams, IG didn’t play to the strengths of their composition and had a few too many unforced errors.

Rare Atom were priced at around this number to defeat Ultra Prime on Thursday, but they crumbled and lost in two maps. It wasn’t their best showing, but one bad game should not be a reason for concern.

Invictus Gaming are at roughly the same level as Ultra Prime, yet that doesn’t make them a good bet to beat Rare Atom, who are a better team and will have side choice for this series.

Team WE won their first match of the LPL 2024 Summer regular season on Monday when they defeated EDward Gaming. It was a good performance following a troubling display at LPL 2024 Summer Placements.

Royal Never Give Up lost their second match of the split against Oh My God on Tuesday. OMG were by far the worst team in LPL 2024 Summer Placements, so the loss puts a huge question mark above RNG and their overall quality.

Despite recent results, this is still a clash between two weak, inconsistent squads. Team WE might be one of the stabler teams in this group, but at $2.28 with esports betting sites, Royal Never Give Up to sneak in a map is a much wiser bet.

Weibo Gaming started LPL 2024 Summer with a massive victory against JD Gaming but then lost to LNG Esports on Wednesday. However, they held a 3,500 gold lead on the third map at around the 20-minute mark and looked well on their way to winning the series before they crumbled and let LNG back in.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are the same team we know from LPL 2024 Spring — capable of beating anyone and losing to anyone. But while NiP are the type to capitalise on Weibo Gaming’s errors, LoL betting sites have them priced very short at $1.56.

As long as they don’t shoot themselves in the foot again, this talented Weibo Gaming squad should be able to deal with Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Esports betting tips

Oh My God ended LPL 2024 Summer Placements as the only team without a single series won. Royal Never Give Up were hardly more successful, finishing Group B in last place with a 1-5 record and 3-11 in maps. They’ve since added a 1-2 loss to EDward Gaming in the first week of LPL 2024 Summer.

Both teams struggled in the early game during the Summer Placements, rarely holding a gold lead at 20 minutes. Their mid-game performance was just as terrible.

Based on their showings in the first stage of the split, Royal Never Give Up and Oh My God are the weakest teams entering the LPL 2024 Summer regular season. And with little to separate them, backing the team with side choice at plus money makes the most sense.

FunPlus Phoenix showed very promising performances last split, when they ranked as one of the top five teams in the league. However, they were far less impressive during the Summer Placements.

JD Gaming defeated FunPlus Phoenix twice last month. However, in the most recent series, FPX were the better team and held over 6k gold lead on the second map until they were outplayed by Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok’s Zyra pick.

FunPlus Phoenix are talented enough to compete at the top level and will be a force to be reckoned with if they iron some things out. That’s a good enough reason to back them to keep their map pick close.

Esports betting tips

League of Legends bookmakers have priced LGD Gaming as $2.18 underdogs to defeat Royal Never Give Up, even though they won their last meeting on Friday. Interestingly, RNG closed as $1.81 favourites for that match with GG Bet and are now priced even shorter to get their revenge.

To make matters more confusing, Royal Never Give Up are in a pseudo-rebuild mode, trying out new players despite posting relatively good results against Team WE and Bilibili Gaming. While they have potential, RNG seem a bit overrated at the offered price.

LGD Gaming are not a good team, but they’re better than what the market suggests. LGD were severely underrated last split and it doesn’t seem that has changed, even though they showed some improvement last week.

Most notably, LGD Gaming managed to convert their leads against Royal Never Give Up last Friday, which is uncharacteristic of them. And while there’s no telling whether LGD have actually improved in that department, they beat RNG convincingly, and there’s no reason to believe they can’t do it again.

Bilibili Gaming have picked up three wins over the first two weeks of LPL 2024 Summer Placements. They swept Royal Never Give Up and LGD Gaming but had to dig a bit deeper to make it past Team WE, who took a map off them last Thursday.

Team WE received some help from Bilibili Gaming to win map one in that series, as BLG threw away a sizeable lead. Map two looked a bit more competitive, although Bilibili were in full control, whereas the third map started well for Team WE before they botched it.

Despite the loss, Team WE did a good job challenging Bilibili Gaming, which is worthy of praise — even though BLG are not at 100% yet.

LoL betting sites have Team WE at $2.33 to take a map on Tuesday, which is an excellent offer considering what we saw from them last week.

