With the League of Legends 2023 World Championship on the horizon, Riot is bringing back its Worlds Pick’Em predictions. This year, however, it comes with a twist.

Given the newest Worlds format which features a Swiss stage instead of the traditional group stage, as well as a revamped play-in stage, there will be a few adjustments compared to previous years.

This year Pick’Em is powered by AWS and they will offer new prediction challenges and bigger rewards for Worlds 2023. Not only can you climb on the global leaderboard, but you can also team up with friends using custom leaderboards to heighten the competition. Additionally, you can also gauge your predictions against the biggest names in LoL with the Celebrity Leaderboard.

The LoL Worlds Pick’em 2023 play-in stage starts on October 4, 2023 at 17:00 CEST and closes on October 10 at 9:15 CEST. Most of the teams that will be eligible to be picked for the Worlds Pick’em 2023 are also featured on our LoL Worlds 2023 Power Rankings as the top-tier teams from Europe, China, Korea and North America duke it out for international supremacy.

Image Credit: Riot Games

Read also: All the Worlds 2023 Event Pass, Missions and Drop Rewards

Worlds Pick’em 2023 Predictions

Disclaimer

Please note that Worlds 2023 Pick’Em is available to play in all regions except for Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Donetsk People’s Republic (“DNR”), Luhansk People’s Republic (“LNR”), Sudan, Venezuela, Syria, China, Myanmar, Quebec or any other region where this offer is void, and requires a valid Riot Account and a Summoner Name to play and receive rewards. Riot also added that eligibility for prizes and rewards may vary in different regions due to local regulations.

2023 Crystal Ball – Predict the future at Worlds

Just like last year, Riot Games is bringing the Crystal Ball, featuring more ways to earn more points and bigger rewards! This year’s Crystal Ball will challenge you to dive even deeper into this upcoming Worlds meta, pushing the boundaries of your predictive prowess. It’s divided into three sections:

Act Now: 20 Worlds prediction questions will be available starting on October 4. You can make your selections right up until the start of Worlds, as the Crystal Ball picks lock at 9:15 CEST on October 10 with the start of the first Play-In Stage match.
Seal Your Fate: Lock in your picks before the window closes! Relying on The Coin won’t salvage missed Crystal Ball opportunities. Read on to learn more about The Coin – it could be your saving grace, or your downfall!
Reap The Rewards: Come back after the World Final (on November 19) to see how you scored and earn rewards based on your performance! Crystal Ball offers an additional way to earn rewards as its points and rewards are separate from traditional Pick’Em.

Pick’Em Format for Worlds 2023

Play-In Stage – Starting on October 10, Play-Ins take center stage with eight teams divided into two groups, clashing to determine which two teams will ultimately move on to the Swiss Stage. Play-Ins Round 1 features 2 groups playing best-of-3 series in a double-elimination bracket to determine the top 2 teams from each group. The top 4 teams from Round 1 move on to Round 2: a pair of best-of-five series, the winners of which will go on to the Swiss Stage.

For the Pick’Em predictions, you have to guess which 2 teams, among the seven play-in teams and the two Worlds Qualifying Series (WQS) seeds, you believe will go through to the next stage. Bear in mind that the Worlds Qualifying Series between Team BDS and Golden Guardians happens on October 9, so you will have one day of time to tweak your predictions before the start of the play-in stage. After seeing their result, you will at least know which of the two won’t be able to advance, essentially eliminating one choice among the 9 teams. Make your choices COUNT!

Play-Ins will open October 4, 2023, at 17:00 CEST and close October 10 at 9:15 CEST

Swiss Stage – From October 19 to October 29, the two winning teams from Play-ins will be joining 14 others in a cross-regional Swiss format battle. In this stage, you will have to predict which 8 teams will head to the Knockout stage by dragging and dropping them above everyone else. Remember, don’t forget to pick one team you think will go a perfect 3-0 for some additional points!

Swiss Stage will be open for picks on October 15 at 17:00 CEST and close on October 19 at 7:00 CEST.

Knockout Stage –  Once the Swiss Stage has finished and the top 8 is decided, you’ll be able to pick the winners for matches at each step of the way throughout the Knockout Stage, as well as the winner of the 2023 World Championship. Make sure to lock in your choices after the end of the Group Stage to make your predictions for the Quarterfinals and beyond. You can also make adjustments before the start of the semifinals.

Quarterfinals will be open for picks on October 30, 2023, at 17:00 CET, and you will have until right before each Quarterfinals match starts to choose your winning team

Quarterfinals game 1 will close November 2, 2023 at 9:00 CET
Quarterfinals game 2 will close November 3, 2023 at 9:00 CET
Quarterfinals game 3 will close November 4, 2023 at 9:00 CET
Quarterfinals game 4 will close November 5, 2023 at 9:00 CET

Semifinals will be open for picks on November 5, 2023, at 17:00 CET. Like the Quarterfinals, you will have until right before each semifinal match starts to choose your winning team.

Semifinals game 1 will close November 11, 2023, at 9:00 CET
Semifinals game 2 will close November 12, 2023, at 9:00 CET

Finals will be open for picks on November 12, 2023, at 16:00 CET and close on November 19 at 9:00 CET prior to the start of the World Final.

No time to study the game or teams? Let The Coin choose for you.

Just like last year, Riot Games allows fans to let fate choose their destiny with The Coin. It makes random selections for players who miss a pick stage, so they can always join late and let the RNG gods decide for them. That being said, any points earned by The Coin will take a small deduction. Please note that The Coin will not make selections for any missed Crystal Ball picks.

Scoring System

Crystal Ball points: Scoring for Crystal Ball predictions will take place after the World Final concludes. All points earned for correct picks will be on a separate leaderboard than traditional Pick’Em points.

Play-In Stage points: Correct predictions for Play-Ins picks each grants you 10 points.

Swiss Stage points: You’ll earn 5 points for each team correctly picked to advance to the Quarterfinals, as well as an additional 15 points if you correctly pick a team that goes 3-0. If you manage to accurately predict all 8 teams to advance along, as well as one accurate 3-0 pick, then you will be given 20 additional points for a Perfect Swiss Stage.

Knockout Stage points: Each correct pick during the Quarterfinals awards 10 points. Correct picks during the Semifinals earn 15 points each. And successfully picking the World Finals nets you a massive 20 points!

Leaderboards Explained

If you are good enough on your Pick’Em predictions, there might be a chance you are featured in the top 100 players on the Global Leaderboard. You can always monitor your progress and the progress of others and see how many potential Perfect Picks remain.

Otherwise, you can also create your own leaderboard and play Pick’Em with your dearest friends: simply select “Create a Leaderboard” and distribute the generated invite link to your circle. To share your leaderboard in view-only mode, click “Share” and send out the share link to your pals.

Pick’Em Rewards

Compared to previous years, 2023 Pick’Em come with a larger variety of rewards for both participation and performance in both Pick’Em and Crystal Ball separately. Players can qualify for rewards based on the highest Tier in the two separate categories (note that the rewards are not cumulative and will be awarded based on the highest Tier reached in each respective category). All performance-based Tier rewards will be delivered on November 20th after the conclusion of Worlds. If you believe you qualified for a Pick’Em reward and did not receive credit for it by November 27, contact Player Support to reap your rewards.

Participation:

Make 1 Crystal Ball Pick: Earn Mundo “Let Me In!” emote
Make 1 Swiss Stage Pick: Earn Wu’Kong “Power Through” emote
Make 1 Quarterfinals Pick: Earn 1 Worlds 2023 Capsule
Make 1 Semifinals Pick: Earn 1 Worlds 2023 Capsule
Make 1 Finals Pick: Earn 1 Worlds 2023 Capsule

Pick’Em (Traditional) Performance Tiers:

Perfect Picks: All Ultimate Skins
Top 5,000 Rank: Worlds 2023 Renekton Skin + Champion
S-Tier Rank (Top 5%): 50 Event Tokens + 4 Worlds 2023 Capsules + Yuumi “Method To The Madness” Emote + Sivir “The Struggle” Emote
A-Tier Rank (Top 20%): 3 Worlds 2023 Capsules + Yuumi “Method To The Madness” Emote + Sivir “The Struggle” Emote
B-Tier Rank (Top 40%): 2 Worlds 2023 Capsules + Sivir “The Struggle” Emote
C-Tier Rank (Top 70%): 1 Worlds 2023 Capsule + Sivir “The Struggle” Emote

