2018 League of Legends World Championship

League of Legends World Championship

2018
Tournament information
Location	South Korea
Dates	October 1–November 3
Administrator	Riot Games
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) Seoul (Play-in Stage) Busan (Group Stage & Quarterfinals) Gwangju (Semifinals) Incheon (Finals)
Teams	24
Final positions
Champion	Invictus Gaming (1st title)
Runner-up	Fnatic
MVP	Gao "Ning" Zhen-Ning (Invictus Gaming)

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship is the eighth world championship for League of Legends, a video game developed by 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 is known for having a large amount of upsets, and is considered the most unpredictable worlds in League of Legends' history. Being lauded as one of the best, the tournament is the most watched eSports event in history, reaching a peak of over 200 million concurrent viewers during the finals. It surpasses the viewership of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship, as well as the peak viewership of numerous worldwide sporting events including Super Bowl.

The tournament's opening ceremony received extraordinary attention, with over 90 million concurrent viewers tuning in for the performances, while being hyped up across social media. An augmented reality K-pop group, K/DA was unveiled by Riot Games during the ceremony, with Soyeon and Miyeon from (G)I-dle's, 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 version of "Pop/Stars" was also released. "RISE" is the tournament's theme song, put together by three different music groups / artist - 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.

The victory of China's Invictus Gaming over Europe's Fnatic in the tournament's finals marked the first time ever LPL (China) as a region won the world championship, as well as the first time a non-LCK (Korean) team won after five consecutive years of Korean championship, with social media platforms being flooded by congratulatory messages and threads. The series also became the game's fastest world championship finals in history at 85 mins (total game time). Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning was awarded the MVP of the finals due to his outstanding performance and contributions as the center of the team during the series, it also marks the first time a player from the jungler position has won a world championship MVP.

Qualified teams

Region	League	Path	Team	ID	Pool
Start in Main event's Group stage
South Korea	LCK	Summer Champion	KT Rolster	KT	1
		Championship Points	Afreeca Freecs	AFs	2
		Regional Finals	Gen.G eSports	GEN
China	LPL	Summer Champion	Royal Never Give Up	RNG	1
		Championship Points	Invictus Gaming	IG	2
Europe	EU LCS	Summer Champion	Fnatic	FNC	1
		Championship Points	Team Vitality	VIT	2
North America	NA LCS	Summer Champion	Team Liquid	TL	2
		Championship Points	100 Thieves	100
TW/HK/MO	LMS	Summer Champion	Flash Wolves	FW	1
		Championship Points	MAD Team	MAD	2
Vietnam	VCS	Summer Champion	Phong Vũ Buffalo	PVB	2
Start in Play-in stage
China	LPL	Regional Finals	EDward Gaming	EDG	1
Europe	EU LCS		G2 Esports	G2
North America	NA LCS		Cloud9	C9
TW/HK/MO	LMS		G-Rex	GRX
Brazil	CBLOL	Summer Champion	KaBuM! e-Sports	KBM	2
CIS	LCL		Gambit Esports	GMB
Latin America North	LLN		Infinity eSports CR	INF
Turkey	TCL		SuperMassive e-Sports	SUP
Japan	LJL		DetonatioN FocusMe	DFM	3
Latin America South	CLS		Kaos Latin Gamers	KLG
Oceania	OPL		Dire Wolves	DW
Southeast Asia	SEA		Ascension Gaming	ASC

