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The battle for the title of League of Legends 2023 World Champion continues this weekend in Busan, South Korea, as the four remaining teams take the stage once again. The hometown heroes T1 have been playing some of the best League of Legends they’ve played all year, but they’ll face an uphill battle as they take on the betting favorites coming into the tournament Beijing JDG Intel Esports Club.
On the other side of the bracket, two familiar foes will load onto the Rift together one last time this year as Bilibili Pingan Bank takes on WeiboGaming FAW AUDI. Will T1 be able to compete for another World Championship in front of a home crowd, or will we see an all-Chinese Grand Final? Tune into the action live on Twitch or YouTube to find out.
Bilibili Gaming Pingan Bank vs. WeiboGaming FAW Audi
When: Saturday, November 11th – 3 AM ET
Odds: Bilibili Gaming (-230) vs. WeiboGaming (+180)
The semifinals will kick off with another meeting between Bilibili Gaming and WeiboGaming, two teams that have met on stage multiple times, with both of them being members of the Chinese LPL. Bilibili Gaming has had its way with most of the LPL this year. After a break-out Spring Split, they had a dominant Summer Split. They’ll enter this one with plenty of confidence as they’ve made easy work of WeiboGaming this year, taking them down all three times they played eachother this year.
As Bilibili Gaming will enter with a ton of confidence, WeiboGaming will enter with the motivation to finally take down the force that has been Bilibili Gaming and prove that they deserve their spot among the top four teams in the world. Some fans have been critical of the fact that WeiboGaming has yet to find a win over any Eastern competition, as they had the easiest path to the Semifinals, only having to beat Fnatic, MAD Lions, and NRG Esports twice.
Beijing JDG Intel Esports Club vs. T1
When: Sunday, November 12th – 3 AM ET
Odds: JD Gaming (-152) vs. T1 (+110)
The tournament favorites JD Gaming enter the semifinals as slight favorites against the most historied team in League of Legends and the hometown heroes T1. JD Gaming entered the tournament as betting favorites to take the whole thing. The squad has just operated on a different level than any League team fans have ever seen. They operate as one cohesive unit. The hours of practice that they’ve put together show that they are consistently on the same page in an almost inhuman way. Even though their games with kt Rolster in the Quarterfinals were close, JD Gaming still managed to win 3-1. They now seek to continue their success against the greatest player in League of Legends history, Faker and T1.
Earlier this year, the Summer Split a Worlds appearance was nowhere close to a guaranteed thing. Faker had to miss time due to an injury, and during his absence, T1 went through a period of losing, causing them to end the Summer Split Regular Season with a 9-9 record. Faker would come back at the end of the season and help propel the team to a 2nd place finish in the Playoffs. They’ve kept that form since the start of the tournament, finding wins over Team Liquid and Cloud9, as well as some of China’s best teams in Bilibili Gaming and LNG Esports. They’ll look to keep their run alive in front of a hopeful and supportive home crowd.