Esports betting tips

Oh My God have not added any new players this offseason, so they enter the LPL 2024 Summer Placements with a lot of continuity. They did enough in LPL 2024 Spring to sneak into the playoffs, yet OMG weren’t exactly title contenders.

Rare Atom, on the other side, missed the spring playoffs completely, with just four wins to their name. Unsurprisingly, they decided to rebuild for the second half of the year.

Bringing in top-laner Liu “Yu” Yu, jungler Peng “Xiaohao” Hao, and Sun “Jwei” Jun-Wei, Rare Atom cut the dead weight and added players who could fit in with their aggressive style of play. But while this iteration could do better, it’s hard to imagine Rare Atom competing for top spots.

Considering Oh My God are not that good, there are priced as heavy favourites with esports betting sites. Even though Rare Atom still have to prove that their new lineup will work, they have the right tools to be feisty underdogs.

Royal Never Give Up enter this match off a crushing 2-0 loss to Team WE in a series where they choked with a 5k gold lead on the second map. Throwing away massive leads isn’t indicative of any significant problem, and it perhaps has more to do with the fact that RNG’s new signings — mid-laner Liu “Xzz” Zhu and ADC Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng — haven’t had a chance to settle in yet.

There are reasons to feel optimistic about Royal Never Give Up, but not for this match. Bilibili Gaming are one of the best LoL esports teams in the world, performing at an exceptional level both individually and as a unit.

They’ve played a ton of games this season, so there is a chance some fatigue could be settling in. Still, this is not the game where you’d bet against the Mid-Season Invitational 2024 runners-up.

Royal Never Give Up will have side choice, so we’re taking Bilibili to win their map pick with 10 kills to spare.

Esports betting tips

Weibo Gaming picked up a huge victory on Friday when they swept JD Gaming and secured their spot in the LPL 2024 Spring playoffs. Before that, Weibo Gaming lost to LGD Gaming, and they didn’t look good in their two games against Bilibili Gaming and EDward Gaming either.

The big reason for Weibo Gaming’s mixed results is their lack of consistency in the mid-late game, which has been a major issue for this team for most of the split. They have the talent to do well, but as proven, Weibo Gaming is not to be trusted as a heavy favourite.

Invictus Gaming had an explosive start to the split but recently hit a bit of a slump and enters this match on a four-game losing streak with defeats against LNG Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, JD Gaming, and Oh My God. The first three defeats can be overlooked, but losing to Oh My God doesn’t look good.

Weibo Gaming is a better team quality-wise but far more inconsistent, whereas Invictus Gaming is in shaky form. Weibo Gaming should win, and they get to pick a side, but we can safely assume it’ll be a scrappy game that can go the distance.

Royal Never Give Up have looked very bad throughout most of the season but found some success last week when they swept the surging FunPlus Phoenix and secured their fifth victory of the split. That victory won’t help Royal Never Give Up reach the playoffs, but at least they showed some good qualities, which is also why they’re expected to defeat LGD Gaming.

LGD Gaming won both of their series last week against Weibo Gaming and Rare Atom. This is fairly impressive, but it’s not like seeing LGD Gaming win a couple of games is too shocking. They’ve been playing well over the last few weeks, but despite their solid performances, LGD Gaming has consistently struggled to close out games.

Royal Never Give Up are running hot with three wins from their last four series, but qualitatively, these two teams aren’t that much different. LGD Gaming also has a side choice, which makes them a much more appealing pick at plus money.

Esports betting tips

Invictus Gaming defeated Bilibili Gaming in LPL 2024 Spring Week 4, and on Friday they added another strong showing against Top Esports. However, they also lost against Team WE and barely edged past LGD Gaming at the end of February.

Invictus Gaming are all about playing through top laner Chau “YSKM” Shu-tak, similar to most Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok teams. This can work both ways, but against weaker teams, YSKM tends to do well.

EDward Gaming have been gaining momentum over the last week, but despite beating Anyone’s Legend and Rare Atom, EDG are not a very good team. Their early-game metrics rank them last in the league, and that won’t do them any favours in this match.

Invictus Gaming aren’t as great as their record would suggest, but their solid early game and solid top side should be enough to secure a comfortable win on Tuesday.

Royal Never Give Up have not looked great this split, largely due to their poor macro. Despite doing relatively well in the early game, they look all over the place in the mid-late game.

RNG are 0-4 with defeats against Top Esports, LNG Esports, Rare Atom, and Team WE. While you can’t blame them for losing against TES and LNG, their defeats against WE and Rare Atom are concerning.

