The race for the Summoner's Cup begins in South Korea on Tuesday as 22 teams compete in the 2023 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds 2023). For months, teams worldwide have been competing against each other in hopes of qualifying for the esport's crowning event and now the time has finally come for the world's best teams to come together.
Tournament Structure
22 teams comprise the participant field for Worlds, each having qualified for the event via top placement and/or tournament wins in their respective regions earlier in the year. The regions of Korea and China each have four teams representing, with Europe and North America having three a piece (either EU or Na will have an additional team qualify as the winner of a last-chance qualifier). The other seven teams are from smaller regions such as Latin America (1), Brazil (1), Japan (1), Vietnam (2), and the wider Pacific (2).
Worlds 2023 is structured slightly differently from previous years, as Riot introduced a Swiss Stage in place of a Group Stage like has been had previously. In total, Worlds 2023 will feature three different stages: Play-ins, Swiss, and Knockouts. Commenting on the format, Riotstated that'for Worlds, we focused on creating more best-of match play and more opportunities for cross-regional competition. We also wanted to make sure that every single game at Worlds had stakes and that we could minimize elimination games that do not impact the outcome of the tournament for both teams playing. Bringing a multiple elimination format to Play-Ins and Swiss gives teams a chance early in the tournament to make a comeback if they started off poorly and gives us more games to watch our favorite pros compete.'
The seven teams from the minor regions and the team from NA/EU that qualifies via the last-chance qualifier make up the Play-in Stage and they have been drawn into two four-team double-elimination brackets where they will play best-of-three matches. The upper bracket winner of each group will face the lower bracket winner of each group in best-of-five matches with the two winners moving on to the Swiss Stage.
The Swiss Stage will contain the 14 teams from KR, CN, NA, & EU as well as the two teams that advanced from the Play-Ins. The 16-team stage will feature a five-round, Swiss-style format where teams with the same win-loss record will play against each other until they achieve either three wins or three losses. The first round will randomly pair teams against another team from a different region and will play a single best-of-one match. For the remaining rounds, teams will be paired against teams that have similar win-loss records (ie. teams that are 1-1 will play another team that is 1-1, etc.). This will continue for five total rounds and teams will advance to the Knockouts Stage once they have achieved three wins or be eliminated from the tournament once they reach three losses. All matches during this stage will be played as best-of-one however any matches that would give a team a third win or a third loss will be played as a best-of-three. Eight teams will advance out of Swiss play and into the final Knockout bracket.
The final Knockout Stage will be a single-elimination bracket where teams will play best-of-five matches.
Pre-Tournament Outlook
Though the crowning of a champion is still well over a month away, that won't stop anyone from making their hail-mary predictions for who will come out on top. The two teams favored to win it all areGen.GandJD Gaming (JDG). Gen.G has been led by their Mid-Laner,Chovy, and their Bot-Laner,Peyz, who have been tearing through the LCK all year. As for JDG, they have arguably the best Jungler and Bot-Laner in the world withKavaniandRuler. Additionally, JDG has the chance to make history as the first team to ever win their two domestic splits and the two international titles in the same year and complete the League of Legends 'Golden Road.' BYU Senior, Jacob Warnick, believes that just might happen. He commented, 'I don't think anybody beats JDG, Kanavi is too good.'
For fans of Western teams, it could be another rough go of things. There's always historically been a gap in the quality of play between the West and East, but fans never give up hope that a team will buck the trend someday. BYU Grad Student Kyle Parker shares that sentiment. When asked about the Western teams, he said that 'each time Worlds rolls around, we tend to keep holding out hope that a Western team will outperform expectations and give us someone to rally around for pride’s sake and to take back the title.' Jacob also shared his thoughts on the teams from NA and explained that he's 'especially excited to watch them this year because there is a lot of native talent on the rosters that we don't usually see. This year, there are a lot of players on these teams that have been grinding in the amateur scene for a while and it is pretty cool.' There could be some hope for Western teams with teams likeG2 Esportswho could be the team to keep an eye on as they're coming off winning 27 of their last 33 games and lead European teams in nearly every statistical category.
With a champion not being crowned till November 19th, there's plenty of time for things to be shaken up at Worlds.
Catch all the action starting October 10th onYouTubeorTwitch