Crystal Ball Performance Tiers:

Top 5,000 Rank: Worlds 2023 Renekton Skin + Champion
S-Tier Rank (Top 5%): 50 Event Tokens + 4 Worlds 2023 Capsules + K’Sante “K’Sad” Emote + Karma “So Relieved” Emote
A-Tier Rank (Top 20%): 3 Worlds 2023 Capsules + K’Sante “K’Sad” Emote + Karma “So Relieved” Emote
B-Tier Rank (Top 40%): 2 Worlds 2023 Capsules + Karma “So Relieved” Emote
C-Tier Rank (Top 70%): 1 Worlds 2023 Capsule + Karma “So Relieved” Emote

Worlds 2023 Perfect Picks & Top 5,000 Rewards

If you accomplish Perfect Picks, then it means that you were correct in 100% of Play-In Stage, Swiss Stage, and Knockout match picks, and won the maximum amount of traditional Pick’Em points. Note that Perfect Picks are for the Play-In, Swiss, and Knockout Stages only and are independent of Crystal Ball results.

Perfect Pickers will be able to earn a cache containing all 7 Ultimate Skins: Pulsefire Ezreal, Spirit Guard Udyr, DJ Sona, Elementalist Lux, Gun Goddess Miss Fortune, K/DA ALL OUT Seraphine, and Soul Fighter Samira.

Please note that your account must be at least level 20 to be eligible for the rewards. If you already have those skins, you’ll have the option to disenchant them into Essence. The Ultimate Skin Cache reward will be processed manually and distributed within one week following the end of Worlds (by November 27).

According to Riot Games, there have been 0 (zero) Perfect Picks in the past two years so Riot will still guarantee rewards for the top 5,000 highest-ranked scores in both traditional Pick’Em and Crystal Ball. For this year’s Worlds, the top 5,000 players in either Pick’Em or Crystal Ball will receive the Worlds 2023 Renekton skin as well as Renekton if not already unlocked.

Worlds 2023 Crystal Ball Pick’em

We will be revealing our Crystal Ball Pick’Em in the next few days so come back to the check them out!

Worlds 2023 Group Stage Pick’em

Come back when the Group Stage begins!

Worlds 2022 Group Stage Pick’em

Worlds Pick’em 2022 Predictions

Like any other World Championship, Worlds 2022 is slated to feature some of the most fearsome competition ever assembled on the Summoners Rift. This year, veteran talent is at an all time high. Returning legends in every single roster are making their bid for the cup.

With four teams representing the LPL, LCK and LEC, this year we probably have one of the toughest pick’ems for all stages of the tournament.

Worlds 2022 Crystal Ball Pick’em

The Crystal Ball is the outright esports betting equivalent given by Riot Games for their Pickem challenge.  You are given a chance to select the overall winner of Worlds 2022 outright, and if you do so, you will be awarded extra points at the end of Worlds. Crystal Ball picks are already available, and you can select your winner right now.

Gen.G is our selection for the Crystall Ball Pick’em Challenge. We decided not to flip-flop in our selection, and will pick the same champion we proposed in our LoL Worlds Betting Odds guide. The remaining selections are in the images above and below:

Going into the Worlds ’22 Finals, our Crystal Ball picks largely flopped as well, with the potential exception of Baron Steals.

Worlds 2022 Group Stage Pick’em

We are giving the LPL, LEC and LCK prime selections in our Worlds Pick’em. The expectations is that all LPL teams will dominate their groups, except for 4th seed RNG facing LCK’s top seed in Group D. Additionally, our LEC bias has all LEC teams overperform against the LCK and ending the Group Stages in 2nd place. This may end up with our overall pick’em being completely wrong.

[Groups Update]: After all is said and done, our Group Stage picks earned us 31 points in total. Only Group D went according to our expectations with the LEC seeds flopping heavily in Groups in Week 2.

Below are our 2021 and 2020 Group Stage picks and how we fared.

Worlds 2021 Group Stage Pick’em

Worlds Group Stage Picks in 2021

With such a stacked talent line-up, predicting the Worlds Pick’em is an art form in itself. The Group Stage picks were opened on October 10th.

