Welcome to EGamersWorld.
The main championship on the esports calendar for 2023 continues. At Worlds 2023, the first round matches of the group stage are heating up, and at the same time, the bo1 format matches continue.
The match, on paper, looks pretty passable. The teams are too different in terms of odds, but that doesn't mean The International ring is completely lost.
Let's try to figure out which team will be stronger and go to the 1-0 basket, and who will have to play in the 0-1 basket.
Let's go.
Form Weibo Gaming
We open the match analysis with an analysis of Weibo Gaming's form. In this match they will play in the status of favourite, with a huge margin in the odds: 1.12 to win. This is not surprising, as Weibo are residents of arguably the strongest region right now, that is China.
Weibo Gaming can be called a newcomer to the LPL, as the club appeared on the Esports radar and the big stage in 2021, and debuted on the LPL in 2022.
As a rookie, the results were very good. Weibo made the top 8 twice in 2022, finishing top 6 at LPL Spring 2022 and top 8 at LPL Summer 2022.
At the last tournament played before LPL Summer 2023, the previous LPL Spring 2023 split, the team again finished in the top 6. It's not surprising, as the club has a great roster.
- Weibo Gaming roster: TheShy, weiwei, Xiaohu, Light, Crisp .
Weibo Gaming very confidently entered the play-offs of the championship. In the group stage of LPL Summer 2023 the team played on the score 10-6, which allowed to take the sixth place.
Weibo's first opponent in the play-offs was Ninjas in Pyjamas, who made a great run through the group stage and then surprised in the play-offs, reaching the top 8. But obviously they couldn't win, with Weibo winning 3-1.
Weibo's next opponent in the LPL Summer 2023 play-offs was LNG Esports, who showed top flight performance in the regular season, reaching the top 2 of the league and almost beating JD Gaming in the finals. Nevertheless, it was Weibo LNG that LNG had to deal with in the play-offs, and that match ended with the score 2-3 not in favour of WG.
In the regional finals Weibo started their performance from the lower grid, where their opponent was TES. A willful 3-2 win was a key argument in favour of Weibo's advantage in this match.
Next up, Weibo played against EDG for a slot at Worlds 2023. WBG were quite game and ended up closing EDward with a score of 3-1, earning a place at Worlds 2023.
Weibo Gaming's most popular champions in spades
Weibo Gaming is not known for diversity in the top line up. TheShy plays KSante (10 games, 8 wins), Gnar (6 matches, 50% wins). Sion (2 matches, 100% wins) and Renekton (2 matches, 50% wins) make rare appearances.
The ubiquitous Maokai is ignored in the forest (appeared only once and lost). But Vi (6 games, 100% wins), Elise (6 games, 60% wins), Sejuani (4 games, 75% wins) get quite a lot of attention.
The centre line is occupied by Syndra (7 games, 85% wins), Ryze (4 games, 0% wins), Talliyah (3 games, 66% wins).
From shooters like Lucian (5 matches, 80% wins), Varus (4 games, 75% wins), Zeri, Sivir and Caitlyn appeared 3 times each and only Sivir didn't win a single game.
Sapports: Nami (7 matches, 85% wins), Ashe (4 matches, 50% wins), Yummi (3 matches, 33% wins).
NRG uniforms
Let's move on to the analysis of NRG's form. In this match the Americans will play as outsiders with a huge gap. However, NRG have already shown quite an invigorating League of Legends at home, at LCS, unexpectedly becoming champions.
NRG appeared on the North American professional League of Legends scene back in 2016. Back then, the club finished Top 6 at the spring split and Top 9 at the summer split. Since then, NRG fell into oblivion and stayed there until 2023.
They managed to return to the LCS after taking over the CLG slot. It's working out kind of well.
At their essentially first split, NRG made it to the top set of play-offs. They won the group stage 9-9, which looks pretty good overall.
- NRG lineup: Dhokla, Contractz, Palofox, FBI, IgNar .
Having taken over the CLG slot, NRG signed former Counter Logic Gaming players. After some minor roster manipulation, FBI and IgNar, formerly of Evil Geniuses and Dignitas, joined the team. So, the club is kind of new, but in essence, it's just a modified CLG, with a slightly more pleasing performance.
The LCS "newcomers" played their first play-offs match against Team Liquid. The game against a nominally stronger opponent ended in NRG's favour with a score of 3-1.
The International was even more interesting, as NRG managed to defeat the top 1 team of the regular season - Golden Guardians. They beat them on class, with a score of 3-1 without any difficulties.
Having earned a slot at Worlds 2023 the team got to the top LCS grid where they met with C9. The game ended expectedly: 0-3 for C9 and NRG's fall into the net of losers.
Already with no margin for error NRG met Liquid. The replay of the first LCS play-offs match was colourful and the result was about the same as it was with only a slight deviation. NRG won with a score of 3-2.
As mentioned above, NRG unexpectedly became the champions of the summer LCS. In the grand finals they defeated none other than the most titled team in America - Cloud9.
The most popular NRG champions
The most popular champion on the top line is Gnar (10 games, 90% wins). Jayce appeared 8 times and the winrate was 87%. Kenen was played 4 times and won all matches, KSante 4 times and 3 wins, Renekton 4 times and 2 wins.
In the forest were Vi (11 matches, 72% wins), Sejuani (10 games, 80% wins), Wukong (7 matches, 85% wins), Le Sin (6 games, 83% wins).
On the centre line it was Azir (13 games, 69% wins), Gragas (6 matches, 100% wins), Kassadin (5 games, 100% wins), Viktor (4 matches, 75% wins).
The most popular ADC is Lucian (12 matches, 83% wins). Next are Varus (8 games, 87% wins), Caitlyn (5 games, 100% wins), Zeri (4 matches, 75% wins).
Nami (13 matches, 84% winrate). Ashe and Lux have 4 games and 4 wins each.
History of head-to-head meetings
Previously the teams have not played each other in official matches. This match will be the debut meeting of the sides.
Predicted result of NRG vs Weibo Gaming at Worlds 2023
I completely agree with the bookies' opinion on this encounter. As far as I'm concerned, there will be no place for The International rigs here and NRG will not be able to fight against the more experienced and mechanically perfect Weibo.
Bottom line: a win for Weibo.
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