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Not even a year past its launch, League of Legends: Wild Rift is continuing to grow with millions of active players and almost half of the Runeterran champions already on its roster. Following in its predecessor’s footsteps then, it only makes sense to now see its thriving mobile esports scene with regional leagues worldwide. Come June, follow the Icons Global Championship 2022 to see who will be remembered as Wild Rift’s first-ever Icons champion.
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League of Legends: Wild Rift is a growing esports title that has multiple ways to go with its betting market. But if it’s going to be anything like its older brother (League of Legends), then you can expect to get your money’s worth off of Wild Rift Icons betting. Whether it’s moneyline wagers, handicap bets, totals, prop bets, or futures, there’s a lot of options for you to explore in our in-depth Wild Rift betting guide.
But before that, you should be familiar with how Wild Rift works in the first place. Though it has its similarities with League of Legends, it is still its own game after all. Try downloading the title on the Play Store or App Store and exploring how the game works. Given how quick the games are, you’ll learn how the game works in no time. You can even check our own beginner’s guide to MOBAs to help get you started.
If you want to be like the pros and be a pro bettor yourself, you can even read comprehensive guides and tier lists on platforms like Wild Rift Guides and WildRiftFire. By knowing the countless champions, the individual champion roles, game mechanics, objectives, your success as a bettor drastically increases as you learn how to discern which team is bound to win more often.
Moneyline bets are simple and straightforward whether you’re a newbie who’s just starting out or a veteran who knows his way around the market. But for those who’ve only started getting into Wild Rift or any esports game genre, you will find that moneyline bets are your go-to. In this kind of betting, you simply pick the team you want to bet behind and name your price. Of course, predicting an upset, wherein an underdog wins against a favored opponent, will net you higher returns. Simple, right? But it doesn’t stop there, you can also take advantage of our betting site bonuses to make the most of your bets.
Best betting sites to use for Moneyline betting: 1xBet, Rivalry
If you’ve heard of over/under in traditional betting, total betting works in the same way. In this kind of betting, you are asked to predict if the match will go over or under a particular metric such as maps played in a best-of series or towers taken and number of kills in-game.
Best betting sites to use for Prop betting: 1xBet, GG.Bet
Handicap bets allow bookmakers to even out the playing field for the underdogs. In Wild Rift, much like in League of Legends, they do this through maps won (in best-of series) and the number of kills they need to be ahead of to be considered a win.
As in total and prop betting, the outcome of the match (winner and loser) does not influence the results of handicap betting.
When you think you’ve got the hang of all these types of bets, you can start moving your way up the ladder. If you’ve put in the time grinding in Ranked queue, you’d know that there are objectives to be taken in each game aside from kills such as dragons, towers, and inhibitors. In propositional betting, you bet on the occurrence (or its lack thereof) of objectives getting taken by the team you’re eyeing on.
For example, you can put prop bets on events such as:
Although most platforms have yet to introduce these more intricate betting markets, it’s only a matter of time before Wild Rift has its own prop bets open to the betting public. For now, you can bet on specials like correct map score, team to get first blood, and odd/even bets. Odd/even bets include total kills where you guess whether the total number of kills will be odd or even and odd/even maps where you guess if the number of maps played will be odd or even.
Best betting sites to use for Prop betting: Pinnacle
The Icons Global Championship 2022 is Wild Rift’s premier season-ending international tournament held by Riot Games. Much like Worlds, it is the be-all and end-all of competitive play and the end goal of every professional player. Icons is going to be bringing together the best of the best from eight regional leagues to crown the Wild Rift world champion.
Followers of Riot Games and its hit title League of Legends will be familiar with the mobile and console port that is Wild Rift. It shares the same objective where a team of five players go head-to-head across the Rift to take down minions, monsters, and champions to level up and destroy the enemy Nexus. It’s League of Legends but on mobile and console, allowing it to be enjoyed by a far more casual player base due to the faster game times and easier controls.
Wild Rift is just the latest addition to the mobile genre with MOBAs such as Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, etc. leading the way. Given time, Wild Rift will soon follow suit to the more successful titles like Arena of Valor’s betting scene.
