League of Legends: NA teams heavy underdogs in round one of MSI

Can one of them pull off the upset?

In the league of legends pro scene, North American teams have always struggled to win international tournaments. Whether because of play style or lack of talent, NA has always been considered the weakest of the four major regions. Although LEC teams have also struggled to win international tournaments, they have a world championship and an MSI title to show for their efforts. NA has neither.

On paper, neither of these teams are head and shoulders above previous LCS teams that looked like they had a realistic shot at winning an international tournament. However, last year’s world champions DRX proved that underdog teams can get better during a tournament and can win. Winning the entire tournament may not be realistic, but anything can happen in one best of five series. C9 and GG have a lot of players with experience playing in international tournaments, and the C9 organization has been one of the best in NA for years.

WHAT A GAME:@GenG win the series against @G2League! #MSI2023 pic.twitter.com/CVVRqfRNJ5
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 9, 2023

C9 VS BLG odds and preview

Cloud9 will go head to head with BLG in round 1 of the League of Legends MSI main bracket. They will play a best of five series on May 11. BLG are the betting favourites in this series with -357 odds on Tonybet. This is an upper bracket match. Teams need to lose twice to be eliminated from MSI. Some notable names on BLG’s roster are top laner Ze-Bin “Bin” Chen and mid laner Qi “Yagao” Zeng. BLG had a 10-6 record in the LPL, arguably the strongest region in LoL. Despite their regular season record, BLG defeated Weibo, OMG, and EDG in the playoffs. They lost to JDG in the LPL spring final 3-1.

C9 are the underdogs at +249. C9 finished with the best record in the NA LCS with a 15-4 record. They are led by spring split MVP Mincheol “Berserker” Kim and former two-time MVP Robert “Blaber” Huang. C9 won the NA LCS spring split by defeating Flyquest 3-0 in the upper bracket final and then defeating Golden Guardians in the grand final. No team from NA has ever won MSI in the tournament’s history. Team Liquid reached the grand finals in 2019 and CLG reached the grand finals in 2016.

GG VS JDG odds and preview

Golden Guardians will match up against the LPL champions in round one of MSI. GG and JDG will play on May 12. JDG are huge betting favourites on LoL betting sites. JDG has -5000 odds to win the series on Tonybet. Golden Guardians currently have +952 odds to win. JDG has a strong roster, featuring former world champion Jaeehyeok “Ruler” Park, Ding “Knight” Zhuo, Jinhhyeok “Kanavi” Seo, Jiahao “369” Bai, and Yungfend “Missing” Lou. Playing in one of the best regions in the world, JDG lost only three games during the LPL playoffs and defeated BLG 3-1 in the final.

Golden Guardians was a middle of the pack team during the regular season, finishing at .500 with a 9-9 record. This team clawed its way through the playoffs, defeating the red hot 100 Thieves team led by Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng in the first round of the lower bracket. GG went on to defeat Evil Geniuses, and FlyQuest before losing to C9 in the finals 3-1. Jae Hyun “Huhi” Choi and Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes have had success at MSI in the past, both players were on the CLG squad that reached the final in 2016.