Over the last two weeks, the 16 teams that qualified for the main event of LoL Worlds 2023 battled it out for the final eight spots to head into the knockout stage of the tournament.

JD Gaming and Gen.G both asserted their dominance by winning their first three series to book a place in the knockout stage last week, which has given them nearly two weeks off before their respective quarterfinal matches.

LNG Esports, T1 and NRG were next to punch their tickets after compiling 3-1 records across their four series each.

The final day of the Swiss stage was dominated by LPL and LCK teams, as Bilibili Gaming defeated G2 Esports, Weibo Gaming edged past Fnatic and KT Rolster dominated Dplus KIA to secure the final three places in the knockout stage.

The final eight teams include all four representatives from the LPL, three LCK teams and the sole Western hope in NRG from the LCS.

For the first time since 2014, there will be no LEC representative in the quarters, with Team BDS, MAD Lions, G2 Esports and Fnatic all failing to progress.

Due to their dominance throughout the 2023 League of Legends season, where they won both the LPL Spring and Summer splits as well as the Mid-Season Invitational, JD Gaming remain the outright favourites at $2.20 with esports betting sites to claim Worlds 2023.

The opening series of the quarterfinals will feature NRG and Weibo Gaming, which will take place at 5pm KST on Thursday, November 2.

Quarterfinals series

• Thursday, November 2 — NRG ($6.00) vs Weibo Gaming ($1.11) @ 5pm KST
• Friday, November 3 — Gen.G ($1.25) vs Bilibili Gaming ($3.75) @ 5pm KST
• Saturday, November 4 — JD Gaming ($1.16) vs KT Rolster ($4.50) @ 5pm KST
• Sunday, November 5 — LNG Esports ($1.83) vs T1 ($1.83) @ 5pm KST

The #Worlds2023 Quarterfinals schedule!

Which matchup are you most hyped for? pic.twitter.com/lgwECPweER

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 29, 2023

More esports news

FNATIC vs MAD LIONS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

Fnatic and MAD Lions are set to cross swords on Saturday, September 9, in the semifinals of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2023 Season Finals. It’ll mark their second meeting since the regular season and the first since late July, when Fnatic swept MAD Lions during the LEC 2023 Summer Groups.

Since their heroic run to the LEC 2021 Summer title, MAD Lions have been quite an enigma, usually saving their peak performances for best-of series. This likely has to do with their flexibility and ability to prepare for the games ahead.

Fnatic made significant strides in LEC 2023 Summer, and after finishing the first two splits in ninth and eighth place, the Black & Orange made the semifinals of the LEC 2023 Summer Playoffs. But like MAD Lions, Fnatic have shown good and iffy performances since the regular season, with a fairly high degree of volatility.

With ��scar “Oscarinin” Mu?oz Jim��nez out with an injury, Fnatic will continue playing with Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen, who is hardly a downgrade. Wunder performed admirably in the series against Team BDS and should provide some consistency and a stable top side for Fnatic against MAD.

Fnatic have a better top side, but if we compare other lanes, it’s tough to pick a favourite. Both teams can play through the bot lane and have versatile mid-laners and junglers who can carry the series.

This game could go either way, so we would have to be getting slightly better odds from LoL betting sites to pick a team. Instead, we’ll take over 12.5 towers, as Fnatic and MAD Lions both averaged over 12 towers per game during the regular season.

More esports betting tips

MAD LIONS vs EXCEL ESPORTS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

MAD Lions and Excel Esports are set to clash in the opening round of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2023 Season Finals this Saturday. It’ll mark their second meeting since June and the first since the LEC 2023 Summer Groups, where Excel Esports won 2-0.

It is no surprised to see Excel priced as favourites with most LoL betting sites. Even though the teams had two weeks to prepare for this match, and we also got a huge patch (13.15), this likely won’t change the balance of power.

Ignoring the first two splits, Excel Esports have looked like one of the best teams in the region. They had their ups and downs during the regular season and weren’t dominant in the LEC 2023 Summer Groups. But in the playoffs, Excel stepped up, playing two good games against G2 Esports and humiliating Fnatic.

In contrast, MAD Lions barely made it into the LEC 2023 Summer Groups and were then swept by Fnatic and Excel Esports. The Lions were quite good in the first two splits, but in LEC 2023 Summer, their form has dropped significantly.

The gap between Excel Esports and MAD Lions is much more significant than the offered LoL betting odds suggest. Even though they are known to be a resilient team in best-of series, this version of MAD Lions doesn’t look nearly as scary as they did in winter or spring.

