Pain Gaming vs Loud: CBLOL 2022 Picks and Predictions
Few tournaments this year have thrown up the kind of surprises as the CBLOL playoffs. paiN Gaming and LOUD will face each other in the final on Sunday after a brutal, brilliant display of dominance in the knockouts. The split’s top two seeds and original title favourites, FURIA Esports and RED, are nowhere in the picture.
After bullying the other teams for the duration of the season, both bowed out tamely in the playoffs making way for seeds number three and four to compete for the title. The stakes are even higher because the winner will qualify for the Worlds play-ins. The League of Legends betting predictions favour PNG as the more likely team to bring home the championship, so let’s take a look at why.
Predictions: paiN Gaming to win
Odds: 2.03
Betting Site: Odds provided by GG.Bet
When: Saturday, September 03 – 17:00 CEST
paiN Gaming
After seeding at number three, PNG had a relatively smooth ride to the final. They beat FURIA 3-1 in the first round of the winner’s bracket, an upset that left the split’s top seed floundering, wondering what had hit them, in the loser’s division. Of course, FURIA did not go quietly. Their easy win in the first of the best of five shook PNG out of their slumber, and the next three games were bloody, hard-fought battles. But PNG sealed three in a row, and then progressed directly to the semi-finals to meet LOUD.
That series, as it turned out, was a preview to the final. Fiercely contested from both sides, with neither willing to give an inch throughout the course of each game. LOUD won the first, and it was a skirmish that tested the nerves. Both teams had a close number of kills, 20 by LOUD and 16 by PNG, but LOUD were able to build a better advantage with their higher count of towers, inhibitors and barons.
PNG were jolted out of their slumber, and retaliated with a fiery victory in under 30 minutes. With the scoreline now equal, the competition became even more intense. The third game went on for over 40 minutes, Trigo and dyNquedo accounting for 16 of the team’s 20 total kills. PNG took the lead, and now it was LOUD’s turn to feel the jitters.
The fourth match was longer and even more violent, spanning close to 45 minutes and witnessing 40 kills in total. It was a bloodbath where both teams fought to the bitter death, and LOUD scrapped their way to the nexus, setting the score at 2-2. But PNG had had enough of the back and forth. Wizer’s rampage saw him inflict 13 kills, and LOUD were no match for them in the end. Since PNG were able to stay calm during this mayhem, the LoL odds tip them to come out on top once again.
LOUD
Seed number four LOUD had a slightly longer route to the playoffs than their counterparts, but eventually ended up at the same destination. After PNG knocked them out of the playoffs, they dropped to the lower bracket semi-finals to await their opponents. There they were faced with the uninviting task of beating FURIA, but the contest turned out to be quite one-sided.
FURIA dominated the round robin during the split, but lost their mojo in their playoffs. They put up a bit of a fight in the first game, managing 10 kills, but LOUD were far ahead in terms of tower count (9) and dragons slain (5). They were able to wrap up the next two games quite easily, closing them both out in less than 28 minutes.
Thiago “tinowns” Sartori, Diego “Brance” Amaral and Leonardo “Robo” Souza were the chief orchestrators of this. Brance, who averages 5.33 kills per game in the playoffs, was responsible for 15 kills in the last couple of games, and tinowns inflicted 13.
LOUD have faced PNG three times this season, and still haven’t been able to produce a win. But though LoL predictions tip PNG as having the slightest of edges, given how both teams have performed in the playoffs, the competition is guaranteed to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller.