Worlds 2022 Pick ‘Ems – Crystal Ball Categories: Event

Another year of League of Legends Worlds means another year of Pick ‘Em. The famous tradition is back again but newly improved. With multiple changes, the official Pick ‘Em for Worlds 2022 includes many new categories for fans and spectators to engage in with hopes of beating their friends and other people around the world for a shot at some pretty cool prizes.

But when it comes to picking the right answers for all the new categories, it may be tough to pin down the right choices.

Pick‘Em is back with more prediction challenges and more rewards than ever for #Worlds2022!

Read: https://t.co/qV0axmr80S pic.twitter.com/JnIQ1LJRVE

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) September 22, 2022

Upcomer’s panel of League experts are here to give the fans a look at their choices in order to make more informed decisions. Here is a look at Upcomer’s picks for the event category of the Worlds 2022 Crystal Ball Pick’Em.

How many reverse sweeps will there be at Worlds 2022?

Warren Younger: This year has been absolutely crazy in terms of five game series in playoffs but reverse sweeps are a different beast. It’s so hard to pick but momentum is a hell of a drug and when it comes to taking and running with it, there are some serious killers at Worlds 2022. I think two is the correct number here but could expect more. 

E.G Kant: Reverse sweeps are generally not very common and I believe last Worlds only had one. And this is difficult because you don’t know till the Knockouts are drawn, where in my opinion, team familiarity could dictate this a lot (like LPL vs LPL). I think it will be either one or none, two maximum. I’ll just go with one but that’s my range. 

Kenny Utama: I think there going to be one in the playoffs. They’re rare as there aren’t that many best of fives in the tournament. So at most their will be one.

Rashidat Jimoh:  I’d say very few like two or even less  because I think we’re in a meta that allows you to take control and never let go from the early stages. While we may see more reverse sweeps happen towards the end, it’s hard to see one of the LCK or LPL teams letting go of a 2-0 lead easily.

How many pentakills will there be at Worlds?

Younger: Although Zeri has fallen out of favor in the Worlds patch, I do think the crop of bot lakers at this years tournament is insane and because of that, I think we can expect more pentakills as usual. Three plus trust. 

E.G: Pentakills…maybe one? Maximum two? They’re not awfully common and I don’t think Worlds often has many pentakills either. I mentioned GALA or Ruler being the most likely pentakill holders, so I’ll stick with either one or two. 

Kenny: I think there will be one, itll come from Chovy and it’ll end the grand finals of the tournament. That is all.

Rashidat: Two here, one from GALA and maybe Ruler or Chovy. I think if we’re to get many penta kills at Worlds, Gen.G will be the team leading the charts in that department.

What will be the duration of the longest match at Worlds?

Younger: This is kind of a masochist pick because I’m covering the event but long games are very tense and I think its definitely possible to see one that goes almost an hour. Lets just hope its a good game between good teams and not a clown fiesta. 

E.G: 47 minutes 33 seconds. Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t tell you, but I got a feeling it’ll be somewhere around this. It doesn’t seem to me on paper like there are many teams participating in this Worlds that like to stall so it’s hard to say.

Kenny: 40:23. I’m gonna go for a shorter game time, as teams get better, game time just get shorter. Once a team gets a lead, its tough to hold them back and not snowball properly.

Rashidat: I’m going with Top Esports vs Gen.G or Top Esports vs another LPL team because they look like they’d go the distance with the top teams at the event and it will be really hard for either team to close out easily.

How many baron steals will there be?

Younger: I don’t think teams are as clean right now as they should be and because of that, Baron attempts are bound to be sloppy. With so much opportunity to flip games I think there will be a good number of Baron steals and would probably expect six to eight. 

E.G: Barons contests tend to be a bit odd, sometimes you can get one jungler stealing it twice or sometimes more in a single game. For this Worlds we have quite a few Baron thiefs like Tian and Jankos but other roles can and have contribute to this statistic. I’ll be a little bit more optimistic here and say maybe four or five but this one could be quite volatile. 

Kenny: Gonna go with a solid 5, which is probably on the lower end. There will be three actual, organized Baron steals, one that was completely thrown by the team in the lead and a random spell taking it.

Rashidat: I foresee there being up to five baron steals because there are a lot of top junglers at Worlds 2022. With the likes of Tian, Canyon, Kanavi, Oner, Elyoya and Jankos, teams will have to be extra careful when taking down the baron.

Which Drake will be killed the most?

Younger: Kind of a coinflip here but hear me out on my logic behind Cloud soul. Although individual Drakes have been buffed, I still think there is less pressure for a team to secure Cloud Soul than the others making it very easy for a team to take it uncontested which leads to more Cloud Drakes killed. When a dragon is contested it puts teams on hold as they don’t want to be the team that makes the wrong move which inherently delays the Drakes from being picked up. Although I’m probably thinking way too hard about this. Just pick your favorite. 

E.G: This is literal RNG — and no not the team. I don’t think there’s any way to analyze this so let’s just go with…Hextech Drake. Thank you my Magic 8 ball. 

Kenny: Gonna go with Cloud here, no reason really, I flipped a coin between this and Hextech. 

Rashidat: This is quite hard to predict but I’ll go with Cloud Drake here.