?More esports betting tips

Following an awe-inspiring comeback in the LEC 2023 Summer regular season, Fnatic were due to some regression, but few expected it to happen in the first round of LEC 2023 Summer Groups. Despite entering the second stage of the split as heavy favourites, Fnatic lost their opening match of Group B against SK Gaming (0-2), which puts them in a very rough spot as they might not make the LoL World Championship 2023.

Their loss against SK Gaming can be mainly attributed to SK’s efficient movement around the map and Fnatic’s macro mistakes. The main thing to take away from that game is that Fnatic have some things to iron out before contesting the LEC crown.

MAD Lions suffered a similar loss against Excel Esports, who punished MAD’s sloppiness and secured an easy victory. Seeing MAD Lions and Fnatic lose their opening games in a similar fashion now brings the question �C how will this meeting go?

Fnatic and MAD Lions are both somewhat inconsistent teams, but if we look beyond what they showed in the first round, Fnatic look like the better team. However, their head-to-head price is far too short.

This can easily turn into a messy game, and it wouldn’t be too shocking to see MAD Lions win. But at $2.10, a bet on over 2.5 maps is the better choice.

KOI lost their opening match of the LEC 2023 Summer Groups against G2 Esports (0-2), while Team Heretics choked a 1-0 series lead against Team BDS and lost 1-2. And while KOI’s defeat is less concerning, it’s hard to defend Emil “Larssen” Larsson and his crew for what they showed on Sunday.

The big reason for Team Heretics’ defeat against Team BDS was their weak top side which is also the leading factor for why Heretics haven’t done better this split. Top laner Shunsuke “Evi” Murase is not good enough to compete at this level of play and will be the weak point KOI will look to exploit. But despite having a clear win condition, KOI’s top side isn’t that strong either.

We have two teams with very similar flaws, so stylistically, they should match up nicely. Other lanes tip slightly in favour of Heretics, but not enough to justify having Heretics priced as $1.66 favourites.

KOI can be two-faced, and the lack of consistency makes them a risky team to bet on. Still, at plus money, KOI offer some value.

?More esports betting tips

In the opening series of the Mid-Season Invitational bracket stage on Tuesday, reigning LCK Spring champions Gen.G will open their campaign with a mouthwatering clash against the 2019 MSI champions, G2 Esports.

Gen.G ended their latest LoL Champions Korea split with a huge 3-1 victory in the grand final over T1. After going into the decider as massive underdogs, Gen.G took the first two maps of the series to set up a shock win over the odds-on LCK favourites. Going into their maiden Mid-Season Invitational, Gen.G can shake things up and cause a lot of teams some trouble, just like they have shown with consecutive third-fourth results at the LoL World Championship in 2021 and 2022.

G2 Esports became the first qualifier from the inaugural LEC Winter split, securing a spot in the bracket stage after sweeping both LOUD and PSG Talon in the play-ins last week. Although G2 were crowned LEC Winter 2023 champions, they could only manage a fourth-place finish in the LEC Spring split, where they were defeated 2-3 by eventual winners MAD Lions in the lower-bracket semifinals.

Historically, Korean and Chinese teams have dominated the LoL Mid-Season Invitational, with G2 Esports in 2019 being the only team from outside of those regions to win the MSI. The last time these two teams clashed was at the 2020 LoL World Championship, where G2 took the series 3-0; however, we expect the Koreans flip the script and record a comfortable win this time around.

On Wednesday, MAD Lions from the LEC will be taking on T1 from the LCK in one of the more lopsided matchups of the tournament to date.

MAD Lions pulled off a monster comeback to win the LEC Spring split. Having scraped into the playoffs with a 3-6 record, the eighth seed went undefeated to storm through the lower bracket and claimed the title with a come-from-behind victory in the grand final over Team BDS. Now MAD will be coming up against a two-time MSI champion team, and they will need to step their game up to another level if they expect to have a chance in this series.

After finishing with 17 wins and one loss during the regular season, T1 went into the LCK Spring playoffs as unbackable favourites with esports betting sites. After they destroyed Gen.G in the upper-bracket final, it appeared as though the title was theirs for the taking, but Gen.G flipped the script to win 3-1 in the grand final. With the greatest League of Legends player of all time, Lee ��Faker�� Sang-hyeok, and one of the best rising stars, Lee ��Gumayusi�� Min-hyeong, on their roster, it is hard to see T1 not making it to the final four of this event.

