We are again talking about Worlds 2022, where group stage matches will start on October 7th. 16 teams will compete for the Summoner's Cup and the world title.
This time we are talking about the Group D match. The nominally weakest representatives of the four will open the quartet.
We figure out what 100Thieves and CTBC Flying Oyster will show us. The duel is extremely important for both, because “free” points are played here, roughly speaking.
Form 100Thieves
100Thieves will be the favorites for this match. The bookmaker estimates the chance of the North American team to win with odds around 1.4.
The faith of bookmakers in 100Thieves is monolithic - for a b1 match, the odds are quite significant, indicating a clear advantage for the team. Plus, it's completely justified.
While 100Thieves may not be an outstanding team, they are the silver medalists of the LCS, which is one of the titular franchise leagues in the competitive League of Legends. Speaking about the performance for the year, we can recall two silver places at the LCS: 2nd place at LCS Spring 2022 and 2nd place at LCS Summer 2022.
If we open the archives and unload the performance in the Worlds series tournaments from there, we will see not the loudest indicators. The best performance in the history of the club happened in 2021. Then the team made it to the TOP-9-11, failing to pass the stage of the group stages. Now the team will have such a chance, given not the deadliest, but already sufficient competition in the D quartet.
Lineup of 100Thieves
- Ssumday
- Closer
- Abbedagge
- FBI
- huhi
The roster has been around for a long time: the last change in 100Thieves took place in April 2021, when German Ssumday joined the team.
Heroes 100Thieves
The Thieves haven't played on the Worlds 2022 stage yet, so when studying favorite heroes, we focus on the picks of the team during the competitive season in the LCS plane. There, the team played quite metaphorically, choosing characters that often appear at the current Worlds 2022.
Aatrox went to the top most often, appearing there 8 times, but winning only 2 matches.
There was the most “unusual” choice in the forest. Closer played most of the time on Poppy (7 matches, 28% win rate).
The team's most frequent midlaner is Azir. He has 6 matches and a 33% win rate.
Zeri was taken to the bot line. For 7 matches only 28% of victories.
You could see Lulu on the support. 1 win in 4 matches.
CTBC Flying Oyster Uniform
This match will be played as an underdog by CTBC Flying Oyster. The chance of winning the bookmaker's team is estimated by the odds around 2.6.
In fact, there is nothing critical here, even though the gap is solid. As I mentioned above, the match against 100Thieves should be the closest for the Taiwanese, because the rest of the inhabitants of group D look much more serious.
An outstanding season for the CTBC Flying Oyster can not be called, but this is due to the geography of the competitive League of Legends. CTBC Flying Oyster took second place at PCS Spring 2022, after which they won PCS Summer 2022.
The catch is that these are all team results. By “everything”, they really mean all their merits: the 2022 season was the debut for the club.
Club's first year - first appearance on the Worlds. It smells like a “Cinderella story”, but you can’t rely on it much.
CTBC Flying Oyster squad
- rest
- Gemini
- Mission
- Shunn
- Koala
CTBC Flying Oyster have created a mix of the strongest representatives of Taiwan, but how they will look on the international stage almost always playing against teams that are much more experienced is a big question.
Heroes CTBC Flying Oyster
Taiwanese keep up with fashion and play meth. This is clearly seen in the peaks of the team.
I would say that they perform more in a "Western" style, despite the proximity to the Eastern League of Legends.
The top most often take Aatrox (4 matches, 100% wins), Renekton (4 matches, 50% wins), Gnar (4 matches, 75% wins).
In the forest they play on Wukong (6 matches, 83% of wins), Viego (4 matches, 75% of wins).
Viktor (7 matches, 4 wins) and Taliyah (5 matches, 100% wins) appeared most often on the mid lane.
In the bot, preference was given to Aphelios (5 matches, 80% of wins).
Favorite position support Nautilus (7 matches, 100% win rate).
History of personal confrontations
Previously, the teams did not play each other. The opening match of Group D at Worlds 2022: Group Stage will be the first face-to-face confrontation between the teams.
Match outcome
In this duel, although there is an obvious favorite, it is scary to choose him as the winner. 100Thieves played very hard in the LCS, making their way to the championship through sweat and tears. Not impressive, that's for sure.
Naturally, comparing LCS and PCS is stupid - there is too much gap between the region in terms of the game and North America is traditionally considered more solid. But the problem is the unknown.
CTBC Flying Oyster is a pig in a poke. They actually rolled over their colleagues in Taiwan and what to expect at the international level is a question. Whether it will be a repetition of the Beyond Gaming performance, or a radically different performance is a matter of time.
So I bet 100Thieves and give North America a chance. I've been burned out on EG, I can be burned out on Cloud9, but I see this one as the most logical fight of all the matches involving North American clubs at Worlds 2022. Here the LCS must win, because if not here, then where?
Bottom line: 100Thieves win.
