Worlds 2024 Pick'Em Guide: Play-in Stage and Crystal Ball

League of Legends

12h

Martin Arévalo-Östberg

The time has come to start making your first picks for Worlds 2024! With the Play-in Stage Pick'Ems and Crystal Ball now officially open, let's take a look at how to make picks and how you can better guide your selections.

Don't take too long to make your picks, however, as the Crystal Ball and Play-in Stage predictions close on September 25th, at 2:15 pm CET.

We invite all of you to join the official Strafe Esports Leaderboard for Worlds 2024 Pick'Ems. There, you'll be able to compare picks against one another as well as against our own team of experts!

How to do your Worlds 2024 Pick'Ems?

To access the Pick'Em challenge, you can visit the official LoL Esports link for the challenge. Once on there, you will have the option to insert your picks for the Crystal Ball as well as the Pick'Em challenge.

The Crystal Ball event challenges players to make tournament-long predictions, such as which Drake you think might be killed the most or even who you think will be the team to lift the Worlds trophy in the end.

As for the Pick'Em challenge, you will have the chance to vote for who you think will be the teams to advance through each stage of the tournament.

For this year's Worlds, the Pick'Em comes in three stages, one for each of the different stages of the tournament. Each Pick'Em stage opens and closes at specific dates and times, so be sure to mark your calendars!

Play-In Stage Predictions and Crystal Ball

Opens: September 18th at 7 pm CET
Closes: September 25th at 2:15 pm CET

Swiss Stage Predictions

Opens: September 29th at 10 pm CET
Closes: October 3rd at 2:15 pm CET

Knockout Stage Predictions

Opens: October 13th at 1 am CET
Closes: November 2nd at 4:15 pm CET

After inserting your picks, you'll be able to track your progress on that same site so you can know how you're doing so far in the challenge.

Strafe's Picks: Worlds 2024 Play-in Stage

For the Play-In Stage, only four of the eight teams attending will advance to the Swiss Stage. For the Pick'Em challenge, your goal will be to correctly predict who the four advancing teams will be.

Due to the nature of the Play-in Stage, which is mainly composed of teams from minor regions all around the globe, it will be particularly difficult to predict how these teams will measure up against one another.

That said, however, here are our experts' picks for making it past the Play-in Stage.

Bracket A

MDK and PSG are expected to put up strong performances to begin the tournament. (Credit: LoL Esports Pick'Em)

MAD Lions KOI arguably compete against stronger opposition all year long in comparison to minor region teams. In fact, MDK managed to defeat G2 Esports in a best-of-5 series during the LEC Season Finals, a feat not many other teams in the Play-In Stage could have pulled off.

As for PSG Talon, the team comes into the tournament in stellar form. PSG breezed through the PCS Summer Playoffs, lifting the trophy after losing only a single game across the entire bracket. PSG will be high on confidence, and that could work wonders for the team in the end.

Bracket B

100 Thieves and paiN Gaming will look to extend their trip to Worlds. (Credit: LoL Esports Pick'Em)

Like MDK, 100 Thieves compete in a stronger league compared to the other teams at this stage of the tournament. Despite finishing third in the LCS, the team showed great things with their convincing victory over Cloud9 at the LCS Championship.

PaiN Gaming, much like PSG, ran away with the Split 2 Playoffs after defeating arguable favorites Vivo Keyd Stars twice in a row. The Brazilian team will now look to replicate that form at the biggest stage and against stronger opposition.

Important to pay attention

With the Swiss Stage starting on September 19th, it'll be important to pay a close look at how some of these teams perform during the Play-in Stage. In the end, it is always the most informed decision the one that is most likely to earn you those coveted Pick'Em points!

Remember that the top 5000 scorers on both the Pick'Ems and Crystal Ball global leaderboards will earn the Worlds 2024 Viego skin.

Viego 2024 Worlds skin will be ultimate reward for good Pick'Em selections at the tournament. (Credit: Riot Games)

For the latest League of Legends news, follow Strafe Esports. To follow everything on Worlds 2024, check out our full guide. Also, follow the Strafe YouTube channel for exclusive interviews with players and coaches.

Featured Image Credits: LoL Esports // Riot Games

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