Dean Etheridge
The 2022 LPL Spring pro league is taking a brief break before games resume on February 10th. Making now, the ideal time to review how the competition is going so far, and also to see how the pre-tournament betting favorites are getting on.
- Event – LPL Spring 2022
- Organizer – Tencent
- Where – China
- When – January 10th – April 30th
- Visit our Esports Betting Sites page for more great bonuses
At the moment, we’re still in the group stage of the competition, where all the teams are playing each other in a Round-Robin format.
This means we’re still not at the business end of things. But when the competition recommences, there will be little room for error afforded to the sides looking to advance to the next stage.
| LPL Spring 2022 League of Legends Winner |  |  |
| Royal Never Give Up | +350 | +350 |
| Top Esports | +450 | +375 |
| EDward Gaming | +350 | +400 |
| FunPlus Phoenix | +2100 | +1900 |
| LNG Esports | +1900 | +1500 |
| JD Gaming | +3400 | +4100 |
| Oh My God (OMG) | +4100 | +5100 |
LNG Esports are the shock leaders of the table. They have won all five of their matches to date, with a 10-2 maps aggregate.
LNG was by far not the pre-tournament favorites for the LPL though. In fact, they weren’t expected to have any major bearing on the end of the competition.
A closer look at their results shows that they haven’t yet played any of the three favorites. So far their best win was their most recent, a 2-1 win over FunPlus Phoenix.
FunPlus is basically the best team outside of the three favorites, as well as last year’s runners-up.
LNG’s next two matches also look winnable. On Sunday, February 13th, LNG will face Bilibili Gaming, and then on Thursday, February 17th, they will take on Rogue Warriors. So there is every possibility they can keep their excellent start going.
Bilibili Gaming has had a decent start to the competition, and they are +110 to beat LNG. I’m going to take LNG at -150 to continue their winning run though.
Sunday, February 20th is crunch day for LNG. If they can get through to then still unbeaten, we will see what they are really made of when they face Royal Never Give Up.
As things stand, the jury is still out on LNG. I’m not – yet – convinced they’re going to be cashing in any big paychecks any time soon?
So what of the original favorites? Let’s take a look.
Royal Never Give Up; Opening Price +350
The defending champions and pre-tournament favorites with the best online sportsbooks have had a decent competition. They have a 5-1 win record so far and are 11-5 on maps aggregate.
RNG’s defeat came at the hands of FunPlus Phoenix in their opening match. Since that setback, they’ve reeled off five wins in a row.
There were no notable scalps in the five-match winning streak, and in three of the five matches, they were pushed all the way to a deciding map.
Their next match is against Top Esports, and that should be an interesting clash.
And it’s Top Esports, which we are going to be looking at next.
Top Esports; Opening Price +375
Top Esports has had a shocking start to their competition. At the moment they sit 11th in the table with a 2-3 win/loss record.
TES started off with an awful 2-0 defeat to Rare Atom. An opening match loss can be excused. But only really if you bounce back like RNG did (with five straight wins).
This hasn’t been the case for Top Esports though. They did win their following two, both 2-1 over Ultra Prime and Team WE, but they then suffered another setback when they lost 2-1 to Victory Five.
Top Esports then compounded their awful start by losing 2-0 to Oh My God (OMG) in their last match.
TES 0:2 OMG
So far, we have met many unexpected situations.
We struggle for victory, however, we didn't make it today.
Sorry for disappointing you. We will work harder and find our power back from failure.#ToTheTop pic.twitter.com/bBVm3msbqL
— TOPESPORTS (@TOP_Esports_) January 27, 2022
OMG has had a good start, but they aren’t expected to be in the final shake-up.
As mentioned above, Top Esports’ next match is a clash with Royal Never Give Up. This will be a measure of where Top Esports are at.
RNG is -225 to win, with Top Esports at +160. On the handicap, Top Esports are -200 with a +1.5 map start.
I think RNG will win, but I’m not keen on the price, so for my betting pick, I’m going with over 2.5 maps at +100.
EDward Gaming; Opening Price +400
The final team of the three favorites to look at is EDward Gaming.
EDG has had an excellent start. They’ve won four from four, and have a maps aggregate score of 8-1.
Granted, they’ve not claimed any major scalps yet. But as we’ve already seen, beating the so-called lesser teams can’t be taken for granted.
Next, up is Team WE (bottom), followed by a clash with surprise fourth-place team, Weibo Gaming. By the time they face FunPlus Phoenix in their seventh match, they could be six from six.
Not only is EDward Gaming in good form, but they also seem to have the fixture list on their side. Their main problem in a tournament of this duration could be peaking too early.
They have to be a serious bet to top the round-robin table, and also to win the competition outright.
Last season they finished second in the table, and third overall (after the playoffs).
EDG are serious contenders, and I make them my betting pick to win the LPL Spring 2022 pro league.
Please check out our Bovada Sportsbook Review and see how to claim their latest bonus offer.
