by It may be the pressure of playing with DAMWON Gaming, but both Flamengo eSports and Royal Youth looked exceptionally strong in Thursday’s play-in matches at the League of Legends World Championship.
While is only one possible champion in Group D, the race is on for second place and a spot in the next phase of the tournament.
Thursday results:
Royal Youth 0-1 DAMWON Gaming
DAMWON Gaming 1-0 Flamengo eSports
Royal Youth 0-1 Flamengo eSports
DAMWON Gaming vs Royal Youth
Saturday, October 5 – 12:00 CEST
DAMWON Gaming – -1111.11
DAMWON will enter their fixture against Royal Youth as undisputed favourites, which is fair, despite looking a bit shaky in their first meeting.
The Koreans struggled to contain Can “Closer” Celik and his Qiyana, however, with superb macro play DAMWON managed to close up the fixture before disaster struck.
Royal Youth – +573
It’s hard to not be impressed with what Royal Youth showed on Thursday against DAMWON.
Not only did they manage to stay competitive, but Royal Youth at some points also looked like they could upset the Korean giants.
That being said, Royal Youth lacked the experience needed to tip the match into their favour.
Prediction: Over 24.5 kills – -108.7 at BetOnline
While we can praise Royal Youth for their performance on Thursday, DAMWON were no pushover. They might have looked a bit lost at times, but once they got it rolling, DAMWON were rolling straight to the enemy nexus.
All in all, Royal Youth looked very aggressive against DAMWON and should they enter this fixture with the same spirit, we could be in for yet another bloody battle.
Flamengo eSports vs DAMWON Gaming
Saturday, October 5 – 14:00 CEST
DAMWON Gaming – -4000
DAMWON enter this fixture as huge favourites and we can’t argue with that logic, considering they completely trashed Flamengo eSports in their first meeting.
The match did start with some back-and-forth exchange of kills, but as soon as Kim “Canyon” Geon-but got ahold of his third and fourth kill at around seven-minute mark, DAMWON pulled away and closed out the match in just over 30 minutes.
Flamengo eSports – +950
Odds are a fair reflection of how low Flamengo’s chances are to upset DAMWON, and not because of the Brazilian side are by any means bad, but more so because DAMWON are so good.
We have learned Flamengo can play very well, and be very deadly, however, for their strategy to work, they need to have a strong early game, which they won’t be able to achieve against DAMWON.
Prediction: DAMWON to draw first blood – -227.27 at BetOnline
DAMWON did not have many problems winning against Flamengo the first time and we don’t expect them having any issues winning here either.
By the time this fixture starts, the Koreans should already have the ticket for the second round in their hands, however, that should not change the way they will play. Meaning DAMWON won’t hold back from finishing play-in with a perfect 4-0 record.
Flamengo eSports vs Royal Youth
Saturday, October 5 – 16:00 CEST
Flamengo eSports – +150
Flamengo started the match against Royal giving away first blood, but bounced back in style in 10th minute with two kills and an infernal drake.
Their biggest jump, however, happened in 14th minute, when Felipe “brTT” Gonçalves cashed in his Draven stacks on top of taking Turret platings, which marked the point of no return for Royal Youth.
Royal Youth – -200
It would be easy to say Flamengo eSports out drafted Royal Youth in their clash on Thursday due to one simple reason, which is Draven.
Note to Royal Youth: If enemy carry (brTT) has Draven axes tattooed on his arms, you can be sure he will be a nuisance with the champion, which is exactly what happened.
That being said, Draven was not the only reason Royal Youth lost on that day, but also the fact Flamengo played with more aggression and had far better control over objectives.
Prediction: Flamengo eSports to win – Best odds at BetOnline
The question here is, whether Flamengo can repeat what they have shown on Thursday when they produced not only the fastest game of play-in stage (24-12), but also the most dominant win we have seen so far.
And to be fair, there is no reason to believe they couldn’t defeat Royal again.
The Brazilian team looked very clean in their Thursday’s match and while the Draven pick helped with their dominance, it was the overall performance from the whole team that makes us believe Flamengo can do it again.
