Hello everybody! It's that time of year again, time for Korea and China to dominate and for NA to get our hopes up only to choke for the umpteenth time. Over the entire month of October, 24 teams will duke it out to see who will rise to the top to claim the Summoner's Cup and the title of the best League of Legends team in the world. This year Worlds will be taking place in South Korea (NA sleep schedules be damned), so grab a few energy drinks and settle in to watch some of the best League of Legends in the world.
THE FORMAT
Worlds is composed of three stages: the Play-In Stage, the Group Stage, and the Knockout Stage (Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals).
Play-In Stage: 10/1-10/4; 10/6-10/7
Seoul, South Korea
12 teams are drawn into four groups. Each group plays a Double Round-Robin (each team plays all others twice), Best of 1 series.
The two highest-ranked teams from each group advance to Play-In Knockouts, where the first-place teams from each group are paired with second-place teams from another. These matches will determine the 4 Play-In teams that move on to the Group Stage.
Group Stage: 10/10-10/17
Busan
16 teams - 12 that qualified for the Group Stage directly, and 4 from the Play-In Stage - are drawn into four groups. Each group plays a Double Round-Robin, Best of 1 series.
The two highest-ranked teams from each group will move on to the final leg of the tournament, the Knockout Stage.
Knockout Stage: 10/20-10/21; 10/27-10/28; 11/3
Busan, Gwangju, Incheon
8 teams move on to the Knockout Stage, which encompasses Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals. For this stage, the tournament transitions to a single-elimination bracket with all matches played in a Best of 5 format. Matchups are decided by an on-stage draw before each day of play begins. The team that comes out on top will become the 2018 World Champions.
A schedule is below for all you visual learners out there...
THE TEAMS
Just click the image below to read some handy blurbs on the players and how each team got here!
GROUP DRAWS
Feast your eyes, and despair, as your favorite team is drawn into the group of death, to be never seen again. You know what they say, "Don't hate the player, hate the Flame." (Looking at you, Vitality fans...)
Cash Rules Everything Around Me (Dolla Dolla Bills Y'all)
That's right! Team revenue sharing allocation is more robust than ever, with more ways to support your favorite team by parting with your hard-earned cash. On top of a base prize pool of $2,225,000, you can also contribute to the pool by purchasing the Championship Kha'Zix skin or the 2018 Championship Ward. Last year, the 2017 prize pool hit a final total of $4,946,970 USD. Let's not pull a dying game (doto) and beat that total this year, mmkay? You can also directly support the team of your choice by purchasing team icons, chromas, emotes, and more.
SOUNDS COOL! WHERE SHOULD I WATCH?
So there's a few options:
Watchlolesports is where Riot probably wants you to go. You can find all the links to each game, catch up on previous matches you missed with their VoD library, and even complete missions just by watching Worlds to boot. I'll talk more about that later.
Twitch is the easy choice is you're looking for maximum MPS (Memes per second). If you want to experience the game with the rest of the chat watching and take delight in all the PogChamps and HotPokkets being spammed, go for it. Not recommended for those who are easily offended.
Youtube most likely has the best video player of the bunch, with very few slowdowns or pauses, the ability to re-wind and fast forward, and not having to deal with the (racism/sexism/general shittiness) of Twitch chat. Great for those with slower connections.
Oh yeah, and did I mention we have a DISCORD????????? Come chat with us fellow League-addicts over on our LoL-focused server. Just click on Vedius' face to be linked to the discord.
No seriously, come hang out. Please. I beg you.
Anyway, sorry for the rush job, I put this together in the span of 2 hours since no one else did and play-ins start today. I'll be updating this post and the next with more info and hype sh*t to plug some of the amazing content Riot's put out. Cheers!
