Worlds 2021 Outlook Series | Infinity Esports (LLA) Preview

With Worlds 2021 on the horizon, the representatives from the Liga Latinoamérica, Infinity Esports, are one of 22 teams from across the globe that are gearing up for their biggest and most important event of the year. The 2021 League of Legends World Championship will feature each region’s best players, all fighting for the same goal: to stand atop the mountain and hoist the Season 11 Summoner’s Cup.

Infinity Esports, coming out of the emerging LLA region, are heading back to Reykjavík, Iceland with the same roster that qualified for the Mid-Season Invitational earlier this year. But while the names are the same, this is a significantly improved roster that should not be taken lightly in the play-in stage at Worlds 2021.

Infinity Esports (LLA) Worlds 2021 starting roster breakdown

• Top: Mateo Alejandro “Buggax” Aroztegui Zamora | Signed in December 2020. Formerly a member of Falkol.
• Jungle: Diego “SolidSnake” Vallejo Trujillo | Signed in November 2017. Formerly a member of ZAGA Talent
• Mid:  Cristian Sebastián “cody” Quispe Yampara | Signed in December 2020. Formerly a member of Azules Esports.
• Bot: Matías “WhiteLotus” Musso | Signed in December 2019. Formerly a member of Redemption POA
• Support:  Gabriel “Ackerman” Aparicio | Signed in December 2020. Formerly a member of ⁠Nocturns Gaming.

How they got here

Infinity Esports had an impressive first half of the pro 2021 League of Legends year. They won the LLA opening season playoffs and represented the region at MSI back in May. Although their MSI journey ended with a 1-5 record in their group, they returned to their home region looking to complete the sweep as champions in both splits.

Infinity Esports picked up right where they left off in the LLA. They began the closing season with a 6-0 record and never dipped below first place. They ultimately finished the split with an 11-3 record. With the LLA running a “king of the hill” style of playoffs, Infinity Esports got a free pass to the finals. It was there that they were tested for the first time all split.

Estral Esports pushed Infinity Esports to the brink of elimination as they went up 2-1 in the finals. With a rebound win in Game 4, Infinity Esports were looking to close out the series and prevent the upset. But Estral didn’t make it easy. Each team traded blows and captured three dragons apiece. With the gold even at 37 minutes, a decisive fight broke out in the river and went in Infinity Esports’ favor. INF quickly cleaned up EST and pushed down the mid lane to squeak out their second straight finals victory and their second straight trip to Iceland. This time, Infinity heads to Reykjavík for Worlds 2021.

Players to watch

While Infinity Esports are running with the same roster that they took to MSI, this team is much-improved and sports the stats to prove it. The biggest improvement over the last few months has undoubtedly come in the mid lane. Despite ranking towards the bottom in most key stat category during the opening season, cody led all mid laners in those same statistics during the closing season. According to Oracle’s Elixir, his 7.1 KDA (Kills/Deaths/Assists) placed him first among his mid lane peers and third overall across all positions in the LLA. Additionally, he ranked first among mid laners in gold per minute and damage per minute and tied for first in CS per minute.

Cody also frequents the solo queue ranked ladder in the North American League of Legends server and has left a big impression. In a Worlds 2021 tier list stream earlier this month, cody got a shout out from Team Liquid’s Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in and TSM’s Mingyi “Spica” Lu. Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, who was also on the stream, didn’t realize cody was a pro player but recognized his name from solo queue. “This guy is Latin American Faker,” said Doublelift, giving him the highest praise of all. The compliment was a reference to South Korean legend, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.

(Warning: The video embedded below contains coarse language.)

The transformation from bottom-tier mid laner to best in the region earned cody both the Most Improved Player and the Most Valuable Player awards for the LLA’s closing season. Suffice it to say, he’ll be a huge part of Infinity’s game plan at Worlds 2021.

How Infinity Esports can succeed at Worlds 2021

The roster that Infinity Esports are taking to Worlds 2021 is pretty much the LLA’s All-Star team. Between jungler SolidSnake, mid laner cody, bot laner WhiteLotus and support Ackerman, four of the five players from the LLA’s closing season All Pro team are on Infinity Esports. The only INF player that didn’t make the All Pro team was top laner, Buggax, who just so happened to be named finals MVP for the series that actually got Infinity to Worlds.

Infinity also swept the team-based awards. Coaches Gabriel “Von” Barbosa, Roberto “Snok” Coello and Luis “Piroxz” Chavez earned Best Staff honors, while Infinity Esports as a whole won the Team of the Season award.

The names might be the same but this is not the same team that was at MSI. This is a red hot roster that has seen each member get better in a short amount of time. The only question, then, is how much better? If cody and the rest of the Infinity Esports squad can show that their improvement is for real and can carry their closing season success to the international stage, they will be a real contender to make it into the group stage at Worlds 2021.

This article is part of an ongoing preview series of all 22 teams competing at Worlds 2021. For our complete release schedule and more information on the other 21 teams attending Worlds, check out Upcomer’s Worlds 2021 Outlook Series hub.