Rosters

Teams	Players					Coach
	Top	Jungle	Mid	ADC	Support
China - LPL
Royal Never Give Up	Letme	Mlxg Karsa	Xiaohu	Uzi	Ming	Heart
Invictus Gaming	TheShy Duke	Ning	Rookie	JackeyLove	Baolan	Kim
EDward Gaming	Ray	Haro Clearlove	Scout	iBoy	Meiko	NoFe
Europe - EU LCS
Fnatic	Bwipo sOAZ	Broxah	Caps	Rekkles	Hylissang	Dylan Falco
Team Vitality	Cabochard	Kikis	Jiizuke	Attila	Jactroll Dreams (DP)	YamatoCannon
G2 Esports	Wunder Sacre (DP)	Jankos	Perkz	Hjarnan	Wadid	GrabbZ
North America - NA LCS
Team Liquid	Impact V1per (DP)	Xmithie	Pobelter	Doublelift	Olleh	Cain
100 Thieves	Ssumday	AnDa	Ryu	Rikara Cody Sun (DP)	aphromoo	pr0lly
Cloud9	Licorice	Svenskeren Blaber	Jensen	Sneaky	Zeyzal	Reapered
South Korea - LCK
KT Rolster	Smeb Kingen (DP)	Score	Ucal	Deft	Mata	Noexcuse
Afreeca Freecs	Kiin	Spirit Mowgli	Kuro	Kramer	TusiN	Ccomet
Gen.G esports	CuVee	Haru Ambition	Crown	Ruler	CoreJJ	Edgar
Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau - LMS
Flash Wolves	Hanabi MMD (DP)	Moojin	Maple	Betty	SwordArt	WarHorse
MAD Team	Liang	Kongyue Benny	Uniboy	Breeze	K	GreenTea
G-Rex	PK	baybay Empt2y	Candy	Stitch	Koala	Wei
Vietnam - VCS
Phong Vũ Buffalo	Zeros	Meliodas XuHao	Naul	BigKoro	Palette	Ren
Brazil - CBLOL
KaBuM! e-Sports	Zantins	Ranger	dyNquedo	Titan	Riyev Wos (DP)	Hiro
Commonwealth of Independent States - LCL
Gambit Esports	PvPStejos	Diamondprox Seigimitsu (DP)	Kira	Lodik	Edward	ATRemains
Turkey - TCL
SuperMassive e-Sports	fabFabulous	Stomaged	GBM Secaf Reis (DP)	Zeitnot	Snowflower	Irean
Japan - LJL
DetonatioN FocusMe	Evi	Steal	Ceros	Yutapon Pink Bean (DP)	viviD	Kazu
Latin America North - LLN
Infinity eSports CR	Relic	SolidSnake	Cotopaco	Renyu ottovaG (DP)	Arce	Soren
Latin America South - CLS
Kaos Latin Gamers	Nate	Tierwulf	Plugo	Fix Zealot (DP)	Slow	Pierre
Oceania - OPL
Dire Wolves	BioPanther	Shernfire (BAN) UDYSOF	Triple	k1ng	Cupcake	Sharp
Southeast Asia - SEA
Ascension Gaming	Rockky	Lloyd	G4 SunSunSun (DP)	Niksar	Rich	Chainarin

Play-in Stage

• Venue: LOL PARK, Gran Seoul 3F, Seoul.
• Date time: October 1-4, started from 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00)

Round 1

• 12 teams are drawn in 4 groups, 3 teams each group.
• Double round robin, all matches are Best-of-one.
• If many teams have same W-L results and confrontation results is 1-1, they will play Tie-Break match for 1st or 2nd place.
• Top 2 teams of each group are advanced to round 2. The 3rd-place team is eliminated.

Group A

#	Team		-	EDG	INF	DW		Win	Lose
1	EDward Gaming		EDG	-	1-1	2-0		3	1
2	Infinity eSports CR		INF	1-1	-	1-1		2	2
3	Dire Wolves		DW	0-2	1-1	-		1	3

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 2nd	1	EDG	W	L	INF
	2	DW	W	L	INF
	3	DW	L	W	EDG
October 4th	4	INF	W	L	EDG
	5	INF	W	L	DW
	6	EDG	W	L	DW

Group B

#	Team		-	G2	SUP	ASC		Win	Lose	T-B
1	G2 Esports		G2	-	1-1	2-0		3	1	W
2	SuperMassive e-Sports		SUP	1-1	-	2-0		3	1	L
3	Ascension Gaming		ASC	0-2	0-2	-		0	4

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 2nd	1	G2	L	W	SUP
	2	ASC	L	W	SUP
	3	ASC	L	W	G2
October 4th	4	SUP	L	W	G2
	5	SUP	W	L	ASC
	6	G2	W	L	ASC
	T-B	SUP	L	W	G2

Group C

#	Team		-	C9	DFM	KBM		Win	Lose	T-B
1	Cloud9		C9	-	2-0	2-0		4	0
2	DetonatioN FocusMe		DFM	0-2	-	1-1		1	3	W
3	KaBuM! e-Sports		KBM	0-2	1-1	-		1	3	L