While League of Legends: Wild Rift officially launched in October of 2021, the game already had its alpha launch in Brazil and the Philippines in June 2020. As beta testing welcomed more and more players later in the year, esports organizations from countries worldwide were starting to field their own rosters and host tournaments to kickstart the game’s esports scene.
It would only be until October 2021 however; that Riot would launch Wild Rift esports with the announcement of the Horizon Cup, culminating the game’s preseason in the end of 2021. After qualifiers were finished, 10 teams from all the competing regions competed in Wild Rift’s first-ever international championship for the lion’s share of $500,000 USD. Here, it would be Da Kun Gaming from China that would rise to the top and be the ones to call first blood in Wild Rift esports.
In late 2021, Wild Rift kicked off its first official season with eight regional leagues in its competitive ecosystem including Japan, North America, Brazil, the EMEA, Korea, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and China. Old faces and new competitors alike would come together to fight to qualify for Icons in June 2022.
Just like League of Legends, Icons will be played in a format that is akin to Worlds. In Icons, 24 teams will be heading into a three-stage tournament format consisting of Play-Ins, Groups, and Knockouts until one team remains. In Play-Ins, 16 of the 24 teams are divided into four groups of 4 teams each in a double-elimination bracket where the Top 2 from each group advancing on to the Group Stage. In Groups, expect the same four by four group format until eight teams are left to advance to the Knockout stage. The only difference is that the regional champions from each league are directly seeded into the Group stage.
In the knockout stage or otherwise called the playoffs, the competition shifts to a single-elimination bracket where the quarterfinals and semifinals are played in intense best-of-five matches. After all that ruckus, the last two teams will be competing in the finals in a best-of-seven match to see who rises to be the first Icon.
In the half-year stretch since October, hundreds of teams have fought their hardest to qualify for Icons 2022. But in the end, only the best teams will be representing their home regions on the world stage.
Due to the easing of pandemic restrictions globally, Icons 2022 will be having all its 24 competing teams in Singapore. You can check all the standings thus far in Liquipedia. Get to know the following teams that will be competing in the tourney:
There will be four (4) teams in each group in the Group Stage with the top teams from the Play-Ins joining Groups A to D.
The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship 2022 will be held from June 14 to July 9, 2022, in Suntec, Singapore with a live audience in the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre. This is the same location where the previous Horizon Cup was hosted which was the game’s first international tournament. Icons was originally set to be hosted in Europe but due to visa application timelines due to the global pandemic, they were forced to move Icons to Singapore once again.
The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship Is Coming! 24 of the world’s best teams will descend on Singapore to battle for the chance to be crowned the first global champions of Wild Rift Esports. Icons will rise! Tune in June 14 – July 9 starting at 2AM PDT. pic.twitter.com/c08OOvwxHF — Wild Rift Esports (@WildRiftEsports) May 24, 2022
The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship Is Coming!
24 of the world’s best teams will descend on Singapore to battle for the chance to be crowned the first global champions of Wild Rift Esports. Icons will rise! Tune in June 14 – July 9 starting at 2AM PDT. pic.twitter.com/c08OOvwxHF
— Wild Rift Esports (@WildRiftEsports) May 24, 2022
The schedule is as follows:
Presumably, the schedule for Icons comes earlier in the middle of the year to make way for League of Legends’ Worlds and VALORANT’s Champions later in the year.
Taking the trophy home at Icons 2022 is a landmark victory for the winning team. Aside from having the honor of being the first-ever Icons champion, they get to take a hefty slice off the $2,000,000 USD prize pool prepared for the tournament.
Though it has yet to be announced, it’s fair to speculate that Riot may give in-game watch rewards (such as blue essence, hextech chests and keys, emotes, and exclusive in-game drops) to viewers during the entirety of Icons. Furthermore, the champion at Icons 2022 may receive their very own esports skins just like how the Worlds champions receive their own skin line.
Being the first in its history, all eyes are on Wild Rift Icons to see how the game’s esports scene is going to shape up. Whether it will follow the footsteps of League of Legends and have Asia rule the competition or a new power come into play, read on to see who we think will be dominating the scene.
