The clash of the Americas starts this Thursday. For Day 2 of Worlds 2024 - the most prestigious annual competition of
League of Legends - Play-Ins,
100 Thieves will take on
Rainbow7. The LCS third seed will therefore make its debut at this stage since the org has already qualified three other times at Worlds (2018, 2021, 2022), but never had to get through the entry tournament. On their end, Rainbow7 will also make their fourth appearance at Worlds (2017, 2020, 2023), but unlike their opponents, they never played in the main stage as they've always failed in play-ins.
Historic orgs and players
Indeed, both teams have historically been among the best of their respective regions.
Rainbow7, especially, sit on seven LLA titles and is the most crowned team in the South American league. While
100 Thieves only won one title in LCS, in Summer 2021, but has missed Worlds only once (in 2023) since that year. As it was their very last competitive year in their respective leagues since Americas will merge in 2025, it is still unknown if these two orgs will even compete within the
League of Legends' esports elite ecosystem next year. It might be one of the last battles of these two teams on the rift, and probably THE last battle between LLA and LCS anyway.
Historic orgs obviously mean historic players. In the jungle, especially, the matchup will be made of two veterans from the scene. For the latin org, Sebastián "Oddie" Niño is the first name that comes to any mind when talking about south american players. The Peruvian has been in the league since its creation, in 2017, and qualified four times at Worlds since then, his only missing and reachable (at some extents) achievement is making it into the Main Stage of the prestigious tournament. On the other side, Kim "River" Dong-woo already accomplished it twice and probably sets his goals higher as he found himself two times on the edge of qualifying for Worlds playoffs with PSG Talon in 2020 and 2021.
100T, not the underdogs this time
This is the second time that the Korean creates the upset within the LCS, with a team that is not expected to be that high in the North American rankings. 100 Thieves especially eliminated one of the favourites, Cloud9, to qualify to Worlds. But River has a revenge to take since last year with Golden Guardians, they were eliminated by BDS before even entering the Play-Ins. This time he is in and for this first stage of the competition, he is no longer the underdog. But still, this year he surrounded himself by rookies and inexperienced players such as the LCS Spring Split MVP on the midlane, Lim "Quid" Hyeon-seung, and the youngest player of the whole tournament: Rayan "Sniper" Shoura.
If Rainbow7 has much more veterans and experience within their line up - with long time players such as Park "Summit" Woo-tae or players that stuck together since 2023 like the argentine duo on the botlane - they play in a Wildcard league on a lower level than LCS and therefore can't be considered favourites but for sure, this experience should not be underestimated neither. Overall, both teams love to enable their midlaners by giving them an early advantage as they both have the potential to take over games, while toplane is very different with a Sniper that will always pick Renekton/K'Santé when available and a Summit that also enjoy taking strong laners but has a wider champion pool, given his experience edge on his counterpart. Eventually, they both are Jax enjoyers, so the Grandmaster at Arms could be a decisive pick.
R7 can benefit from their versatility in draft overall, as they're not scared of playing with four carries, but have also proven they can execute more standard draft plans with a second frontliner either on the toplane or the jungle. While the Latin American team skill checked most of their opponents on every lanes and always tried to force the push all over the map, it is unlikely they will be able to accomplish such a feat on the international stage, starting with their first test against 100 Thieves. The LCS third seed force has mostly resided on their capacity to navigate through early games with lane swaps and skirmishes, even while playing scaling comps. The jungle matchup, especially, will be a key factor this Thursday as Oddie and River are the spine of their respective teams, and they both possess a champion ocean they can use to outplay the other, even in draft.