T1 are way too short to suggest betting on in the head-to-head markets, so we will be taking them at the kill handicap instead, where we expect them to easily cover the 11.5 line in what should be a comfortable victory.

More esports betting tips

MSI 2023 will begin on May 2, with the play-in stage scheduled to run for the first week.

After that, we will have eight teams competing in the main event playoffs for the 2023 MSI title at the Copper Box Arena in London.

Below is a list of the 13 teams competing at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational:

The #MSI2023 Play-In Draw! pic.twitter.com/sezNofH6n1

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) April 23, 2023

The other eight teams will begin their MSI campaign on May 2, while Gen.G, T1, JD Gaming, Cloud9, and MAD Lions await the top three qualifiers from the play-in stage.

The MSI 2023 play-in bracket is set, and the matches and odds are listed below:

• Bilibili Gaming ($1.02) vs Movistar7 ($11.00)
• G2 Esports ($1.12) vs LOUD ($5.50)
• Golden Guardians ($2.00) vs GAM Esports ($1.72)
• PSG Talon ($1.40) vs DetonatioN FocusMe ($2.75)

More esports news

MAD LIONS vs G2 ESPORTS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

MAD Lions and G2 Esports will clash in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2023 Spring lower-bracket semifinal on Friday, April 21. It��ll mark their first meeting since the final week of the regular season when G2 Esports won with a 14k gold lead and 33-11 in kills.

Since then, MAD Lions have lost against Team Vitality (0-2) and defeated Fnatic (2-1) and Astralis (2-0) to secure a spot in the playoffs. On the other side, G2 Esports lost against KOI (1-2) in the opening round of LEC 2023 Spring Groups before beating SK Gaming (2-1) and KOI (2-1) in the rematch.

G2 Esports haven��t looked as clean in the LEC 2023 Spring Groups as expected, but besides their slip-up against KOI, they haven��t disappointed. MAD Lions, on the other side, have shown some flashes, but overall concerning performances. So even though they made it into the playoffs, it��s hardly surprising seeing esports betting sites pricing them as $4.50 underdogs.

Comparing the two teams, G2 Esports field much better players across all positions, have better performance stats, and play much more cohesively. Stat-wise, G2 Esports are ranked first in the league across every metric besides gold difference at 10 minutes (1030), whereas MAD average out at about third-fourth best stats across most stats.

And then there��s the eye test, which proves that G2 Esports play better League than MAD Lions. They aren��t as inconsistent and have a much stabler approach to their games �C in contrast with MAD Lions, who often get a bit reckless once ahead, which has cost them wins this season.

Betting on clean sweep wins in the current meta is a bit scary due to how strong blue side is; however, even with that handicap, it��s hard to doubt G2 Esports and their chances to walk away from the series unharmed.

?More esports betting tips

?Team Heretic have managed just two wins over the first two weeks of the LEC 2023 Spring regular season, but that isn’t necessarily as bad as it sounds since they’re one of three other teams entering the final week with a 2-4 record. On the other hand, Astralis have won three games, and even though they lost their opening two fixtures last week, they rounded up their run with a huge victory against Team Vitality.

On paper, Astralis look only slightly better than Team Heretics, which might explain why esports betting sites have Astralis priced at $1.61 and Heretics at $2.20, but those numbers make no sense. Team Heretics might’ve won two games, but they’re arguably the worst team in the league.

Heretics have yet to show anything that would make us believe they can be competitive, and their complete lack of synergy makes it extremely hard to bet on them against any opponent. Astralis are by no means one of the leading LEC title contenders, but the head-to-head odds look way too generous.

?KOI lost against Astralis, MAD Lions, and Fnatic, but they also beat G2 Esports. Results like that don’t help with figuring out whether KOI are actually good, and as we enter the final week of the LEC 2023 Spring regular season, there’s still no clear answer.

Excel Esports have yet to find their footing, but things might change this week following a minor roster change, with mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berri�� stepping down to make room for Felix “Abbedagge” Braun.

Abbedagge played his last professional LoL match at the end of 2022 with 100 Thieves, so it’s hard to judge how much of an impact he will have. But how things have been going for Excel and how weak their mid lane was, it can only go up.

Despite what the latest LoL esports betting odds suggest, this match has upset potential – not so much because Excel might do well, but because KOI are very inconsistent. At $2.67 with GG Bet, we’re ready to take a shot with Excel.

