Tournament information | |
---|---|
Game | League of Legends |
Location | South Korea |
Dates | October 10–November 19 |
Administrator | Riot Games |
Tournament format(s) |
|
Venue(s) | |
Teams | 22 |
Final positions | |
Champion | T1 |
Runner-up | Weibo Gaming |
Tournament statistics | |
Attendance | 18,000 (Finals) [1] |
MVP | Choi "Zeus" Woo-je (T1) |
The 2023 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends . It was the thirteenth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament began in South Korea on October 10 until November 19. [2] Twenty-two teams from nine regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits; [3] defending champions DRX [4] failed to do so after losing to Dplus KIA in the 2023 LCK Regional Finals. [5] [6] JD Gaming were in contention to become the first team to complete the "Golden Road" [lower-alpha 1] , but lost to eventual champions T1 in the semifinals of the knockout stage. [7]
"Gods" (stylized in all caps), performed by NewJeans, was announced as the tournament's theme song. [8] [9] A virtual boyband named "Heartsteel" (stylized in all caps) was unveiled by Riot Games during the event, with Baekhyun from Exo and SuperM, ØZI, Tobi Lou and Cal Scruby representing the group as its human counterpart and in the live performance of their debut song, "Paranoia". [10]
The final took place on 19 November 2023 at the Gocheok Sky Dome, where T1 defeated Weibo Gaming by a 3–0 score, marking the organization's record-extending fourth World Championship. [11] [12] The event's concurrent viewership reached a peak of 6.4 million viewers, breaking the all-time viewership record for a single esports event, not accounting for Chinese viewership. [13]
Starting from 2023, teams from LCL (CIS), TCL (Turkey), and LCO (Oceania) region no longer qualified directly for Worlds due to their leagues being cancelled (LCL, by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine) and downgraded (TCL became a regional league for EMEA Masters, LCO was merged into PCS).
The number of teams was decreased from 24 to 22 compared to 2022. For seedings, first-seeded teams from PCS (Asia-Pacific) and VCS (Vietnam) were relegated to start in the play-in stage, while fourth-seeded teams from LCK (South Korea), LPL (China) and third-seeded from LEC (EMEA) and LCS (North America) were promoted to the main event. Prior to the kick off of the tournament, a "Worlds Qualifying Series" match between the fourth-seeded teams from LEC and LCS was played to decide the last team for the play-in stage. [14]
Play-in groups were changed to a GSL-style double-elimination format, while main event's first stage was changed from a double round-robin group stage to a Swiss format. [15]
The following teams qualified for the event: [16]
Region | League | Qualification Path | Team | Pool |
---|---|---|---|---|
Started from Swiss Stage | ||||
South Korea | LCK | Summer Champion | Gen.G | 1 |
Most Championship Points | T1 | 2 | ||
Regional Finals Winner | KT Rolster | 3 | ||
Regional Finals Runner-Up | Dplus KIA | 4 | ||
China | LPL | Summer Champion | JD Gaming | 1 |
Most Championship Points | Bilibili Gaming | 2 | ||
Regional Finals Winner | LNG Esports | 3 | ||
Regional Finals Runner-Up | Weibo Gaming | 4 | ||
EMEA | LEC | Season Finals Champion | G2 Esports | 1 |
Season Finals Runner-Up | Fnatic | 2 | ||
Season Finals Place | MAD Lions | 3 | ||
North America | LCS | Championship Champion | NRG Esports | 1 |
Championship Runner-Up | Cloud9 | 2 | ||
Championship Third Place | Team Liquid | 3 | ||
Started from Play-in Stage | ||||
EMEA | LEC | Worlds Qualifying Series Winner | Team BDS | 1 |
Asia-Pacific | PCS | Summer Champion | PSG Talon | 1 |
Summer Runner-Up | CTBC Flying Oyster | 1 | ||
Vietnam | VCS | Summer Champion | GAM Esports | 1 |
Summer Runner-Up | Team Whales | 2 | ||
Japan | LJL | Summer Champion | DetonatioN FocusMe | 2 |
Brazil | CBLOL | Split 2 Champion | LOUD | 2 |
Latin America | LLA | Closing Champion | Movistar R7 | 2 |
Seoul and Busan were the two cities chosen to host the tournament. [17] [18] The LoL Park, which hosted the play-in stage of the tournament, is the only venue that hosted a Worlds tournament, having hosted the same phase during the 2018 League of Legends World Championship.