ThunderTalk Gaming had a rough schedule last week when they had to play JD Gaming and Top Esports and lost both series. TT had their moments in both games, while they’ve shown some flashes with a win against LNG and a close map against Bilibili Gaming.

ThunderTalk are overall a volatile team, and while you wouldn’t trust them to take down LPL’s top dogs, they’re a solid bet at plus money against another struggling team.

Esports betting tips

Team WE have been playing well this split and have won five of eight series played. Their three defeats came against Oh My God, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and JD Gaming, who beat them 2-1 on Tuesday.

Besides their LPL 2024 Spring Week 1 loss, Team WE have only looked rough against other top teams. This is largely because they prefer to scale, which explains their iffy early-game stats. On the other hand, the most successful teams of the split tend to be very explosive early.

Royal Never Give Up are in terrible shape. Their five-game losing streak includes a defeat against Rare Atom, although the other four came against strong opponents. While RNG deserve some slack due to their schedule, they’ve not shown much in recent outings.

Royal Never Give Up not only struggles early, but their late-game decision-making is awful. Individually, they’re good enough to do some damage, but as a unit, RNG are poor.

LNG Esports crushed the unconvincing Royal Never Give Up on Wednesday and got back on track following a five-game losing streak. Over that stretch, they had to play tough opponents in JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and Top Esports, so seeing them do better against RNG isn’t that surprising.

Ultra Prime are 2-7, and even though they won their last game against Rare Atom earlier this week, they’ve not shown much. Even against Rare Atom, Ultra Prime failed to impress despite having side choice, which is concerning.

LNG Esports have had their fair share of struggles, and they’re not yet playing at 100%. However, even in their current state, LNG should run over Ultra Prime, who have given us nothing to feel excited about.

EDward Gaming played their first good game of the split on Sunday when they beat Anyone’s Legend in two maps, and they didn’t look too bad earlier this week in a three-map loss against Oh My God.

In both series, EDward Gaming fielded top laner Hu “Ale” Jia-Le and jungler Wang “Monki” Meng-Qi, who were called up to the main roster at the end of LPL 2024 Spring Week 4. We also got to see support Wang “Xiamu” Yong-Xu in the first game against OMG, but it’s unclear whether he’ll start on Saturday.

Rare Atom found some traction in LPL 2024 Spring Week 4 after a rough start to the season, with wins against ThunderTalk Gaming and Royal Never Give Up. But they returned to their old ways with a 0-2 loss against Ultra Prime on Wednesday.

This is a match between two struggling teams who have shown some signs of life over the last few weeks. But knowing that they’re both inconsistent and that there isn’t much to separate them quality-wise, taking over 2.5 maps makes the most sense.

Esports betting tips

Royal Never Give Up won their first match of the season against EDward Gaming but then lost against Bilibili Gaming. Those were expected outcomes, and while RNG got outclassed by Bilibili Gaming, they showed some good qualities.

Like many other LPL teams, Royal Never Give Up swapped out some players and, overall, looked like a better team. But are they good enough to be priced at $1.11?

At the offered betting odds, Ultra Prime is given roughly a 16% implied probability of winning the match, which is a very low number. However, they’re also one of the weakest teams in the league.

They got swept by Invictus Gaming last week and lost to LGD Gaming in three maps on Saturday. Results like that don’t inspire much confidence and indicate that UP will struggle against any team they face. Expect dominant wins from RNG on both maps.

LGD Gaming kicked off the 2024 season with a 0-2 loss against Ninjas in Pyjamas, which was expected. LGD had their moments in that series and looked solid in the laning phase, but as soon as the match transitioned to the mid-late game, LGD looked completely lost.

LGD Gaming managed to bounce back by beating UltraPrime 2-1 after that abysmal showing, reigniting some hope. Admittedly, UltraPrime isn’t the strongest team in the LPL, but LGD Gaming played better on Saturday.

EDward Gaming will field a much different and weaker roster this season. They had a solid showing against Royal Never Give Up, thanks to Hu “Ale” Jia-Le’s carry performance, but they still came up short. That loss proved that while EDG still has some solid pieces, they aren’t as great as a unit.

Edward Gaming has a lot of things to work on and will need more time for the new arrivals to adapt to playing at the top level. Although they’re better than most bottom-table teams, EDG are too short at the offered betting odds.

More esports betting tips