The 2019 MSI China vs North America Rematch
Looking at this year’s MSI semifinals, it’s impossible to not remember one of the biggest upsets in the history of lol bets. Back in the 2019 MSI, Team Liquid would meet Invictus Gaming, the 2018 League of Legends world champions, in the semifinals where not a single league of legends betting expert was expecting a win for the North American squad. But Team Liquid managed to defy all the expectations and after 4 intense games, they took down the team that was considered the best in the entire world at that time.
Trying to repeat the feat this year, Impact and Evil Geniuses will face up against Royal Never Give Up, the team that finished 1st in the rumble stage. Except for Impact, this Evil Geniuses lineup doesn’t have much in common with 2019 Team Liquid. They have one rookie in the mid lane and another one in the bot lane, and that’s what makes this match so exciting for all the North American fans.
We all know how strong the Royal Never Give Up players are, and don’t me wrong, RNG is the clear favorite coming into this match, but just like Invictus Gaming did in 2019, they might end up dropping the ball if they underestimate the potential of the NA squad.
RNG Was The Most Consistent Team in The Rumble Stage
A couple of days ago, we talked about how Royal Never Give Up managed to put the most solid performance out of all the teams that played in the rumble stage. That’s because they not only took a game off every single team in the group, but they also didn’t drop a single game against the minor region teams, and I consider that to be just as important. RNG clearly struggled against G2 Esports’ aggressive playstyle during the opening day of the rumble stage, but they bounced back quickly after that.
The only other game they dropped was against T1, which was their very last encounter of the rumble stage. I think that it’s very obvious that RNG didn’t expect T1 to perform as they did, considering how the LCK representative was playing in their games before. In their match against RNG, T1 came right out of the gates swinging hard, and to be honest, this wasn’t as unexpected because time and time again, we’ve seen the Korean teams play their best when they start feeling the pressure and many league of legends bets experts agree with this.
In the end, Royal Never Give Up finished the rumble stage with a 8-2 score, which makes them the clear favorites coming into their semifinal match. Xiaohu has demonstrated that, right now, he is a strong contender for the title of best mid laner in the world, and if he ends up winning the whole thing, I don’t think there’ll be much debate around that. The rest of the RNG lineup has been playing out of their minds too, but we can’t deny that this is a much more personal matter for the Chinese mid laner.
The North American Miracle is Still Alive
Just like in the 2019 MSI, you would be considered crazy if you think that the North American team is going to beat the Chinese overlords, but just like in 2019, they might be able to do it once again. If we take a look at the bigger picture, there is no reason to think that it’s impossible for Evil Geniuses to take down RNG. In 2019, Invictus Gaming arrived at the MSI as the world champions and just like RNG, they dominated EU, NA, and KR in the group stage.
Now Evil Geniuses are going up against RNG, and while they might not come into the MSI as world champions like Invictus Gaming, they are still considered the strongest team in the whole tournament. The North American team didn’t put up their best performance in the rumble stage, where they only took 1 game off a major region team, although it was against T1 and they did it in an impressive manner. EG went 0-2 against both RNG and G2 Esports, which might be one of the reasons why it’s hard to believe they’ll take down RNG in the semifinals.
Looking back at their game against T1, I think that Impact is the one with the highest chances of carrying EG to the victory. He already did it once back in 2019, and judging by his performance in the rumble stage, he might be able to put Royal Never Give Up in an uncomfortable position. Through a strong laning presence and pristine teamfighting, he’s been able to give Evil Geniuses the edge when it comes to fighting stronger teams, which gives a lot of hope for the North American fans, even if they are going heavily against the lol odds.
RNG vs Evil Geniuses Game Information
- Date: Friday, May 27th
- Time: 4:00am ET
- Live Stream: Twitch.tv
Take a Look at Other 2 Articles for This Week’s League of Legends Matchups
- T1 vs G2 Esports Predictions, Game Preview, Live Stream, Odds & Picks
- How to Become Better With The New League of Legends Patch 12.10 Changes & Meta
RNG vs Evil Geniuses Predictions
Let me start by saying that I would love it if Evil Geniuses wins this series against Royal Never Give Up, but in reality, I don’t see a single scenario where this happens. RNG is looking very decisive in their games and I think there is so much pride involved in their run for this year’s MSI title, that they won’t allow themselves to commit multiple mistakes.
Xiaohu is looking to take the mid lane throne, and he won’t take a no for an answer. Just by looking at the way he’s been playing throughout the whole tournament, Xiaohu doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. He’s completely dominating every single one of his opponents and as soon as he gets a lead, he transitions it so well to the rest of his team.
I do think that Evil Geniuses will be able to take 1 game, but RNG will end up winning the whole series, not only because they have the better players, but also because Evil Geniuses have only one way to win their games. EG has been trying to play through decent scaling and just a bunch of initiation tools that doesn’t allow the enemy team to respond, but they haven’t been able to get a gold lead against RNG a single time and while it might happen once in this series, it won’t go further than that.
PICK: Map Advantage +2.5 for Evil Geniuses at +106
