LPL’s first seed starts its MSI journey against the underdogs from the LCS.
MSI 2023 hasn’t been the best for West vs East matchups. Even with G2 and GG picking up one game each in their series, there were a lot of one-sided games than there used to be. JDG vs Golden Guardians doesn’t look like the series that will turn the tide for Western League fans but there is always a chance of upset, however small it is.
For the readers who aren’t all that familiar with the teams, you can read our individual team previews on JDG and Golden Guardians.
JDG vs Golden Guardians Preview
JDG
JDG is the only remaining team we haven’t seen play at MSI 2023 yet. But unlike most other teams, it’s not hard to know what to expect from them. They are already a pretty controlled team, especially for LPL, so they don’t have a lot of variance in their performance. Plus the meta suits them almost perfectly.
The solo lane meta so far has been about facilitators, and JDG has arguably the best weakside player in 369 and one of the best Ahri/Annie players in Knight on the roster. Not to mention in a tournament where AD carries has been shining the brightest, they have Ruler to rely on. The bot lane meta so far has been dominated by three or four picks: Aphelios, Jinx, Zeria and Xayah. To the delight of LPL fans, Ruler has over 75% win rate on all these picks with over 35 games, the only exception being Xayah which he only wins on a measly 60% of the time.
Golden Guardians
Rough times are ahead for the Guardians against the LPL champions. Agaisnt BLG they were able to steal a game with a creative draft and by getting a significant lead through their top side. In the JDG matchup, this will be significantly harder to achieve since JDG’s top side is more stable and have a lot more international experience.
A bigger concern for GG will be the bot lane, especially the 2v2 during the laning phase. Despite their good mid-to-late games, Stixxay and huhi had some atrocious lanes against BLG. During the second game of that series, they gave over seven kills in less than ten minutes after taking and losing a bad 2v2 level one. If it’s going to be harder to get leads somewhere else around the map, the bot lane duo really needs to stabilize their laning or Golden Guardians won’t have any chances against JDG.
JDG vs Golden Guardians Predictions
It’s already hard to argue for a GG victory after they lost to BLG. And it’s a lot harder to see a score anything other than a 3-0 since Golden Guardians don’t have any advantageous matchups where they can get a foothold into the game.
How to watch JDG vs Golden Guardians
Fans can watch the event on the official LoL Esports website for the chance to earn exclusive drops from Riot, which will be available throughout the whole event. Or you can catch the action on Riot Games Twitch channel and the LoL Esports Youtube channel.
For more of our coverage during MSI 2023, follow us on ESTNN.
