Esports betting sites expected to see some lopsided games, and that was exactly what we witnessed, as the likes of Bilibili Gaming (BLG), Hanwha Life Esports (HLE), and G2 Esports claimed impressive victories in their respective fixtures.

BLG kicked off the first round of the Swiss Stage in a clash with MAD Lions KOI, and even though MAD shot out to an early lead, the top seed from the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) regained the ascendancy and ran away with the win in under 27 minutes.

Many expected Top Esports (TES) vs T1 to be the pick of the bunch on day one, as the reigning world champions took on a resurgent Chinese squad who secured the second seed from the LPL.

The clash was close throughout the 30 minutes, but it was TES who secured a vital win that dropped T1 into the loser’s bracket.

Gen.G entered their round one series against Weibo Gaming (WBG) as overwhelming favourites with GG Bet; however, their win was less than convincing, as it took the pre-tournament favourites 45 minutes to defeat the LPL team.

Dplus KIA and Fnatic clashed in the fourth series of the day, where the LCK’s third seed controlled the game and held a gold lead throughout before claiming the win in just over 35 minutes.

Thanks to a masterclass from LNG bot-laner Chen “GALA” Wei, the third seed from the LPL took down the top seed from the LCS, Team Liquid.

GALA’s stat-line read 9/1/9, which has him situated in equal second in the KDA list for the Swiss Stage, and with that 18.0 KDA, he propelled LNG to a dominant win inside 35 minutes.

The final three fixtures of day one featured Hanwha Life Esports vs PSG Talon, FlyQuest vs GAM Esports, and G2 Esports vs paiN Gaming, with HLE, FlyQuest and G2 winning their respective matches with relative ease to book their spot in the 1-0 bracket.

The #Worlds2024 Swiss Stage Round 2 bracket!

Note: The match order is still TBD. pic.twitter.com/JlFRjYikuR

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 3, 2024

The first match of day two will be an all-LPL fixture with Bilibili Gaming taking on LNG Esports before Gen.G clashes with Top Esports in the following series.

Below is a list of Swiss Stage round two series, set to be played on Friday, October 4.

• Bilibili Gaming ($1.30) vs LNG Esports ($3.40) @ 2pm CET
• Gen.G ($1.40) vs Top Esports ($2.75) @ 3pm CET
• G2 Esports ($3.40) vs Hanwha Life Esports ($1.30) @ 4pm CET
• Weibo Gaming ($1.40) vs Team Liquid ($2.75) @ 5pm CET
• T1 ($1.06) vs paiN Gaming ($8.00) @ 6pm CET
• Dplus KIA ($1.25) vs FlyQuest ($3.75) @ 7pm CET
• Fnatic ($1.40) vs GAM Esports ($2.75) @ 8pm CET
• PSG Talon ($2.00) vs MAD Lions KOI ($1.72) @ 9pm CET

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MAD Lions barely made it to the LoL World Championship 2024 and were not very convincing through the play-ins either. Considering everything they have shown, Europe’s third seed should struggle against one of the tournament favourites.

Bilibili Gaming are among the leading candidates to lift the Summoner’s Cup. And while the LoL Worlds patch will introduce some uncertainty, especially early into the main stage, you must have an excellent reason to go against one of the hottest LoL esports teams.

BLG should win without any issues, but their handicap lines are a little too severe. Knowing both sides are fairly bloody, taking over 27.5 total kills is an appealing option.

T1 placed fourth in the LoL Champions Korea (LCK) 2024 Summer regular season, third in the playoffs, and barely made it past KT Roster in the LCK 2024 Regional Finals. Top Esports were not convincing in the last split either, with bronze medals from Group Ascend and the LPL 2024 Summer Playoffs.

On form, it is easy to understand why neither team is among the tournament favourites. However, it is much easier to trust TES, who have looked incredible against any team who failed to stop them early.

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and co. can wake up at any moment to defend their throne, but T1’s early game has not been the best, which could be a problem.

Gen.G have played incredibly well throughout the 2024 season and enter Worlds as one of the title favourites. Weibo Gaming, like usual, are very potent but inconsistent underdogs who can beat anyone on their day.