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 1st	1	C9	W	L	KBM
	2	DFM	W	L	KBM
	3	DFM	L	W	C9
October 3rd	4	KBM	W	L	DFM
	5	KBM	L	W	C9
	6	C9	W	L	DFM
	T-B	DFM	W	L	KBM

Group D

#	Team		-	GRX	GMB	KLG		Win	Lose
1	G-Rex		GRX	-	2-0	2-0		4	0
2	Gambit Esports		GMB	0-2	-	2-0		2	2
3	Kaos Latin Gamers		KLG	0-2	0-2	-		0	4

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 1st	1	GMB	L	W	GRX
	2	GRX	W	L	KLG
	3	GMB	W	L	KLG
October 3rd	4	GRX	W	L	GMB
	5	KLG	L	W	GMB
	6	KLG	L	W	GRX

Round 2

• 8 teams, random draw. The 1st-place team of each group faces to the 2nd-place team of other group.
• All matches are Best-of-five.
• 1st-place team chooses side of game 1-3-5, 2nd-place team chooses side of game 2-4.
• Winner is advanced to main event Group Stage. Loser is eliminated.

Match 1

• Date time: October 6th, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
C1	Cloud9 (C9)	3
D2	Gambit Esports (GMB)	2

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	C9	W	L	GMB
2	GMB	W	L	C9
3	C9	W	L	GMB
4	GMB	W	L	C9
5	C9	W	L	GMB

Match 2

• Date time: October 6th, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
A1	EDward Gaming (EDG)	3
C2	DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM)	0

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	DFM	L	W	EDG
2	EDG	W	L	DFM
3	DFM	L	W	EDG
4	X	-	-	X
5	X	-	-	X

Match 3

• Date time: October 7th, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
B1	G2 Esports (G2)	3
A2	Infinity eSports CR (INF)	1

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	G2	L	W	INF
2	INF	L	W	G2
3	G2	W	L	INF
4	INF	L	W	G2
5	X	-	-	X

Match 4

• Date time: October 7th, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
D1	G-Rex (GRX)	3
B2	SuperMassive e-Sports (SUP)	1

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	GRX	L	W	SUP
2	SUP	L	W	GRX
3	GRX	W	L	SUP
4	SUP	L	W	GRX
5	X	-	-	X

Group Stage

• Venue: BEXCO Auditorium, Busan.
• Date time: October 10-17, started from 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
• 16 teams are drawn in 4 groups, 4 teams each group. Teams of same region can't be in a group.
• Double round robin, all matches are Best-of-one.
• If many teams have same W-L results and confrontation results is 1-1, they will play Tie-Break match for 1st or 2nd place.
• Top 2 teams of each group are advanced to Knock-out Stage. Bottom 2 teams are eliminated.

Group A

#	Team		-	AFS	G2	FW	PVB		Win	Lose	T-B
1	Afreeca Freecs		AFS	-	1-1	1-1	2-0		4	2
2	G2 Esports		G2	1-1	-	1-1	1-1		3	3	W
3	Flash Wolves		FW	1-1	1-1	-	1-1		3	3	L
4	Phong Vũ Buffalo		PVB	0-2	1-1	1-1	-		2	4

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 10th	1	PVB	L	W	FW
	2	AFS	L	W	G2
October 11th	3	FW	W	L	AFS
	4	PVB	W	L	G2
October 13th	5	AFS	W	L	PVB
	6	G2	W	L	FW
October 15th	7	AFS	W	L	FW
	8	G2	W	L	PVB
	9	FW	W	L	G2
	10	PVB	L	W	AFS
	11	FW	L	W	PVB
	12	G2	L	W	AFS
	T-B	FW	L	W	G2

Group B

#	Team		-	RNG	C9	VIT	GEN		Win	Lose	T-B
1	Royal Never Give Up		RNG	-	1-1	1-1	2-0		4	2	W
2	Cloud9		C9	1-1	-	2-0	1-1		4	2	L
3	Team Vitality		VIT	1-1	0-2	-	2-0		3	3
4	Gen.G eSports		GEN	0-2	1-1	0-2	-		1	5