Our predictions favor the top Chinese and Korean forth into knockouts. With European top seeds looking shaky and a general consensus that North America is the weakest region at Worlds 2021 (apart from wild cards), we are likely going to see an all LPL/LCK line-up come Playoffs. Out of the Play-in stage, only Detonation FocusMe had a surprising performance, with every other team going according to our Worlds 2021 Predictions.

Group A has our Crystal Ball pick in FPX and returning World Champions DWG Kia at the top. Neither Rogue nor Cloud9 were convincing in their home region series or the Play-In (C9), and we doubt either will make it out of Groups this year. This group might hold the Worlds 2021 Finalists as well.

Groups B, C and D are all reserved for the top Korean and Chinese seeds.  With Fnatic losing Upset days ahead of the event, we have no faith in any European seed making it out of Groups this year. MAD Lions has a tough group with LNG and Gen.G and even Team Liquid might go 1-1 against them. Detonation FocusMe did come out top in Play-Ins but they are not likely to win a single game against T1 and EDG. 100Thieves might win a single or both games versus DFM but that is as far as they will get.

Finally, PSG Talon is the only dark horse that might have a reasonable shot of coming out of Groups if they perform well against Hanwha Life. Overall, we are looking at a very eastern dominated Worlds event this year.

We made the following selections in each of the four groups:

© Esports.net Worlds 2021 Group Stage Pick’em Prediction

Worlds 2020 Group Stage Pick’em

Worlds 2020 Group Stage Pick’em

After several back and forth’s between our analysts we finally came down with the following prediction:

© Esports.net Worlds 2020 Group Stage Pick’em Prediction

Our predictions favor the top Chinese, Korean and European seeds to advance forth into knockouts. We came to a general consensus that North America is the weakest region at Worlds 2020 and is likely not having any team into Knockouts this year. Out of the Play-in stage, only the Unicorns of Love and LGD Gaming had interesting performances, but have both been seeded into difficult groups.

In Group C, Gen.G should be the main favorite ahead of Fnatic who are traditionally performing poorly in Round 1 of groups. Once the re-matches kick off, Fnatic should bounce back and finish the group just shy of the Koreans. LGD and TSM might battle for 3rd spot simply because of the bo1 format.

Groups B and D are reserved for the top Korean and Chinese seeds. We have absolutely no faith in Rogue or FlyQuest taking games from LPL or Korean teams. The only real contender are Unicorns of Love who might steal a game from DRX and contest for second in a tiebreaker.

Finally, Group A is arguably the hardest one to predict. While G2 Esports are considered the main favorites, anyone that followed the LEC Summer Split knows how poorly G2 performs especially if Claps turns into Craps. Machi Esports and Suning might easily win games against each other and against G2 turning the group upside down. In the end, if G2 performs well they are guaranteed a first seed trailed by Suning with a potential tiebreaker between em.

Read also: Learn how to bet on LoL Worlds

Worlds 2022 Knockout Stage Pick’em

After only netting 31 points in groups, we decided to let the coin make our quarterfinals picks, just to see if we get the lucky with the selection. Turns out the coin was even better then us at it.

Moving into the semifinals our selections are going to be JDG and Gen.G to move on to the grand final. With such highly contested matches both picks may go sour quickly.

Below are our 2021 Knockouts picks as well.

Worlds 2021 Knockout Stage Pick’em

Worlds 2021 Knockout Stage Pick’em

The Knockout Stage is set to begin on October 22nd 2021. Our Pickems for the quarterfinal matches favor the LCK teams heavily, especially after the immense showing in Groups by all Korean participants.

Esports.net

I fully expect all three Korean seeds to move forward. Between the two LPL teams (EDG, RNG) there might be a silver scrapes series that go can go either way. I went for EDG while our other authors went for RNG. Expect a coin toss series there and the selection is down to your personal preference.

For betting related LoL Worlds Odds and predictions, check with our Esports News section.

Worlds 2020 Knockout Stage Pick’em

Worlds 2020 Knockout Stage Pick’em

The Worlds Pick’em is a fun prediction based way of looking at the League of Legends World Championship for fans who want to participate in the esports action without having to delve into the stakes. As long as your predictions are correct, your eligibility for prizes continues to accumulate through two different phases. The picks for quarterfinals have unlocked on October 11 @ 4:00 PM PDT, with the locking of picks closing the night before the first match is played.