South Korea | |||
---|---|---|---|
Seoul | Busan | Seoul | |
Play-in Stage [lower-alpha 2] | Swiss Stage | Quarterfinals and Semifinals | Finals |
LoL Park | KBS Arena | Sajik Indoor Gymnasium | Gocheok Sky Dome |
Capacity: 450 | Capacity: 1,824 | Capacity: 14,099 | Capacity: 16,744 |
Qualifying Match | |||
October 9, 1:00 pm | |||
Team BDS | 3 | ||
Golden Guardians | 0 | ||
Opening Matches | Winner's Match | Advance to Qualifiers | |||||||||||
October 10, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
LOUD | 2 | ||||||||||||
October 12, 4:00 pm | |||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 0 | ||||||||||||
LOUD | 0 | ||||||||||||
October 10, 4:00 pm | A1 | PSG Talon | |||||||||||
PSG Talon | 2 | ||||||||||||
Movistar R7 | 0 | ||||||||||||
PSG Talon | 2 | ||||||||||||
Elimination Match | Decider Match | ||||||||||||
October 14, 4:00 pm | |||||||||||||
October 13, 4:00 pm | LOUD | 0 | |||||||||||
A2 | GAM Esports | ||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 2 | GAM Esports | 2 | ||||||||||
Movistar R7 | 0 | ||||||||||||
Opening Matches | Winner's Match | Advance to Qualifiers | |||||||||||
October 11, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
Team BDS | 1 | ||||||||||||
October 12, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
Team Whales | 2 | ||||||||||||
Team Whales | 2 | ||||||||||||
October 11, 4:00 pm | B1 | Team Whales | |||||||||||
CTBC Flying Oyster | 1 | ||||||||||||
DetonatioN FocusMe | 0 | ||||||||||||
CTBC Flying Oyster | 2 | ||||||||||||
Elimination Match | Decider Match | ||||||||||||
October 14, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
October 13, 7:00 pm | CTBC Flying Oyster | 0 | |||||||||||
B2 | Team BDS | ||||||||||||
Team BDS | 2 | Team BDS | 2 | ||||||||||
DetonatioN FocusMe | 0 | ||||||||||||
Qualifying Matches | Qualified | |||||||
October 15, 12:00 pm | ||||||||
A1 | PSG Talon | 2 | ||||||
Q | Team BDS | |||||||
B2 | Team BDS | 3 | ||||||
October 15, 5:00 pm | ||||||||
B1 | Team Whales | 1 | ||||||
Q | GAM Esports | |||||||
A2 | GAM Esports | 3 | ||||||
Advance to knockouts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2–0 | JD Gaming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1–0 | G2 Esports | 0 | Gen.G | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
0–0 | Weibo Gaming | 0 | Gen.G | 2 | Advance to knockouts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
T1 | 1 | G2 Esports | 1 | JD Gaming | 2 | 2–1 | LNG Esports | |||||||||||||||||||||
Team Liquid | 0 | Bilibili Gaming | 0 | LNG Esports | 1 | KT Rolster | 1 | NRG Esports | ||||||||||||||||||||
Cloud9 | 1 | JD Gaming | 1 | LNG Esports | 2 | T1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MAD Lions | 0 | LNG Esports | 1 | 1–1 | T1 | 2 | Advance to knockouts | |||||||||||||||||||||
Gen.G | 1 | Cloud9 | 0 | NRG Esports | 1 | Bilibili Gaming | 0 | 2–2 | KT Rolster | |||||||||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 0 | Gen.G | 1 | MAD Lions | 0 | NRG Esports | 2 | KT Rolster | 2 | Weibo Gaming | ||||||||||||||||||
Team BDS | 0 | T1 | 0 | T1 | 1 | G2 Esports | 0 | Dplus KIA | 0 | Bilibili Gaming | ||||||||||||||||||
JD Gaming | 1 | Cloud9 | 0 | G2 Esports | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
G2 Esports | 1 | 0–1 | KT Rolster | 1 | 1–2 | Bilibili Gaming | 2 | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dplus KIA | 0 | Team Liquid | 0 | Weibo Gaming | 0 | Cloud9 | 1 | Fnatic | 1 | Dplus KIA | ||||||||||||||||||
Weibo Gaming | 1 | NRG Esports | 1 | Bilibili Gaming | 1 | Fnatic | 2 | Weibo Gaming | 2 | Fnatic | ||||||||||||||||||
NRG Esports | 0 | Dplus KIA | 0 | Fnatic | 0 | Dplus KIA | 2 | G2 Esports | ||||||||||||||||||||
LNG Esports | 1 | KT Rolster | 1 | GAM Esports | 0 | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fnatic | 0 | Team BDS | 0 | 0–2 | Weibo Gaming | 2 | Cloud9 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Bilibili Gaming | 1 | MAD Lions | 1 | Dplus KIA | 2 | MAD Lions | 0 | MAD Lions | ||||||||||||||||||||
KT Rolster | 0 | Fnatic | 1 | Team BDS | 0 | GAM Esports | ||||||||||||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 0 | Team Liquid | 1 | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 2 | Team Liquid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team BDS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eight teams qualified for the playoff portion of the tournament from the swiss stage.
