2018 League of Legends World Championship

Last updated

League of Legends
World Championship
2018
Lol Worlds 2018 Logo.png
Tournament information
Location South Korea
DatesOctober 1–November 3
Tournament
format(s)
12 team double round-robin play-in stage
16 team double round-robin group stage
8 team single-elimination bracket
Venue(s)
4 (in 4 host cities)
Teams24
Purse$6.450.000
Final positions
Champion Invictus Gaming
Runner-up Fnatic
Tournament statistics
AttendancePeak viewership: 43.997.815 [1]
MVP Gao "Ning" Zhenning (Invictus Gaming)
  2017
2019  

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends . It was the eighth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. It was held from October 1 to November 3, 2018, in cities across South Korea. Twenty four teams qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, South Korea, Europe, and North America, with twelve of those teams having to reach the group stage via a play-in round. [2] The tournament became known for its very surprising results, numerous upsets, and has often been considered the most unpredictable worlds in League of Legends' history. [3] [4] [5] The tournament also became the most watched esports event in history, reaching a peak of over 200 million concurrent viewers during the finals. It surpassed the viewership of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship, as well as the peak viewership of numerous worldwide sporting events including the Super Bowl. [6] [7]

Contents

The tournament's opening ceremony received significant attention, with over 90 million concurrent viewers tuning in for the performance. A virtual K-pop group named K/DA was unveiled by Riot Games during the ceremony, with Soyeon and Miyeon from (G)I-dle, Madison Beer and Jaira Burns representing the group as its human counterpart and in the live performance of the finals. K/DA topped global music charts after the initial release of their debut song "Pop/Stars", receiving considerable attention online and raking in one of the fastest viewership records for its music video on YouTube. A dance practice video of "Pop/Stars", as popular in the K-pop scene, was also released. [8] [9] [10] "RISE" is the tournament's theme song, put together by The Glitch Mob, Mako and The Word Alive. A remix version of "RISE" featuring Bobby from IKON was also released shortly after, with the song being performed on the tournament's finals by all the involved music groups and artists. [11] The song would be performed again when Korea hosted the tournament for the second time in 2023.

The victory of China's Invictus Gaming over Europe's Fnatic in the tournament's finals marked the first time in League of Legends history that the LPL (China) as a region won the world championship, as well as the first time a non-LCK (Korean) team has won after five consecutive years of prior Korean winners. The final series is also the fastest world championship finals in history at 85 minutes total game time. [12] Gao “Ning” Zhenning was awarded the MVP of the finals due to his outstanding performance and contributions during the series, marking the first time a jungle position player has won a world championship MVP. [13] [14]

Qualified teams

Although the South Korea (LCK) representative, Kingzone DragonX, lost to China's (LPL) representative Royal Never Give Up (LPL) in 2018 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) Finals, all three teams from South Korea (LCK) started in the Main Group Stage, having won the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational and the previous two World Championships. With the results of 2018 MSI and following their separation from the rest of the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, Vietnam (VCS) had a direct seed into the Main Group Stage for the summer split victor in their region, but unlike the previous year, Vietnam had no additional slots in the Play-In Stage for their summer runner-up team, because of the 24 team limit. The North American (NA LCS) summer split champion team was seeded to Pool 2 due to their performance at the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational.