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 10th	1	RNG	W	L	C9
	2	GEN	L	W	VIT
October 11th	3	VIT	L	W	C9
	4	GEN	L	W	RNG
October 12th	5	RNG	W	L	VIT
	6	C9	L	W	GEN
October 14th	7	VIT	W	L	RNG
	8	GEN	L	W	C9
	9	VIT	W	L	GEN
	10	C9	W	L	RNG
	11	C9	W	L	VIT
	12	RNG	W	L	GEN
	T-B	RNG	W	L	C9

Group C

#	Team		-	KT	EDG	TL	MAD		Win	Lose
1	KT Rolster		KT	-	1-1	2-0	2-0		5	1
2	EDward Gaming		EDG	1-1	-	1-1	2-0		4	2
3	Team Liquid		TL	0-2	1-1	-	2-0		3	3
4	MAD Team		MAD	0-2	0-2	0-2	-		0	6

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 10th	1	KT	W	L	TL
	2	EDG	W	L	MAD
October 12th	3	MAD	L	W	KT
	4	TL	L	W	EDG
October 13th	5	TL	W	L	MAD
	6	KT	W	L	EDG
October 16th	7	TL	L	W	KT
	8	MAD	L	W	EDG
	9	MAD	L	W	TL
	10	EDG	W	L	KT
	11	EDG	L	W	TL
	12	KT	W	L	MAD

Group D

#	Team		-	FNC	IG	100	GRX		Win	Lose	T-B
1	Fnatic		FNC	-	1-1	2-0	2-0		5	1	W
2	Invictus Gaming		IG	1-1	-	2-0	2-0		5	1	L
3	100 Thieves		100	0-2	0-2	-	2-0		2	4
4	G-Rex		GRX	0-2	0-2	0-2	-		0	6

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
October 11th	1	100	L	W	FNC
	2	IG	W	L	GRX
October 12th	3	FNC	L	W	IG
	4	100	W	L	GRX
October 13th	5	IG	W	L	100
	6	GRX	L	W	FNC
October 17th	7	FNC	W	L	100
	8	GRX	L	W	IG
	9	FNC	W	L	GRX
	10	100	L	W	IG
	11	GRX	L	W	100
	12	IG	L	W	FNC
	T-B	FNC	W	L	IG

Knock-out Stage

• 8 teams, random draw.
• The 1st-place team of each group faces the 2nd-place team of another group at Quarterfinals.
• Teams of same group can not fight each other in the same branch until final.
• All matches are Best-of-five.

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

C1

KT Rolster

2

D2

Invictus Gaming

3

Invictus Gaming

3

G2 Esports

0

B1

Royal Never Give Up

2

A2

G2 Esports

3

Invictus Gaming

3

Fnatic

0

A1

Afreeca Freecs

0

B2

Cloud9

3

Cloud9

0

Fnatic

3

D1

Fnatic

3

C2

EDward Gaming

1

Quarterfinals

• Venue: BEXCO Auditorium, Busan.
• 1st-place team chooses side of game 1-3-5, 2nd-place team chooses side of game 2-4.
• Winner is advanced to semifinal. Loser is eliminated.

Match 1

• Date time: October 20th, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
C1	KT Rolster (KT)	2
D2	Invictus Gaming (IG)	3

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	KT	L	W	IG
2	KT	L	W	IG
3	KT	W	L	IG
4	KT	W	L	IG
5	KT	L	W	IG

Match 2

• Date time: October 20th, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
B1	Royal Never Give Up (RNG)	2
A2	G2 Esports (G2)	3

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	RNG	W	L	G2
2	G2	W	L	RNG
3	RNG	W	L	G2
4	G2	W	L	RNG
5	RNG	L	W	G2

Match 3

• Date time: October 21st, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
A1	Afreeca Freecs (AFS)	0
B2	Cloud9 (C9)	3

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	C9	W	L	AFS
2	C9	W	L	AFS
3	C9	W	L	AFS
4	X	-	-	X
5	X	-	-	X

Match 4

• Date time: October 21th, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team		Result
D1	Fnatic (FNC)	3
C2	EDward Gaming (EDG)	1

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	FNC	L	W	EDG
2	FNC	W	L	EDG
3	FNC	W	L	EDG
4	EDG	L	W	FNC
5	X	-	-	X

Semifinals

• Venue: Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium, Gwangju.
• Winner is advanced to Finals. Loser is eliminated.

