All four Korean teams have advanced to the knockout rounds out of the Group Stage. That continues an incredible success rate for the LCK, as just one Korean team has failed to advance to the quarterfinals in the history of the League of Legends World Championship. There have been some close calls over the years, but it's impossible to question Korea's historic supremacy on the international stage.
On the other hand, you have the Western teams. After the first round robin in the Group Stage, no Western teams were in position to advance, but one LCS team (Cloud9) and one LEC team (MAD Lions) were able to make it through despite neither team finishing with a record over .500 in the Group Stage. The hopes of North America and Europe are now on their shoulders, but both teams are significant underdogs ahead of the quarterfinals.
2021 League of Legends World Championship Quarterfinals Odds
T1 -364
Hanwha Life Esports +251
It's been an incredible run for Hanwha Life Esports. They finished in eighth place in the LCK during the Summer Split, but they were able to qualify for the Regional Finals as a result of their strong performance in the Spring Split. Chovy carried them through and punched their ticket to Worlds, and they ended up nearly winning Group C.
Their run will come to an end against fellow LCK team T1 in the first match of the Quarterfinals. T1 are the second-best Korean team at this point, and they look like one of the top three teams in the world. Faker is once again living up to his reputation as the GOAT, and Oner and Keria are both playing at a high level.
Edward Gaming -150
Royal Never Give Up +112
At least one LPL team will end up making it to the semifinals. Unfortunately, these are the only two Chinese teams left at Worlds, so the winner of this series will have the hopes of the biggest region on their shoulders.
Edward Gaming won the LPL Summer Split, while Royal Never Give Up won the LPL Spring Split. The former team has the advantage in this series though, as Edward Gaming have the best bottom lane in the world with Viper and Meiko hard carrying this team at times. It's hard to find a definite advantage for RNG outside of top lane, so this feels like a 3-1 win for EDG.
DWG KIA -714
MAD Lions +499
DWG KIA are the defending world champions. They became just the fourth team to finish unbeaten in the Group Stage at Worlds, and two of the three previous teams to do that ended up winning it all. This team is the overall tournament favorite with ShowMaker staking a claim to being the best player in the world, and top laner Khan is thriving before retirement.
If MAD Lions are going to pull off the improbable upset, they need to win through the bottom lane. Carzzy and Kaiser have the potential to win lane against Ghost and Beryl, and they will need to exploit this as much as possible.
Gen.G -278
Cloud9 +221
Perkz continues to prove he is the most accomplished Western player at Worlds. The former G2 Esports mainstay carried Cloud9 to quarterfinals, ensuring that North America's most successful organization at Worlds continues to hold that claim. He could lead C9 to the upset of Gen.G too, as Gen.G have been extremely inconsistent over the last few months. Ruler is a former world champion, but so many of this team's starters are coinflip players.
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