RegionLeaguePathTeamIDPool
Start in Main event's Group stage
South KoreaLCKSummer Champion Flag of South Korea.svg KT Rolster KT1
Most Championship Points Flag of South Korea.svg Afreeca Freecs AFs2
Regional Finals Winner Flag of South Korea.svg Gen.G Esports GEN
ChinaLPLSummer Champion Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Royal Never Give Up RNG1
Most Championship Points Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Invictus Gaming IG2
EuropeEU LCSSummer Champion Flag of Europe.svg Fnatic FNC1
Most Championship Points Flag of Europe.svg Team Vitality VIT2
North AmericaNA LCSSummer Champion Flag of the United States.svg Team Liquid TL2
Most Championship Points Flag of the United States.svg 100 Thieves 100
TW/HK/MOLMSSummer Champion Flag of the Republic of China.svg Flash Wolves FW1
Most Championship Points Flag of the Republic of China.svg MAD Team MAD2
VietnamVCSSummer Champion Flag of Vietnam.svg Phong Vũ Buffalo PVB2
Start in Play-in stage
ChinaLPLRegional Finals Winner Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg EDward Gaming EDG1
EuropeEU LCS Flag of Europe.svg G2 Esports G2
North AmericaNA LCS Flag of the United States.svg Cloud9 C9
TW/HK/MOLMS Flag of the Republic of China.svg G-Rex GRX
BrazilCBLOLSummer Champion Flag of Brazil.svg KaBuM! e-Sports KBM2
CISLCL Flag of Russia.svg Gambit Esports GMB
Latin America NorthLLN Flag of Costa Rica.svg Infinity eSports CRINF
TurkeyTCL Flag of Turkey.svg SuperMassive e-SportsSUP
JapanLJL Flag of Japan.svg DetonatioN FocusMe DFM3
Latin America SouthCLS Flag of Chile.svg Kaos Latin GamersKLG
OceaniaOPL Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dire WolvesDW
Southeast AsiaSEA Flag of Thailand.svg Ascension GamingASC

Venues

Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Incheon were the four cities chosen to host the competition.

Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea
Seoul Busan Gwangju Incheon
Play-in StageGroup Stage and QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
LoL Park BEXCO Auditorium Gwangju Women's University  [ ko ] Incheon Munhak Stadium
LOL Park Entrance (cropped).jpg Busan BEXCO.jpg Gwangju Women's University.jpg Incheon Munhak Stadium.jpg
Capacity: 450Capacity: 4,002Capacity: 8,327Capacity: 50,256

Play-in Stage

Groups

Group A
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1Edward Gaming431.750Advance to play-in knockouts
2Infinity Esports422.500
3Dire Wolves413.250
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )
Group B
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1G2 Esports541.800Advance to play-in knockouts
2Bahçeşehir SuperMassive532.600
3Ascension Gaming404.000
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )
Group C
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1Cloud94401.000Advance to play-in knockouts
2DetonatioN FocusMe523.400
3KaBuM! e-Sports514.200
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )
Group D
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1G-Rex4401.000Advance to play-in knockouts
2Gambit Esports422.500
3Kaos Latin Gamers404.000
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )

Knockouts

Round 1
October 6, 13:00 KST
B1G2 Esports3
A2Infinity Esports1
October 6, 17:00 KST
D1G-Rex3
B2Bahçeşehir SuperMassive1
October 7, 13:00 KST
A1Edward Gaming3
C2DetonatioN FocusMe0
October 7, 17:00 KST
C1Cloud93
D2Gambit Esports2

Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )

Group stage

Group A
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1Afreeca Freecs642.667Advance to knockouts
2G2 Esports743.571
3Flash Wolves734.429
4Phong Vũ Buffalo624.333
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )
Group B
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1Royal Never Give Up752.714Advance to knockouts
2Cloud9743.571
3Team Vitality633.500
4Gen.G Esports615.167
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )
Group C
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1KT Rolster651.833Advance to knockouts
2Edward Gaming642.667
3Team Liquid633.500
4MAD Team606.000
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )
Group D
PosTeamPldWLPCTQualification
1Fnatic761.857Advance to knockouts
2Invictus Gaming752.714
3100 Thieves624.333
4G-Rex606.000
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )

Knock-out Stage

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
October 20
C1Flag of South Korea.svg KT Rolster2
October 27
D2Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Invictus Gaming3
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Invictus Gaming3
October 20
Flag of Europe.svg G2 Esports0
B1Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Royal Never Give Up2
November 3
A2Flag of Europe.svg G2 Esports3
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Invictus Gaming3
October 21
Flag of Europe.svg Fnatic0
A1Flag of South Korea.svg Afreeca Freecs0
October 28
B2Flag of the United States.svg Cloud93
Flag of the United States.svg Cloud90
October 21
Flag of Europe.svg Fnatic3
D1Flag of Europe.svg Fnatic3
C2Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg EDward Gaming1

Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2018-12-18 at the Wayback Machine )

Quarterfinals

QuarterfinalsOctober 20KT Rolster23Invictus Gaming Busan, South Korea
13:00 KST     Source Busan Exhibition and Convention Center
0Game 11
0Game 21
1Game 30
1Game 40
0Game 51
QuarterfinalsOctober 20Royal Never Give Up23G2 Esports Busan, South Korea
17:00 KST     Source Busan Exhibition and Convention Center
0Game 11
1Game 20
0Game 31
1Game 40
1Game 50
QuarterfinalsOctober 21Afreeca Freecs03Cloud9 Busan, South Korea
13:00 KST     Source Busan Exhibition and Convention Center
0Game 11
0Game 21
0Game 31
QuarterfinalsOctober 21Fnatic31Edward Gaming Busan, South Korea
17:00 KST     Source Busan Exhibition and Convention Center
0Game 11
1Game 20
1Game 30
1Game 40

Semifinals

SemifinalsOctober 27Invictus Gaming30G2 Esports Gwangju, South Korea
17:00 KST     Source Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium
1Game 10
1Game 20
1Game 30
SemifinalsOctober 28Cloud903Fnatic Gwangju, South Korea
17:00 KST     Source Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium
0Game 11
0Game 21
0Game 31

Final

FinalNovember 3Invictus Gaming30Fnatic Incheon, South Korea
17:00 KST     Source Incheon Munhak Stadium
1Game 10
1Game 20
1Game 30

Ranking

Team ranking

PlaceRegionTeamPS1PS2GSQFSFFinalsPrize (%)[ citation needed ]Prize (USD) [15]
1stLPL Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Invictus Gaming*5–13–23–03–037.5%$2,418,750
2ndEU LCS Flag of Europe.svg Fnatic*5–13–13–00–313.5%$870,750
3rd–4thNA LCS Flag of the United States.svg Cloud9*4–03–24–23–00–37%$451,500
EU LCS Flag of Europe.svg G2 Esports*3–13–13–33–20–3
5th–6thLCK Flag of South Korea.svg KT Rolster5–12–34%$258,000
LPL Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Royal Never Give Up*4–22–3
7thLPL Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg EDward Gaming3–13–04–21–3
8thLCK Flag of South Korea.svg Afreeca Freecs4–20–3
9th–11thLMS Flag of the Republic of China.svg Flash Wolves*3–32.25%$145,125
EU LCS Flag of Europe.svg Team Vitality3–3
NA LCS Flag of the United States.svg Team Liquid3–3
12thNA LCS Flag of the United States.svg 100 Thieves2–4
13thVCS Flag of Vietnam.svg Phong Vũ Buffalo2–41.25%$80,625
14thLCK Flag of South Korea.svg Gen.G eSports1–5
15th–16thLMS Flag of the Republic of China.svg G-Rex4–03–10–6
LMS Flag of the Republic of China.svg MAD Team0–6
17thLCL Flag of Russia.svg Gambit Esports2–22–30.75%$48,375
18th–19thTCL Flag of Turkey.svg Super Massive e-Sports*3–11–3
LLN Flag of Costa Rica.svg Infinity eSports CR2–21–3
20thLJL Flag of Japan.svg DetonatioN FocusMe*1–30–3
21st–22ndCBLOL Flag of Brazil.svg KaBuM! e-Sports*1–30.5%$32,250
OPL Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dire Wolves1–3
23rd–24thCLS Flag of Chile.svg Kaos Latin Gamers0–4
SEA Flag of Thailand.svg Ascension Gaming0–4
PlaceRegionTeamPS1PS2GSQFSFFinalsPrize (%)Prize (USD)

