Cann’s MSI Breakdown 

OCE: Pentanet.GG

Spring Season Record: 13-1 

The Oceanic League is no longer supported by Riot as announced by the company after the 2020 World Championships. This is really disappointing with the amount of passion that the OCE fans have for their region and the game. When Riot pulled the plug on the league ESL stepped in and created the League of Legends Circuit Oceania which is where PGG has come from. In a weird move, Riot then invited the winner of the LCO to come to MSI which has made many people question why they ever sent the region away. We saw a huge exodus of talent from Oceania leave the region but PGG looks to captured much of the remaining domestic talent and are hoping to make a push to reestablish the region as a contender at MSI.    

Lane Breakdown

In this section I am going to go lane by lane (or position by position) and grade out each player and set some expectations for what we should see from them in the group stage! Obviously playing on stage in an actual tournament can give us some pretty special moments but I will outline what should be the most likely outcome.

Top Lane (BioPanther): One of the more seasoned players on PGG, BioPanther has been playing professionally since 2018 and that even included the Dire Wolves World’s run in 2018. Now BioPanther has played some of the meta picks that we saw in the major regions like the Gnar and Renekton but also played spicier picks like Urgot, Ornn, and Irelia. In the regular season he outperformed all other top laners with a split KDA of 7 and the bulk of that KDA coming from his 96 total assists in 14 games (average of 6.86 per game). In the split playoffs he kept this up with 67 assists in 9 games (7.44 per game). What can we gather from this? BioPanther is a core piece to PGG’s early to mid game fighting. What is also interesting is that give BioPanther counter pick (or allowing him to have a later pick in the draft to ensure he gets to counter whatever the other team picks) 71% of the time which is significantly more than any other starting top laner in the LCO. Look for him as a possible cheaper pick up due to the amount of resources they send his way.   

Jungle (Pabu): We look at junglers like Blaber and Canyon and comment on how they own their particular region but if we want to talk about regional dominance, we have to talk about Pabu. In 14 games Pabu had 52 kills, 119 assists, and a KDA of 8.1, which is about 3 more than the next closest player. In 23 games in all of the Spring Split and Playoffs, Pabu played 11 unique champions and none of which did he go killess on. This is the role where PPG will add their wrinkles into the draft to catch teams off guard. I think there is a chance for them to sneak out of groups over UOL but time will have to tell on this one.   

Mid Lane (Chazz): Chazz had amazing KDA numbers in Spring (8+ in the regular season and 5+ in playoffs) but don’t necessarily be fooled by that. He has decent kill and assist numbers but how he reached those KDA numbers is his ability not to die. He just plays so incredibly safe, especially on champions who can either make an impact from a safe distance (Orianna and Zoe) or those with a built in safety valve (Ekko). You can pick Chazz up even in group stage because there isn’t really a mid laner who will challenge him early (sorry Cryin) and he will play passively in the mid and late game to ensure he doesn’t die needlessly. I would avoid putting him at a captain spot but if you needed a value placement in the mid lane role he should work fine for you.  

Bot/AD Carry (Praedyth): Like most of the lower regions, the true carry threat is in the bot lane. He has been a huge Kai’Sa player in Spring with 10 total games played and was super aggressive on the pick. Overall, Praedyth did have a far smaller champion pool of only 7 picks over the course of all of Spring, he has placed an emphasis on cleaning up teamfights. He would have a solid laning phase (+324 in gold differential and +199 in experience differential) and then roll that into PGG’s well known team fighting around objectives. He has great timing in his aggression and could be a sneaky captain pick depending on your lobby.  

Support (Decoy): Decoy admittedly did not have the same success in the playoffs as he did in the regular season but that doesn’t take away his 8+ KDA in the regular season. In three games on his Thresh pick he had a 22.5 KDA which is absolutely disgusting. This is a great value support pick because any kills that take place for PGG absolutely runs through him. He had a 73.3% team kill participation (highest in the LCO) and a first blood rate of 36% (also highest in the LCO). He plays flashy champions and is always willing to take the fight. This makes him a pretty appealing DFS pick up.      

Cann’s Final Thoughts

I think this team could upset my Unicorns of Love pick in the group stage, but I also think it is more likely for them to lose in the initial group stage. I will get a lot of flack for this take but I think after Riot decided to not support Oceania after the 2020 World’s, the talent has not been as consistent. While I think PGG has some really quality pieces, they have not been as tested as your RNG or DWG who have far more serious competition on a regular basis. I’ll be rooting for this underdog but I just have little faith here.    

Cann’s Record Prediction: 0-4
Cann’s Final Placement Prediction: Round Robin Participant