Gen.G are the better, more stable, and more reliable team, yet this does not justify their tag as $1.19 favourites. The long break and volatility of a new patch could shake things up a bit, so in a series between two elite squads, it is hard to pass on the outsiders to at least keep it close.

A smaller play on Weibo Gaming to win is worth a look as well.

Fnatic and Dplus KIA are not expected to compete for the Summoner’s Cup, but they can play at a very high level. This is more obvious with Dplus KIA, who have produced excellent games domestically; the problem is they have not done this consistently.

Fnatic collapsed at the Mid-Season Invitational and the Esports World Cup 2024 mainly due to the lack of experience of their bottom lane, namely ADC Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek. This could again be a problem at LoL World Championship 2024, but after two international events, some improvement is expected.

Dplus KIA have a higher ceiling, but they are not consistent in reaching it. Fnatic, at $3.36 with the best LoL betting sites, are worth a look.

Even as $3.54 underdogs, Team Liquid might still be overrated. While the LoL Championship Series (LCS) second seed performed reasonably well at the Esports World Cup 2024, the gap between the LCS and LPL is significant enough to fade them.

LNG Esports might not be one of the main candidates to win the tournament, but they are very efficient in trashing weaker teams — as seen in their run through the LPL 2024 Summer. Expect a one-sided series.

Hanwha Life Esports exceeded expectations in the LCK 2024 Summer, yet most of that is thanks to Dplus KIA’s and T1’s struggles. Their LCK trophy aside, HLE are still the same counter-punching team, which will be a problem at LoL Worlds 2024.

PSG Talon had a rough run through the play-in stage; however, that does not take away from how stacked and experienced this lineup is. The added games in the play-ins also allowed PSG to warm up ahead of their first proper test of the tournament.

Even though Hanwha Life Esports are LCK’s top seed, $1.06 is an absurd price for a squad with a flawed playstyle.

Matches pitting minor and major regions against one another tend to be priced heavily in favour of the latter. However, it is hard to justify saying the LCS is much stronger than the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS).

GAM Esports have not been adequately tested in their league, so it is hard to say how high they can fly. But the same can be said for FlyQuest, who only had to deal with one formidable opponent domestically.

The North American squad should be priced as favourites, but not at this number. The value is with the underdogs.

G2 Esports were anything but great in the final split of the season; however, they shifted into a higher gear when it mattered and won both the LoL EMEA Championship (LEC) 2024 Summer Playoffs and the Season Finals.

PaiN Gaming looked very good in the first stage of the tournament, but they only had to defeat Vikings Esports and Movistar R7. Suffice it to say the Brazilians have not been properly tested yet.

G2 Esports are known to play with their food, but rarely on the international stage. They’re the superior team by all metrics, and it should show on Thursday.

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Four teams have been eliminated, and 16 remain on the road to glory.

Even in the play-in stage, one major region has already fallen short of expectations.

100 Thieves, from North America, suffered a disappointing defeat to PSG Talon in the lower bracket final, marking an early exit from LoL Worlds 2024.

With the Swiss Stage now set, exciting first-round matchups are on the horizon.

#Words2024 Swiss Stage round 1 match order:@BilibiliGaming @MADLionsKOI @TOP_Esports_ @T1LoL@GenG @WeiboGamingLoL @FNATIC @DplusKIA @TeamLiquidLoL @LNG_Esports @HLEofficial @psgtalonlol @FlyQuest @GAMesportsVN @G2League @paiNGamingBR https://t.co/i0oHBJbfpe

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) September 29, 2024

T1 will start their title defence against Top Esports, while European fans have reason for cautious optimism: G2 Esports faces paiN Gaming, and Fnatic goes head-to-head with Dplus KIA.

On the other hand, MAD Lions fans may feel a pang of anxiety as their team has drawn LPL Summer champions, Bilibili Gaming, in the first round.

In an interview, Supa from MAD Lions expressed a desire to face a North American team for revenge, but it seems that match will have to wait.

GAM Esports, fresh off a strong play-in stage performance, will now face FlyQuest, while PSG Talon must take on the LCK Summer winners, Hanwha Life Esports.

Meanwhile, Team Liquid is set to face LNG Esports, and Weibo Gaming is lined up against Gen.G, the dominant second seed from the LCK.

This year��s World Championship will take place across Berlin, Paris, and London, with the Swiss Stage held in two parts: October 3-7 and October 10-13.