The Wild Rift Icons 2022 Betting odds will be added here when available.
In the last international Wild Rift tournament, we saw China’s Da Kun Gaming and ThunderTalk Gaming dominate the competition making their way to the finals of the Horizon Cup. In the Group Stage, both teams were able to keep their records spotless proving their united strength as a region. But now, almost seven months later, we believe that anything can happen.
While Wild Rift is still young, the organizations running these teams have a breadth of experience across a variety of titles. Teams such as FunPlus Phoenix, Team Flash, and KT Rolster have an established structure that can help their players succeed. As such, prepare to have a very competitive tournament at our hands.
PREDICTION TIME: Which teams will make it out of each Play-In Group? pic.twitter.com/czNr9q5aXD — Wild Rift Esports (@WildRiftEsports) May 15, 2022
PREDICTION TIME:
Which teams will make it out of each Play-In Group? pic.twitter.com/czNr9q5aXD
— Wild Rift Esports (@WildRiftEsports) May 15, 2022
One look at Nova Esports and you’d think that being down 3rd-4th in the WRL would put them as less of a competitor in the Play-Ins. But if you take a look at their performance at Stage 1 and 2, they were on par with FunPlus Phoenix and were even above them in Stage 2 with a perfect 5-0 record. As such, they can never be underestimated in Wild Rift Icons and can even be seen as a threat if they do manage to get through to Groups. Meanwhile, Flash Wolves, although remaining a shadow to the flashy Team Flash, have roots tracing back to League of Legends and are a force to be reckoned with in Southeast Asia.
Though they struggled at the start of WRL, JD Gaming got their bearings heading into the playoffs and upset stronger opponents such as Nova Esports to make their way to the Finals. Though they fell short to FPX in the Finals, their adaptability shows how big of a threat they can be if you allow them to make the adjustments needed to up their game. Meanwhile, Rex Regum Qeon made their way to Wild Rift Icons all the way from the lower bracket after falling to Flash Wolves in the upper bracket. RRQ is well-known in Mobile Legends and has a roster with veteran players from the Philippines’ League scene. With their experience, they can weather even the most chaotic of situations on the Wild Rift.
J Team almost had their Icons hopes crushed when they narrowly lost to FPX 2-1 in the WRL Semifinals and then losing to Oh My God 3-2 in the lower bracket final of the last chance qualifier. Thankfully for them, they were tasked to play in place of OMG because they will not be able to attend due to Visa issues. Now, they have the opportunity to redeem themselves in Icons. Meanwhile, T1 is known as the best League of Legends team in history. But, thus far, they must prove that same reputation in Wild Rift. Though coming close to taking down the dominant KT Rolster in the semis, they have yet to follow through. Play-Ins will be a good opportunity for T1 to keep honing their play heading into Groups.
Curiously, Buriram United Esports used to be one of the best organizations in Arena of Valor (which is the global port of Tencent’s Honor of Kings, one of the biggest mobile esports games in the world). As such, their success in Wild Rift doesn’t come much of a surprise. They even came close to taking down the very dominant Team Flash in the semifinals, but couldn’t quite finish the job and just settled for a spot at the play-ins. On the other hand, Freecs were just put together at the start of 2022 though under the helm of AfreecaTV who sponsors the well-known LoL team Afreeca Freecs. The fact that this ragtag team of rookies have been able to get this far given how little time they have is a sign of potential that can be reared throughout Icons.
Coming into Icons, there already seems to be a general consensus of the strengths of each and every region when pit against each other. Nevertheless, because of how young the game’s esports scene is, matches can be decided in the moment with underdogs upsetting the heavy favorites on any given day. To keep you grounded, here are a few reminders to hold you steady when Wild Rift Icons Betting.
Ever since the Horizon Cup last year, it’s been a rule to never bet against China. The gap between China and the rest of competition seems to be insurmountable. FunPlus Phoenix, JD Gaming, and Nova Esports look tough to crack heading into Icons and will prove to be equally hard to match. China has quite the mobile MOBA player base because of Honor of Kings, and it only makes sense to see them ahead of the competition, at least for now. The only thing that stands in their way are VISA issues that have forced two of their Chinese play-in teams to substitute their players.