At the end of LEC 2023 Spring Week 2, Team Vitality lost against G2 Esports and Astralis, proving that the league is competitive and that Team Vitality aren’t untouchable. This is concerning from a betting perspective since it’s hard to justify betting on Vitality without fearing another upset.

Perhaps Team BDS winning here wouldn’t be that big of a shock since BDS are a very competitive team, and their 4-2 record confirms it. Team BDS’s only losses came against SK Gaming on the opening day of the regular season and G2 Esports in an extremely close match which could’ve easily gone the other way.

Team BDS, much like Astralis, are dangerous and will defeat anyone if given a chance. However, although still individually much weaker than Team Vitality, the Bees have yet to show their true power and are arguably not as synergised as BDS.

If Team Vitality play their game, Team BDS will struggle to win, but we haven’t seen enough from Vitality last week to back them at the offered odds. We’re taking Team BDS with a +6.5 kill advantage.

Fnatic are priced as $3.00 underdogs with the top League of Legends betting sites, which might make sense if we consider their showings throughout the season. But Fnatic won two games last week – against Team Heretics and KOI – and looked very good doing it.

We wouldn’t want to overreact to a couple of strong showings, but it’s easy to underestimate how much of a morale boost a two-game winning streak can have. Moreover, Fnatic had a solid draft in their recent wins, and if they can keep drafting like that, they might add a few more victories to their record.

MAD Lions still look like the better team, but they’ve not shown much this split (2-4). Also, we’re talking about a best-of-one game, making the offered LoL esports betting odds on Fnatic even tastier.

There’s no telling where Fnatic will go from this point or whether their 2-1 week was a fluke. Regardless, Fnatic should never be priced this high against MAD Lions. Value is with Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and his crew.

?More esports betting tips

Even though G2 Esports entered the LEC Winter split as the favourite with esports betting sites, there were some reservations about their roster, with three new players joining the roster following their disappointing run at LoL Worlds 2022. However, there appeared to be little cause for concern as the now 10-time LEC champions finished the split by winning six of their last seven matches while dropping three maps.

G2 Esports are the clear favourites to win the LEC Spring split at $1.90 with GG Bet, ahead of Team Vitality at $3.00 and MAD Lions at $8.50.

LEC Spring 2023 Top Tip: G2 Esports

We let G2 Esports slip through our fingers, thinking that the offseason changes would hurt G2’s chances of winning the LEC Winter split, but they made us look silly by dominating KOI and MAD Lions on their way to their 10th LEC title.

Martin “Yike” Sundelin, Steven “Hans sama” Liv, and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle, G2’s new additions, all held their own, with Yike and Hans sama recording top-10 KDA’s across the LEC. With their first split behind them, we have no doubt that G2 will only improve heading into the spring split.

Considering how dominant G2 were throughout the group stage and playoffs, there isn��t one team in the LEC that can say they have the wood over the reigning LEC champions, as they defeated both KOI and MAD Lions in the playoffs.

Most LoL betting sites aren��t offering much value for G2 Esports, which are ticketed around the $1.80–$1.90 mark, but there doesn’t appear to be a team in the LEC that stands out as a clear threat to the reigning champions, so we will be backing them in to go back-to-back.

More esports betting tips

@G2LEAGUE ARE THE 2023 #LEC WINTER CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/F235vDl5HN

— LEC (@LEC) February 26, 2023

After an off-season full of drama and roster changes following a disappointing group stage exit at LoL Worlds 2022, the now 10-time LEC champions couldn��t have asked for a better start to their 2023 season.

G2’s mid-lane star Rasmus “caps” Winther took home the LEC Winter MVP award after a standout performance throughout the playoffs.

Your #LEC Winter Finals MVP: @G2Caps! pic.twitter.com/wxRYDotKXJ

— LEC (@LEC) February 26, 2023

G2 only dropped one map during the playoffs, against KOI in the upper-bracket final, before they went on to destroy MAD Lions, winning three straight maps to clinch the LEC Winter title.

The result is sweet revenge for G2 after they were knocked off their LEC perch by the Lions in 2021 when they took out back-to-back titles, seeing G2 Esports miss the 2021 League of Legends World Championship for the only time in their history.

Now that G2 have taken out the LEC Winter split, they have booked the first place at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, which will be held in London in May.

There won��t be a lot of time for G2 to celebrate, nor for MAD Lions to feel sorry for themselves, as the LEC Spring split kicks off in just under two weeks�� time, on March 11.

More esports news