The opening day will feature best-of-one round one matchups, followed by 1-0 and 0-1 matchups on October 4.

From then on, the decisive best-of-three matches will determine who moves on to the knockout stage and who goes home.

The play-in stage has already concluded, with eight teams competing for four qualification spots.

These four teams will now join the twelve already qualified teams in the Swiss Stage, where many consider the ��real�� Worlds to begin.

The 16 teams are divided into four pools, with Pool 1 teams facing Pool 4, and Pool 2 taking on Pool 3.

Importantly, no teams will face opponents from their own region in the first round.

After that, matchups will pair teams with the same record regardless of region, and rematches will be prohibited.

To qualify for the knockout stage, a team must win three matches, while three losses mean elimination from Worlds 2024.

The Swiss Stage format will feature best-of-one matches until the qualification and elimination series, which will be best of three.

Fans can catch all the Swiss Stage action on the official LoL Esports channels on Twitch and YouTube.

The final eight teams that survive this gruelling stage will advance to the knockout stage, bringing them one step closer to the Summoner��s Cup.

Thursday’s Swiss Stage matches

• Hanwha Life Esports ($1.06) vs PSG Talon ($8.00) @ 2pm CET
• FlyQuest ($1.36) vs GAM Esports ($3.00) @ 3pm CET
• G2 Esports ($1.16) vs paiN Gaming ($4.50) @ 4pm CET
• Bilibili Gaming ($1.08) vs MAD Lions KOI ($7.00) @ 5pm CET
• Top Esports ($2.00) vs T1 ($1.72) @ 6pm CET
• Team Liquid ($3.00) vs LNG Esports ($1.36) @ 7pm CET
• Fnatic ($3.75) vs Dplus KIA ($1.25) @ 8pm CET
• Gen.G ($1.20) vs Weibo Gaming ($4.33) @ 9pm CET

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TOP ESPORTS vs WEIBO GAMING LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

Top Esports and Weibo Gaming are set to lock horns on Saturday, August 24, in the lower-bracket finals of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2024 Playoffs. The winner will proceed to face Bilibili Gaming in the grand finals, and according to LoL betting sites, Top Esports are in a better position to advance to the big stage.

Weibo Gaming edged past LNG Esports on Thursday in a highly competitive series which could have easily ended in a 3-2 victory for the favourites. However, WBG shifted into a higher gear on the fifth map and won with over 13k gold lead.

It was a strong showing from the underdogs, who previously performed well against Bilibili Gaming. If they can keep at it, Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao and co. might stand a chance against what seems to be a vastly superior LPL team.

Top Esports had an explosive start to their game against Bilibili Gaming on Wednesday, picking up a commanding victory on the first map. Unfortunately, Bilibili returned the favour on the next two and ground out the fourth to close out the series 3-1.

It wasn’t the most convincing display from Top Esports, who looked poised to make the day hard for Bilibili Gaming. But a few early mistakes cost them two crucial maps and, eventually, the game.

Top Esports are the favourites here, as they have shown much higher highs this split, but they’ve hardly produced more in their recent outings than Weibo Gaming. As shown in their series against BLG, Top Esports can be vulnerable if stopped early, and Weibo are unquestionably a squad capable of throwing a spanner in the works.

At the current prices, the outsiders are an excellent longshot bet. However, the safe play is to back Weibo Gaming at the map line.

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BILIBILI GAMING vs TOP ESPORTS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

Bilibili Gaming and Top Esports will clash on Wednesday, August 21, when the two Chinese juggernauts battle it out for the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2024 Summer Playoffs finals ticket.

With a lot on the line, both teams have plenty of reasons to step up. According to LoL betting sites, however, the series will not be as competitive as it may seem.

Bilibili Gaming enter the LPL 2024 Summer Playoffs semifinals off an awe-inspiring victory against Weibo Gaming, who they bested 3-0 on Saturday. It was one of the best showings from BLG this split, indicating that the defending champions might be peaking at the right time.

Top Esports had a slow start to the playoffs against Anyone’s Legend, but they were more convincing against LNG Esports in the fourth round. TES still failed to look as dominant as usual, however, mainly because LNG are good at minimising losses early.

