The League of Legends World Championship knockout stage is about to begin. With eight teams competing, the hot topic is which four will make it to the semifinals. European legendary jungler Jankos recently predicted the quarterfinal outcomes during a livestream. He believes that in the upper bracket, T1 will defeat AL, while TOP Esports will lose to G2. Ultimately, G2 and T1 will meet in the semifinals, but T1 will overcome G2 to advance to the grand final.

In the lower bracket, GEN is expected to beat HLE, and KT is predicted to win against CFO. In the semifinals, GEN will triumph in the intra-region clash and face T1. Finally, GEN will claim the S15 championship. Xiao Yang’s prediction is not very favorable for the LPL; if both G2 and T1 win, the best result for our region this year would only be reaching the quarterfinals. However, both T1 and G2’s current form is somewhat mediocre, so personally, I think AL and TOP Esports have better chances.

Besides Jankos, the official LPL caster recently posted a video analyzing the knockout matchups. Let’s hear what Guan Zeyuan has to say. He didn’t predict exact scores, only the winners. First, GEN versus HLE: Guan Zeyuan believes GEN will win because in their league encounters, GEN completely dominated HLE. Moreover, HLE’s mid and top lanes have been inconsistent.

Next is KT against CFO. Guan Zeyuan thinks that if CFO’s top lane doesn’t rotate and keeps Driver in the lane, they have about a 40% chance of winning, implying he favors KT. However, he also feels KT’s top and mid lanes are quite young and might falter under pressure in big matches. When it comes to TOP Esports versus G2, Guan Zeyuan started to jinx, bluntly saying: "TOP Esports is unbeatable." Uh-oh, that comment might bring bad luck to TOP Esports.

He believes TOP Esports got the best possible draw against G2. As long as Kanavi is in rhythm, TOP Esports can win. G2 only reached the quarterfinals due to favorable draws. Although their stability has improved, their overall strength is still inferior to TES. Lastly, T1 versus AL: Guan Zeyuan thinks AL has the advantage because T1 excels at seizing opportunities, but AL’s discipline is very strong. Regardless of advantage or disadvantage, AL rarely gives openings.

Additionally, T1’s top and bottom lanes have three players with fluctuating form. Facing a steady team like AL, winning will be tough. To summarize Guan Zeyuan’s quarterfinal predictions: AL and TOP Esports win in the upper bracket, GEN and KT win in the lower bracket. If this happens, both semifinal matches will be intra-region battles, with teams fighting hard for a spot in the final, culminating in a Korea-China showdown for the World Championship title.

The predictions from these two analysts are reasonable, each favoring teams from their own regions, which makes sense. But honestly, TOP Esports is a bit unreliable because whenever everyone believes in them, the players tend to underperform. This pattern has been proven many times. For example, in the Swiss stage, they were favored against KT but got swept, then underestimated against BLG but won.

So whether TOP Esports can beat G2 remains uncertain. However, AL’s chances of defeating T1 are quite high. From the Swiss stage, AL stood out for their stability and rarely gave opportunities, with all players in good form. T1 is good at capitalizing on mistakes, but AL doesn’t easily allow chances. Unless Doran and Little Rumble regain form, AL might win decisively over T1 to reach the semifinals.

Conclusion:

The gap between the two brackets is quite large. CFO was heavily defeated, and LCK almost guaranteed a final spot. But in the upper bracket, if AL can’t beat T1, even if TOP Esports takes down G2, they’ll struggle against T1 later on. To put it bluntly, LPL’s hope for the championship this year rests entirely on AL. Although I don’t want to doubt TOP Esports, they haven’t even beaten KT yet.

So, which four teams do you think will win their matches?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!