Pools | Teams | |
---|---|---|
Pool 1 (3–0) | JD Gaming | |
Gen.G | ||
Pool 2 (3–1) | LNG Esports | |
NRG Esports | ||
T1 | ||
Pool 3 (3–2) | KT Rolster | |
Weibo Gaming | ||
Bilibili Gaming |
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
November 2, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
P2 | NRG Esports | 0 | |||||||||||
November 11, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
P3 | Weibo Gaming | 3 | |||||||||||
Weibo Gaming | 3 | ||||||||||||
November 3, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
Bilibili Gaming | 2 | ||||||||||||
P1 | Gen.G | 2 | |||||||||||
November 19, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
P3 | Bilibili Gaming | 3 | |||||||||||
Weibo Gaming | 0 | ||||||||||||
November 4, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
T1 | 3 | ||||||||||||
P1 | JD Gaming | 3 | |||||||||||
November 12, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
P3 | KT Rolster | 1 | |||||||||||
JD Gaming | 1 | ||||||||||||
November 5, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
T1 | 3 | ||||||||||||
P2 | LNG Esports | 0 | |||||||||||
P2 | T1 | 3 | |||||||||||
Place | Team | PG | PQ | SS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | T1 | – | – | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 20% | $445,000 |
2nd | Weibo Gaming | – | – | 3–2 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 15% | $333,750 |
3rd–4th | JD Gaming | – | – | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 8% | $178,000 | |
Bilibili Gaming | – | – | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2–3 | ||||
5th–8th | Gen.G | – | – | 3–0 | 2–3 | 4.5% | $100,125 | ||
KT Rolster | – | – | 3–2 | 1–3 | |||||
NRG Esports | – | – | 3–1 | 0–3 | |||||
LNG Esports | – | – | 3–1 | 0–3 | |||||
9th–11th | G2 Esports | – | – | 2–3 | 3.25% | $72,312.50 | |||
Fnatic | – | – | 2–3 | ||||||
Dplus KIA | – | – | 2–3 | ||||||
12th–14th | Cloud9 | – | – | 1–3 | 2.75% | $61,187.50 | |||
MAD Lions | – | – | 1–3 | ||||||
GAM Esports | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | ||||||
15th–16th | Team Liquid | – | – | 0–3 | 2.25% | $50,062.50 | |||
Team BDS | 2–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | ||||||
17th–18th | PSG Talon | 2–0 | 2–3 | 1.75% | $38,937.50 | ||||
Team Whales | 2–0 | 1–3 | |||||||
19th–20th | CTBC Flying Oyster | 1–2 | 1.5% | $33,375 | |||||
LOUD | 1–2 | ||||||||
21st–22nd | DetonatioN FocusMe | 0–2 | 1% | $22,250 | |||||
Movistar R7 | 0–2 | ||||||||
Place | Team | PG | PQ | SS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
T1 is a South Korean esports organization operated by T1 Entertainment & Sports, a joint venture between SK Telecom and Comcast Spectacor. The team that would become SKT T1 was originally founded in 2002 by StarCraft player Lim "BoxeR" Yo-hwan under the name Team Orion, which was later renamed to 4 Union in December 2003. In April 2004, South Korean wireless carrier SK Telecom began sponsoring the team, officially creating the team SK Telecom T1.
The League of Legends World Championship is the annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament hosted by Riot Games and is the culmination of each season. Teams compete for the champion title, the 44-pound (20-kilogram) Summoner's Cup, and a multi-million-dollar championship prize. In 2018, the final was watched by 99.6 million people, breaking 2017's final's viewer record. The tournament has been praised for its ceremonial performances, while receiving attention worldwide due to its dramatic and emotional nature.