Regional ranking

PlaceRegionTeamsPlay-in Round 1
(4 games total)
Play-in Round 2
(Best-of-five)
Group Stage
(6 games total)
Quarterfinals
(Best-of-five)
Semifinals
(Best-of-five)
Finals
(Best-of-five)
1st Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg
LPL
2G+1P1 team
3W-1L
(75%)
1 team
3W-0L
(100%)
3 teams
12W-6L
(66.67%)*
3 teams
6W-8L
(42.86%)
1 team
3W-0L
(100%)
3W-0L
(100%)
2nd Flag of Europe.svg
EU LCS
2G+1P1 team
3W-1L
(75%)*
1 team
3W-1L
(75%)
3 teams
11W-7L
(61.11%)*
2 teams
6W-3L
(66.67%)
2 teams
3W-3L
(50%)
0W-3L
(0%)
3rd Flag of the United States.svg Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg
NA LCS
2G+1P1 team
4W-0L
(100%)
1 team
3W-2L
(60%)
3 teams
8W-10L
(44.44%)*
1 team
3W-0L
(100%)
1 team
0W-3L
(0%)
4th Flag of South Korea.svg
LCK
3G3 teams
10W-8L
(55.56%)
2 teams
2W-6L
(25%)
5th Flag of Vietnam.svg
VCS
1G1 team
2W-4L
(33.33%)
6th Flag of the Republic of China.svg Flag of Hong Kong.svg Flag of Macau.svg
LMS
2G+1P1 team
4W-0L
(100%)
1 team
3W-1L
(75%)
3 teams
3W-15L
(16.67%)*
7th Flag of the CIS.svg
LCL
1P1 team
2W-2L
(50%)
1 team
2W-3L
(40%)
8th Flag of Turkey.svg
TCL
1P1 team
3W-1L
(75%)*
1 team
1W-3L
(25%)
9th Flag of Costa Rica.svg Flag of Mexico.svg Flag of Peru.svg
LLN
1P1 team
2W-2L
(50%)
1 team
1W-3L
(25%)
10th Flag of Japan.svg
LJL
1P1 team
1W-3L
(25%)*
1 team
0W-3L
(0%)
11th Flag of Brazil.svg
CBLOL
1P1 team
1W-3L
(25%)*
12th Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
OPL
1P1 team
1W-3L
(25%)
13th Flag of Chile.svg Flag of Argentina.svg
CLS
1P1 team
0W-4L
(0%)
14thInfobox ASEAN flag.svg
SEA
1P1 team
0W-4L
(0%)

References

  1. "League of Legends Esports Breaks World Championship Viewership Record". Riot Games. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  2. "24 teams complete the lineup for the 2018 League of Legends World Championship".
  3. "The Worlds 2018 Quarterfinals were full of upsets". The Rift Herald.
  4. "Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing". ESPN.com.
  5. "Ranking the League of Legends World Championship finals". ESPN.com.
  6. "League of Legends in 2018 was the World's Most Viewed Esports Game in History – TalkEsport". www.talkesport.com.
  7. "2018 World Championship detailed stats". esc.watch.
  8. Crecente, Brian (November 7, 2018). "Fictional Hologram Band Tops Real-World Charts After Stunning 'League of Legend' Show (Watch)". Variety.
  9. "Watch The Word Alive crush their 'League Of Legends' Worlds performance". Alternative Press. November 3, 2018.
  10. "K/DA comes to life through AR at the 2018 Worlds Finals Opening Ceremony". The Rift Herald.
  11. "RISE is the newest Worlds theme song". The Rift Herald.
  12. "Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing". ESPN.com.
  13. "China's frenzy over League of Legends championship sheds light on esports growth". TechCrunch.
  14. "Ning is your 2018 League of Legends World Championship Finals MVP".
  15. Austen Goslin (December 11, 2018). "The 2018 League of Legends World Finals had nearly 100 million viewers". Rift Herald. Retrieved November 8, 2019. Through purchasing the [Champion Kha'Zix] skin, fans managed to raise the prize pool by more than $4.2 million adding to the $2.5 million that Riot themselves contributed.