Esports World Cup LoL Predictions – Five Takes ahead of the tournament

The Esports World Cup (EWC) LoL tournament is scheduled to start later this week, bringing together the 10 teams from MSI in addition to Cloud9 and LCK’s Hanwha Life Esports. Despite the teams still being fresh from the end of the Mid-Season Invitational, the packed schedule and the particular tournament format might lead to some unexpected turnarounds. Here are our predictions on the 2025 Esports World Cup LoL tournament.

Hanwha Life Esports will be a top contender at the LoL Esports World Cup

HLE’s missing out on MSI might become a major advantage for them heading into the EWC. They had more time to prepare for the event, considering the big break they had after the LCK Road to MSI playoffs, and won’t feel the fatigue of the other top teams that played all the way through the very end. With their group stage draw also looking relatively easy, with only CFO looking like a potential threat, HLE has all the cards to make a deep run.

The Western Teams might pull off unexpected upsets

Even though the West has a lot to catch up to compete with the best teams from the Eastern regions consistently, teams like G2 Esports and FlyQuest have shown at MSI that they can take a few wins here and there. With the EWC tournament format featuring Bo1s and Bo3s in the group stage and knockout stage (except final), there is a much higher chance that a Western team pulls off the unthinkable.

With C9, G2, and FLY all placed in the same group, it’s guaranteed that one of the three will head to the Knockout stage, meaning that we will get a match between the West and the LPL or LCK once again.

China’s Best Hope – AG.AL

Before someone gets surprised, remember that Anyone’s Legend changed their name to AG.AL for the Esports World Cup Club Championship. Aside from that, the LPL team continues to be the region’s biggest hope of upsetting the Korean counterparts. With Tabe leading the team, they might have that X factor that allows them to fight for the title.

Game Quality will be a Step Down from MSI

With matches being played back-to-back and the shorter best-of-series, we definitely won’t see the same level of consistency seen at MSI. Group stage could lead to highly chaotic drafts, given that Fearless Draft won’t be something players have to consider, making the meta read much harder to nail right off the bat. Whether that will be a strength or a flaw will depend on individual preferences.

Hot Take – EU might not make it out of groups

It’s one of the worst times to be an LEC fan, given the struggles shown by both MKOI and G2 at MSI. Based on how the group stage draw is, the chances of making it through are slim. MKOI is, on paper, weaker than HLE and CFO, and G2 got destroyed by FlyQuest in the elimination series, as opposed to Cloud9, which was able to push their opponents to five games in the LTA Split 2 Playoffs.

While you could argue that was over a month ago, Cloud9 is still expected to have a higher ceiling and floor compared to G2… and don’t count out FURIA, who forced G2 to five games at MSI…