Match 1

• Date time: October 27th, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team	Result
Invictus Gaming (IG)	3
G2 Esports (G2)	0

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	IG	W	L	G2
2	IG	W	L	G2
3	IG	W	L	G2
4	X	-	-	X
5	X	-	-	X

Match 2

• Date time: October 28th, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).

Team	Result
Cloud9 (C9)	0
Fnatic (FNC)	3

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	FNC	W	L	C9
2	C9	L	W	FNC
3	FNC	W	L	C9
4	X	-	-	X
5	X	-	-	X

Finals

• Venue: Incheon Munhak Stadium, Incheon.
• Date time: November 3rd, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
• Winner will be the Champions of 2018 League of Legends World Championship.

Team	Result
Invictus Gaming (IG)	3
Fnatic (FNC)	0

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	FNC	L	W	IG
2	FNC	L	W	IG
3	IG	W	L	FNC
4	X	-	-	X
5	X	-	-	X

Ranking

Team ranking

• (*) Not include tie-break games.

Place	Region	Team	PS1	PS2	GS	QF	SF	Finals	Prize (USD)
1st	LPL	Invictus Gaming*			5-1	3-2	3-0	3-0	$ 843,750
2nd	EU LCS	Fnatic*			5-1	3-1	3-0	0-3	$ 303,750
3rd-4th	NA LCS	Cloud9*	4-0	3-2	4-2	3-0	0-3		$ 157,500
	EU LCS	G2 Esports*	3-1	3-1	3-3	3-2	0-3
5th-8th	LCK	KT Rolster			5-1	2-3			$ 90,000
	LPL	Royal Never Give Up*			4-2	2-3
	LPL	EDward Gaming	3-1	3-0	4-2	1-3
	LCK	Afreeca Freecs			4-2	0-3
9th-12th	LMS	Flash Wolves*			3-3				$ 50,625
	EU LCS	Team Vitality			3-3
	NA LCS	Team Liquid			3-3
	NA LCS	100 Thieves			2-4
13th-16th	VCS	Phong Vũ Buffalo			2-4				$ 28,125
	LCK	Gen.G eSports			1-5
	LMS	G-Rex	4-0	3-1	0-6
	LMS	MAD Team			0-6
17th-20th	LCL	Gambit Esports	2-2	2-3					$ 16,875
	TCL	Super Massive e-Sports*	3-1	1-3
	LLN	Infinity eSports CR	2-2	1-3
	LJL	DetonatioN FocusMe*	1-3	0-3
21st-24th	CBLOL	KaBuM! e-Sports*	1-3						$ 11,250
	OPL	Dire Wolves	1-3
	CLS	Kaos Latin Gamers	0-4
	SEA	Ascension Gaming	0-4
Place	Region	Team	PS1	PS2	GS	QF	SF	Finals	Prize (USD)

Regional ranking with winning rating

• Rating = number of wining games / numbers of playing games
• Prioritize upper stages.

• (*) Not include tie-break games.

Place	Region	Teams	PS round 1 (4 games/team)	PS round 2 (BO5)	Group Stage (6 games/team)	Quarterfinals (BO5)	Semifinals (BO5)	Finals (BO5)
1st	LPL	2G+1P	1 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	EU LCS	2G+1P	1 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	NA LCS	2G+1P	1 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	LCK	3G			3 teams 10W-8L (55.56%)	2 teams 2W-6L (25%)
5th	VCS	1G			1 team 2W-4L (33.33%)
6th	LMS	2G+1P	1 team 4W-0L (100%)	1 team 3W-1L (75%)	3 teams 3W-15L (16.67%)*
7th	LCL	1P	1 team 2W-2L (50%)	1 team 2W-3L (40%)
8th	TCL	1P	1 team 3W-1L (75%)*	1 team 1W-3L (25%)
9th	LLN	1P	1 team 2W-2L (50%)	1 team 1W-3L (25%)
10th	LJL	1P	1 team 1W-3L (33.33%)*	1 team 0W-3L (0%)
11th	CBLOL	1P	1 team 1W-3L (33.33%)*
12th	OPL	1P	1 team 1W-3L (33.33%)
13th	CLS	1P	1 team 0W-4L (0%)
14th	SEA	1P	1 team 0W-4L (0%)