Like Top Esports, Bilibili Gaming are one of the best early-game teams in the LPL. This could lead to an interesting affair between two stylistically similar teams.

But while a strong early game is simply one of Bilibili Gaming’s tools, it is Top Esports’ primary win condition. And knowing Zhuo “knight” Ding and his crew are in a good spot to contain their rivals, they should have a straightforward path to victory.

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TOP ESPORTS vs ANYONE’S LEGEND LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2024 Summer Playoffs will serve us with a clash between the aggressive Top Esports and resilient yet unreliable Anyone’s Legend, who will face off in a best-of-five series on Friday, August 16.

The two Chinese teams last faced off in the fourth week of the regular season, when Top Esports won in two maps. According to LoL betting sites, the rematch should play out similarly.

Anyone’s Legend enter this clash off a convincing 3-1 victory against FunPlus Phoenix on Tuesday. That was only their fourth victory of the split, however, and none of them have come against the top squads.

Still, Anyone’s Legend are very good at keeping their games close, with a 99.1 gold difference per minute. Unfortunately, they tend to struggle in the early game, with a -601 gold difference at 15 minutes, and that will be a huge problem on Friday.

Top Esports have been smoking everyone for most of the LPL 2024 Summer split, only struggling in games where their opponents have managed to slow down Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo very early. This will be a tough ask for Anyone’s Legend, who are in for a stylistic nightmare against the most explosive early-game team in the league (+1121 GD@15).

The last meeting between Anyone’s Legend and Top Esports wasn’t too bloody, ending 4-12 and 15-9 in kills. The upcoming series likely won’t see many kills either, but unless TES shoot themselves in the foot, it should be just as one-sided.

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Oh My God reverse-swept Ultra Prime on Wednesday to keep their winning streak alive. But according to the LPL betting odds, their run should end on Friday.

ThunderTalk Gaming lost against EDward Gaming at the start of the week in a bizarre series where the team that played offside performed better. It was a bit off-script, but nothing unusual for Group Nirvana.

Results-wise Oh My God are the better team, but ThunderTalk have the side choice and are more stable of the two. They also tend to play more scaling, which should work well against Oh My God, who aren��t particularly effective in the early game.

Top Esports would have lost to Ninjas in Pyjamas on Tuesday if the latter team was not so poor at macro play. Anyone��s Legend have not played a single game since last Thursday, when they were crushed by Weibo Gaming.

Anyone��s Legend are 3-2 in LPL 2024 Summer. That is not terrible, especially considering AL have some impressive performance metrics and are extremely good at closing games when they are in the lead.

Top Esports are one of the scariest teams in the LPL, but esports betting sites should not be pricing them as short as $1.35. Anyone��s Legend��s win condition is to prevent Top Esports from getting too far ahead early, which is entirely possible considering their past showings.

Ninjas in Pyjamas could have taken the first map off Top Esports on Tuesday, but they found a way to throw the lead away with questionable decision-making. The second map was much more one-sided and played out exactly how the series was expected to go.

Seeing Ninjas in Pyjamas struggle against Top Esports does not sound concerning. But they have looked just as bad against any other team in the league, so they will unlikely do any better against the LPL’s strongest squad.

Despite getting absolutely smoked by Weibo Gaming on map one last round, Bilibili Gaming returned the favour on the final two maps, proving they are still a force to be reckoned with. Unless BLG slow down significantly, this will be a bloodbath.

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Bilibili Gaming bounced back from their loss against LNG Esports with a 2-1 victory over JD Gaming on Saturday. JDG were the better team on the first map; however, the final two were one-way traffic for the defending LPL champions.

Despite that up-and-down showing, Bilibili Gaming still deserve to be respected, but the question is whether they should be priced as $1.19 favourites with top betting sites against Weibo Gaming. Even though Weibo are anything but consistent, their raw quality is up there with the best LoL esports squads in the world.

Weibo Gaming looked great against JD Gaming a few weeks ago, they were competitive against LNG Esports, demolished NiP, and then got stomped by Top Esports, only to pick up a convincing victory against Anyone’s Legend on Thursday. It is a bit of a mixed bag of results, but Weibo seem to be trending up, which is a good enough reason to believe in them for this affair.