Though if there’s a team that can match their antics, it will be the dominant Team Flash from Southeast Asia. This one heck of a squad represented Vietnam in the 31st Southeast Asian Games and went undefeated from the Group Stage all the way to the Playoffs where they claimed the Gold. KT Rolster from Korea might be up to the task as well should they have already worked on their weaknesses coming from the past year.
Despite Wild Rift still being in its first year, you should definitely put in the time to know what you’re getting into betting on the Wild Rift Global Championship. Do your homework or you will learn the hard way why going in blind is not the answer, at least for betting. A good place to start is going back to the regional league qualifiers for Icons 2022. Watch the VODs of the different championships on channels such as Wild Rift Retake and analyze the gameplay of the qualified teams.
It can be even more useful to watch the games of up-and-coming teams such as Team Flash who could upset staple names like FunPlus Phoenix as the cashout against favorites like these could be massive. However, there seems to be a lack of statistical platforms about Wild Rift esports so that makes scouting teams really difficult. So, you really need to dig deep and start getting to those libraries of VODs. Otherwise, you can find these streams go live in our all-encompassing guide on esports streams.
Now, Wild Rift is wild for a reason. As we always say here, despite whatever a team has going on for them, they can fall when it matters the most, allowing for those worthy enough to take the crown for themselves. But what does this actually mean? This simply means that upsets can happen in a game growing as fast and changing as rapidly as Wild Rift.
Take a look at the Horizon Cup last year. SBTC Esports were supposed to make it farther because of how massive mobile esports is in Southeast Asia. However, it was Korea, a region with less players, that was almost able to take down one of China’s finalists. Now, half a year later, anything can happen. Like in VALORANT, regions can adapt rapidly in the course of months like how Brazil, Japan, and Southeast Asia went from disrespected to claiming all the placements from 2nd-4th. And this is exactly where you can make the most of your profits, from one-off upsets that no one saw coming — except for you because you did your research and expected the unexpected.
Come June 14, you can watch all the League of Legends: Wild Rift action live on Twitch, YouTube, or Wild Rift Esports. Stay tuned to everything about the Icons Global Championship through their social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Matches begin at 2:00 A.M. PDT from June 14 to July 9, 2022.
Even in its mobile port, China is still the region to beat in League of Legends: Wild Rift. With a definitive lead over the competition in the Horizon Cup 2021, the gap might have just widened too far for the rest of the world to catch up.
However, never count any team out as in a game that’s as young as Wild Rift — anything can happen. With experienced organizations and talented teams like Team Flash and KT Rolster, no team can rest until Nexus has fallen and the trophy is lifted. Furthermore, teams like Nova Esports, JD Gaming, J Team, Flash Wolves, and Buriram United Esports could easily take games off these tournament favorites any day of the week.
If we were to list them down, those are the eight teams we see qualifying for the Knockout Stage. But after that, it’s anyone’s game. With the best-of-five format in tow, teams’ hardiness will be tested across long series where their adaptability and quick thinking will separate them from the crowd. Furthermore, with Patch 3.2 introducing so many changes to champions, items, and runes, the meta could drastically shift which will allow the right team to take advantage of the wild, wild rift.
The Wild Rift Icons Global Championship 2022 will start on June 14 and will run until July 9, 2022.
Icons, like Worlds, will follow a three-stage format divided into Play-Ins, the Group Stage, and Knockouts until one champion is crowned.
At the start of the year, Icons 2022 was set to be held in Europe around the summertime. But due to pandemic restrictions related to visa application timelines and re-entry dates for regional teams, the tournament has been moved to the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Center in Singapore.
The champion of Icons 2022 will be taking home a good chunk of the $2 million prize pool while being the Season One champions of Wild Rift esports.
To bet on Wild Rift and Icons 2022, check out the following bookmakers with offers on Wild Rift Icons: 1xBet, Rivalry, GG.Bet. To get an in-depth look at our recommendations, you can check our bookmaker reviews on esports betting.