Lee Sang-hyeok, better known as Faker, is a South Korean professional League of Legends player for T1. He gained prominence after joining SK Telecom T1 in 2013, where he has since played as the team's mid-laner. Throughout his career, he has secured a record of 10 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) titles, two Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) titles, and a record five World Championship titles. Faker is widely regarded as the greatest League of Legends player in history and has drawn comparison analogizing him to basketball player, Michael Jordan for his esports success.
League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) is the primary competition for League of Legends esports in South Korea. Contested by ten teams, the league runs two seasons per year and serves as a direct route to qualification for the annual League of Legends World Championship. The LCK is administered in cooperation between Riot Games and KeSPA.
The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is an annual League of Legends international tournament hosted by Riot Games in the middle of years, since 2015. It is the second most important international League of Legends tournament aside from the World Championship.
League of Legends esports is the professional competition of the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It is developed and published by Riot Games and was first released in 2009.
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. 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. 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.
Kim Hyuk-kyu, better known as Deft, is a South Korean professional League of Legends player for KT Rolster. He won the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational with Edward Gaming and the 2022 League of Legends World Championship with DRX.
Gen.G, also called Gen.G Esports and previously known as KSV Esports, is a professional esports organization with headquarters in Santa Monica, Seoul, and Shanghai. According to Forbes, Gen.G is the eighth most valuable esports organization in the world as of May 2022, worth US$250 million.
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the ninth 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 2, 2019, to November 10, 2019, in Berlin, Madrid and Paris. Twenty four teams from 13 regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, Europe, North America, South Korea and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau with twelve of those teams having to reach the main event via a play-in stage.
Dplus KIA (DK), formerly known as DWG KIA and DAMWON Gaming, is a South Korean professional esports organization. Its League of Legends team competes in the LCK, the top-level league for the game in South Korea.
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the tenth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. It was held from 25 September to 31 October in Shanghai, China. Twenty-two teams from eleven regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits, such as those in China, Europe, North America, South Korea and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia, with ten of those teams having to reach the main "groups" event via a play-in stage.
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the eleventh iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was held from 5 October to 6 November in Reykjavík, Iceland. Twenty two teams from 11 regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, Europe, North America, South Korea and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia with ten of those teams having to reach the main event via a play-in stage.
Lee Min-hyeong, better known as Gumayusi or simply Guma, is a South Korean professional League of Legends player for T1. As a member of T1, he won the 2023 and 2024 League of Legends World Championships.
The 2022 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the twelfth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was held from September 29 to November 5 in Mexico and the United States. Twenty-four teams from 11 regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, Europe, North America, South Korea, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia and Vietnam, with twelve of those teams having to reach the main event via a play-in stage.
Ryu Min-seok, better known as Keria, is a South Korean professional League of Legends player for T1. Throughout his career, he has won one League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) title and two League of Legends World Championship titles. He also represented the South Korean national team at the 2022 Asian Games, earning a gold medal.
The 2024 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the fourteenth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organised by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was held from 25 September to 2 November in Berlin, Paris, and London. It marked the fifth time Europe has hosted the tournament, having held the event in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021. Twenty teams qualified for the event based on placement within their regional leagues and results gained in the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).
The 2022 League of Legends World Championship Final was a League of Legends (LoL) esports series between T1 and DRX on 5 November 2022 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, United States. It marked the twelfth final of a LoL World Championship. Both T1 and DRX were two of four representatives from the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) at the tournament, the others being Gen.G and DWG KIA. It was T1's first appearance in the final since the 2017 edition and the first time a play-in team made a tournament run to the final, with DRX starting their tournament from the play-in stage as the LCK's fourth seed, barely qualifying through the regional qualifiers.
The 2024 Mid-Season Invitational was the ninth Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), a Riot Games-organised tournament for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament was hosted in Chengdu, China, from May 1 to 19, 2024. All stages of the tournament were played at the Chengdu Financial City Performing Arts Center.
The 2024 League of Legends World Championship Final was a League of Legends (LoL) esports series between Bilibili Gaming and T1 on 2 November 2024 at The O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, marking the fourteenth final of a LoL World Championship and the final championship series to take place under the current two-split competitive calendar before the new split structure and competitive calendar for the game's esports system and ecosystem is set to be implemented by the game's developer Riot Games in 2025.