The second set of world games features a PSG looking to regain their composure against the Japanese V3, and UoL try to complete their run over group B, and send LGD home in their final play-in match.

Captain

Uniboy ($11,100)

In spite of PSG’s defeat to UoL, the game itself was on a knife’s edge at several points, and it was truly the type of game that was only over when it was actually over. A big contribution to the closeness of the match was a solid performance from Uniboy on Sett. While he inevitably got outscaled and draft gapped, PSG’s mid laner held his own against Nomanz, and is likely to pick up a free win versus Ace, one of the weakest mid laners in play-ins. PSG losing to UoL was nowhere near unheard of, and is unlikely to slow down their momentum throughout group stage. If you’re looking for a different pick for captain, I would probably recommend Hanabi, since Paz is likely the weakest link on V3 and was exploited before by UoL’s BOSS.

Alternatives to consider: Hanabi ($9,600) 

Top Lane

Hanabi ($6,400)

Reasons mentioned above: I think Paz is just not international standard relative to the performances we’ve seen by other top laners, he looks way too exploitable and makes strange mistakes that are indicative of a lack of game sense, such as falling to early jungle pressure. Hanabi’s cold performances against UoL is likely attributable to a very poor draft from the PCS squad, and they’re very likely to rebound against the weaker Japanese representative. The second best choice in my mind is BOSS. LangX has been a liability for LGD so far at this worlds, while BOSS has shown up nicely and has impressed us with his high mechanical ceiling.

Alternatives to consider: BOSS ($5,800)

Jungle

AHaHaCiK ($6,000)

AHaHaCiK has shown great performances so far on Hecarim and Graves, and has led them to a fantastic start in the group stage. Truthfully, judging by team trajectory, the most difficult period for UoL is likely far behind him, as LGD has looked absolutely inert in their first two matches, losing to the very underwhelming R7 already. Peanut’s abysmal gameplay has been frequently criticized as being a big factor in LGD’s losses, he simply looks lost on the international stage, and appears disconnected from the rest of his team. If AHaHaCiK isn’t your choice for jungle, I’d recommend Kongyue: I’m not sure how worth it he is considering the other players on PSG, but I do think he’ll give Bugi a beat down.

Alternatives to consider: Kongyue ($7,200)

Mid Lane

Nomanz ($6,800)

Nomanz has been a solid performer for UoL since 2019, it’s just repetition at this point: he showed up against Humanoid last worlds. He continues to play fantastically into this year, where his Kassadin shattered V3’s Galio, and his Orianna outscaled PSG’s Sett. Nomanz’s flexibility is not to be underestimated, as he is more than capable of navigating around bad match-ups, and snowballing relatively small leads into victories for his team. Your other option for mid lane is Uniboy if you haven’t picked him up yet; I don’t think Xiye is worth looking at relative to Nomanz.

Alternatives to consider: Uniboy ($7,400)

ADC

Gadget ($7,000)

I think Kramer is relatively narrow in the champions he prefers: hard scalers, most prolifically Jinx, Twitch, and Kog’maw. Meanwhile, Gadget’s willingness to play a wide berth of champions has lent him notoriety early into the tournament: Swain and Orianna were great picks in the context of the draft. While Gadget has had some baffling mistakes in both games he played, he’s still stood tall on the worlds stage and is a good combination of scaling and utility. Gadget’s greatest weakness is in his early game laning phase, which isn’t a particular part of the game Mark and Kramer are capable of punishing. If you’re not set on Gadget, I think Archer is maybe worth a look, I just don’t feel comfortable recommending Dee as your ADC, and Archer has been a bright spot on an uneasy V3 so far.

Alternatives to consider: Archer ($7,200)

Support

Kaiwing ($5,800)

Despite a bad performance against UoL, Kaiwing’s games earlier in the week made it clear that he came to worlds with something to prove. His games against both R7 and LGD looked absolutely insane, with a KDA of 38 and fantastic mechanics to match. I also think Raina has been one of, if not the worst player on V3. PSG, and Kaiwing, look more than capable of dumpstering players who are strictly worse than them, and in no world is V3 the better team over PSG. If you don’t want Kaiwing, your other option is SaNTaS. Nothing wrong with the UoL support, but the gap between Mark and SaNTaS is much closer relative to the gap between Kaiwing and Raina

Alternatives to consider: SaNTaS ($4,800)

Team

PSG Talon ($5,200)

It’s V3, come on. While DFM looked improved in 2019 worlds, I still think it’s hard to argue that LJL has ascended past low tier wildcard status. On the other hand, PCS and formerly LMS have shown that they have the potential to at least be competitive against the other major regions, if not outright beating them. The region has been historically top heavy, and while I think after the PSG subs are gone, the team will be a different story, for now they still seem like one of the better teams in the play-ins, so I have high hopes for them versus V3. Otherwise, I have UoL beating LGD based on performances: LGD look both inflexible, and have 0 confidence. On the other hand, UoL play fast, but not necessarily stupid: they navigate bad fights nicely, and play to their win condition. LGD look absolutely lost, while UoL have successfully translated their playstyle to the international stage.

Alternatives to consider: Unicorns of Love ($4,400)

 

Top Stacks

Nomanz & AHaHaCiK

Honestly, I talked about these guys in part 1 so I hesitate to retread the same ground, but I was skeptical of AHaHaCiK going into worlds, since in 2019 even a pretty bad LiRa showed good performances against the Russian. This year looks to be different for AHaHaCiK, and he has clearly grown from his last international event. Nomanz has always been a prodigy, and his massive champion pool is a huge advantage on the international stage.

Kongyue & Uniboy

The AHQ mid/jungle have shown up well for PSG despite dropping a game to UoL. These two have clear synergy, and are a real threat despite missteps in draft. I fully believe that if the game wasn’t over in pick/ban, PSG could very well have defeated UoL due to the strength of these two players, but that’s just a dream. They played well in spite of their disadvantage, and look posed to defeat V3.

Top Picks: Uniboy, AHaHaCiK, Kaiwing

I think Uniboy and Kaiwing are two good examples of straight gaps between them and their opposition, but AHaHaCiK is just a difference of form: Peanut looks really lost, and it feels like he and Xiye don’t even talk in game. Perhaps language barriers are seriously impacting how LGD are playing the game, specifically around Peanut, but these issues have never surfaced in the past. Either way, UoL presents a stark contrast: Nomanz and his jungler always appear on the same page, and they play to each other’s strengths.

Top Value: Nomanz, AHaHaCiK, Gadget

LGD, the 0-2 team, have some of the most expensive players. Meanwhile, UoL, the 2-0 team, have some of the cheapest. Obviously, this discounts the factual matter that the LPL is more competitive than the LCL, but I do find it funny that you’re ultimately paying more for fewer results. LGD have looked lost this play-ins, and I don’t think they have time to fit it together in order to defeat the surging UoL.