We correctly assessed the strength of all the participants in our Group Stage Picks but we failed to guess the correct seeding. Our Knockout Stage Pick’em is fairly easier as we already know how most participants scale up to each other.

© Esports.net Worlds 2020 Knockout Stage Prediction

All four match ups are pretty straight forward. As LEC fans we would love to see the European teams perform well, but in reality, the best we can hope for is a single team reaching semifinals.

First up, TOP Esports meets Fnatic in a classic LPL vs LEC match up. It’s the tradition for Fnatic to be eliminated by a Worlds Champion for two years in a row now. While TOP Esports has a huge claim on the trophy themselves, we anticipate the Final is where they will fall short. There were lessons learned in the Fly Quest vs TOP Esports match up in Groups on how to beat the LPL top seed, but Fnatic can at best hope to take one game with a superior force draft. After that TOPs teamfighting and lane dominance should prove too much for FNC to handle.

Suning vs JD Gaming is an interesting match up due to both teams preparing very specific drafts for one another. When two teams from the same region meet we can expect the Worlds meta to be ignored and very specific and niche matchups to decide the outcome. Over the course of the entire season JD has been the better team, and we can expect this trend to continue into Knockouts.

G2 Esports vs Gen.G is where the LEC is putting their hopes in for a strong EU finish at Worlds. Gen.G has looked shaky at best in Groups and are hardly considered favorites in this match. If G2 doesn’t Craps themselves from the get go, we can expect a swift 3-0 from the Europeans.

Finally, DAMWON vs DRX is a repeat of the LCK 2020 Summer Finals. We already know how this match-up goes as DAMWON is an absolute bully when it comes to beating teams from their own region. DRX didn’t grow that much in the past two months, that they would suddenly become a challenger for DAMWON. We can fully expect another swift 3-0 here.

Update 23/10: Our bracket still holds true regardless of the Suning vs JD Gaming result. We are still confident TOP Esports can beat Suning with relative ease and advance to the Worlds 2020 Finals.

Worlds 2022 Grand Finals Pick’em Selection

After both semifinals went in a different direction than expected, we have to go with Faker and T1 winning Worlds 2022 after their dominating showcase throughout the event. We of course cannot forget how dominant DRX looked versus Gen.G in the second semifinal, but between T1 and DRX one must always go for legacy and consistency.

Winning the final pick will get us enough points to earn hefty rewards.

The Coin makes another appearance at Worlds 2022

The Coin was a new addition to the Worlds 2021 Pick’em challenge. If you fail to select winners or picks for a certain stage of the event, the Coin will do it for you. The selections will be random, based on no particular metric, meaning picks will be wacky and all over the place. However, it will enable you to always join late in the challenge and still be able to earn rewards.

While you wait for the Knockout Stage picks, you can read how our predictions last year went, and how we ultimately guessed the World Champion, but failed to anticipate the strength of Suning.

Worlds 2022 Pick’em Rewards

League of Legends Worlds Pick’em bares a similar resemblance to fantasy esports in that most fans can still participate in the competitive result aspect of League of Legends in a manner separate from Fanduel or DraftKings betting options.

While certain sites like DraftKings esports possess a slew of options for bettors in a variety of formats that could be appealing for tournaments as decadent as Worlds 2022, the LoL Worlds Pick’em is a streamlined attempt at getting spectators to jump in on the action regardless of result. While esports betting in the USA is still restricted in some areas from participating in those options, a LoL Worlds 2022 Pick’em seems to make a lot more sense for fans who want to get their foot in the door on competitive League of Legends betting formats. The skills it takes to have an elite bracket within a Worlds pick’em are just as valuable for these other sites as well.

For each lock-in phase successfully executed, each player will be awarded small blue essence awards. The Crystal Ball pick will award you 300 BE, while Group Stage locks will earn you 500. For locking in any full stage picks, you will be awarded with 1000BE and a Hextech Chest + Key combo to utilize in the craft section of the league client.

Check back on this page to view all our picks for the Group Stage, before you play your own 2022 Worlds Championship Pick’em Challenge.

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