Top Esports were a bit lucky in their most recent game against LGD Gaming, who should have won the second map before they bungled it. Before that, Top Esports stomped Weibo Gaming but lost the previous two against Bilibili Gaming and LNG Esports.

Although a group of talented players who know how to team fight, Ninjas in Pyjamas have yet to taste victory in the LPL 2024 Summer. Their macro is atrocious, and more importantly, NiP’s gold difference at 15 minutes sits at -673 — the fifth-worst in the league.

Top Esports are known for stomping teams who are unable to hold their own early, so there is only one way this series can end.

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The second seed from the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) ended the four-day event undefeated, while 2024 MSI champions Gen.G were eliminated on the opening day of the tournament.

[#EWC 2024 LoL Grand Final vs TES]

??? ?? ?? ? ??? ??.

A story for the books that we wrote, together as 1.#T1WIN #T1Fighting #EsportsWorldCup pic.twitter.com/IJ4PEbiRUe

— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) July 7, 2024

T1 and Top Esports won their way through to the grand final by defeating Team Liquid and G2 Esports in their respective semi-finals on Saturday.

After defeating pre-tournament favourites Gen.G 2-0 in the quarter-finals and dominating G2 Esports in a swift 2-0 win, TES entered Sunday’s grand final undefeated through four maps.

On the other hand, T1 was pushed to all three maps against Bilibili Gaming in the quarter-finals before playing out a close series with Team Liquid, with the LCK powerhouse winning both clashes 2-1.

Heading into the final series of the EWC LoL tournament, esports betting sites marked T1 as a slight favourite; however, early on in the match, T1 supporters would have been worried as TES took an early lead.

TES started with some aggressive plays, which helped Lin “Creme” Jian get ahead in his crucial matchup with Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok in the mid-lane.

TES quickly converted the early advantage into a 1-0 series lead, claiming all three dragons and the only baron on the map before knocking over T1’s nexus in just under 23 minutes.

The reigning LoL World Champions knew they had to respond on map two, and respond they did.

Led by some huge plays by Faker and Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon early on, T1 returned serve with a dominant map win of their own to tie the series 1-1 in 26 minutes.

The third map was the closest encounter of the grand final, but it would be T1 that continually won team fight after team fight and controlled the map.

TES mounted a small comeback and even slained the final baron of map four; however, T1 broke the base of TES and moved onto series point after 39 minutes of play.

The last map of the series was once again dominated by Oner and Faker as they continued to control the mid-lane and jungle, ultimately leading T1 to a convincing 3-1 victory in the grand final of the EWC LoL tournament.

Following the completion of the match, Faker was awarded the Most Valuable Player after consistently performing at a very high level throughout T1’s three series.

The man.
The myth.
The legend. pic.twitter.com/fN92J3mY0r

— Esports World Cup (@EWC_EN) July 7, 2024

EWC LoL tournament standings

• 1st: T1 (USD$400,000)
• 2nd: Top Esports (USD$200,000)
• 3rd-4th: Team Liquid, G2 Esports (USD$100,000)
• 5th-8th: Bilibili Gaming, Fnatic, Gen.G, FlyQuest (USD$50,000)

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Gen.G are outright favourites in League of Legends Esports World Cup 2024 title betting, priced at $2.25. This puts them well ahead of Bilibili Gaming at $3.50, and for good reason.

Gen.G are the most successful team of the season. They won LoL Champions Korea (LCK) 2024 Spring, secured their maiden Mid-Season Invitational title in May, and won all six of their LCK 2024 Summer series.

Nevertheless, the gap between the elite teams is exaggerated, and we shouldn’t be getting $3.09 on a Top Esports outfit that pushed Gen.G to five maps in May. The value is with the underdogs.

At the offered LoL esports betting odds, FlyQuest are given only a 16.7% implied probability of winning the series. While that��s a very low number, it shouldn��t surprise anyone.

While they both come from major leagues, the quality gap between G2 Esports and FlyQuest is significant. G2 are by far the best non-Asian LoL esports team, while FlyQuest are hardly the second-best squad from the LoL Championship Series (LCS).

Even at MSI 2024, it was evident that FlyQuest were not at the level to compete against elite teams, and they��ve not shown any improvement since. Anything less than a 2-0 sweep for the European champions would be a massive disappointment.

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