2018 League of Legends World Championship
The 2018 League of Legends World Championship was the eighth world championship for League of Legends, an esports tournament for the 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.[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][8]
2018 | |
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Location | South Korea |
Dates | October 1–November 3 |
Administrator(s) | 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) | |
Teams | 24 |
Purse | 6.7 million[1] |
Final positions | |
Champion | Invictus Gaming (1st title) |
Runner-up | Fnatic |
MVP | Gao "Ning" Zhenning (Invictus Gaming) |
The tournament's opening ceremony received significant attention, with over 90 million concurrent viewers tuning in for the performance. An augmented reality K-pop group, 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.[9][10][11] "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.[12]
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.[13] 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.[14][15]
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.
Region | League | Path | Team | ID | Pool |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start in Main event's Group stage | |||||
South Korea | LCK | Summer Champion | KT Rolster | KT | 1 |
Most Championship Points | Afreeca Freecs | AFs | 2 | ||
Regional Finals Winner | Gen.G Esports | GEN | |||
China | LPL | Summer Champion | Royal Never Give Up | RNG | 1 |
Most Championship Points | Invictus Gaming | IG | 2 | ||
Europe | EU LCS | Summer Champion | Fnatic | FNC | 1 |
Most Championship Points | Team Vitality | VIT | 2 | ||
North America | NA LCS | Summer Champion | Team Liquid | TL | 2 |
Most Championship Points | 100 Thieves | 100 | |||
TW/HK/MO | LMS | Summer Champion | Flash Wolves | FW | 1 |
Most Championship Points | MAD Team | MAD | 2 | ||
Vietnam | VCS | Summer Champion | Phong Vũ Buffalo | PVB | 2 |
Start in Play-in stage | |||||
China | LPL | Regional Finals Winner | 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
Venues
Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Incheon were the four cities chosen to host the competition.
South Korea | |
---|---|
Seoul | Busan |
Play-in Stage | Main Group Stage & Quarterfinals |
LOL PARK, Gran Seoul 3F | BEXCO Auditorium |
Capacity: 450 | Capacity: 4,002 |
Gwangju | Incheon |
Semifinals | Finals |
Gwangju Women's University Universiade Gymnasium |
Incheon Munhak Stadium |
Capacity: 8,327 | Capacity: 50,256 |
Play-in Stage
- Venue: LOL PARK, Gran Seoul 3F, Seoul.
- Date and time: October 1–4, started from 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00)
Round 1
- Twelve teams are drawn in four groups, with three teams each group.
- Double round robin, all matches are best-of-one.
- If teams have same win-loss record and head to head, they will play a tiebreaker match for 1st or 2nd place.
- The top two teams of each group advance to round 2. The 3rd-place team is eliminated.
Group A
# | Team | ~ | EDG | INF | DW | W | L | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 2 | 1 | EDG | W | L | INF |
2 | DW | W | L | INF | |
3 | DW | L | W | EDG | |
October 4 | 4 | INF | W | L | EDG |
5 | INF | W | L | DW | |
6 | EDG | W | L | DW |
Group B
# | Team | ~ | G2 | SUP | ASC | W | L | 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 2 | 1 | G2 | L | W | SUP |
2 | ASC | L | W | SUP | |
3 | ASC | L | W | G2 | |
October 4 | 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 | W | L | 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 1 | 1 | C9 | W | L | KBM |
2 | DFM | W | L | KBM | |
3 | DFM | L | W | C9 | |
October 3 | 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 | W | L | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 1 | 1 | GMB | L | W | GRX |
2 | GRX | W | L | KLG | |
3 | GMB | W | L | KLG | |
October 3 | 4 | GRX | W | L | GMB |
5 | KLG | L | W | GMB | |
6 | KLG | L | W | GRX |
Round 2
- Eight teams are drawn randomly into a single-elimination match, with 1st-place teams of each group facing 2nd-place teams of another group.
- All matches are best-of-five.
- The 1st-place team chooses the side for all odd-numbered games, while the 2nd-place team chooses the side of even-numbered games.
- The winner advances to the main group stage.
Match 1
- Date and time: October 6, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 and time: October 6, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 |
Group Stage
- Venue: BEXCO Auditorium, Busan.
- Date and time: October 10–17, started from 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
- Sixteen teams are drawn in four groups with four teams per group. Teams of same region cannot be placed in the same group.
- Double round robin, all matches are best-of-one.
- If teams have the same win-loss record and head-to-head record, a tiebreaker match is played.
- The top two teams of each group advance to Knockout Stage. The bottom two teams are eliminated.
Group A
# | Team | ~ | AFS | G2 | FW | PVB | W | L | 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 |
Group B
# | Team | ~ | RNG | C9 | VIT | GEN | W | L | 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 | |||
Group C
# | Team | ~ | KT | EDG | TL | MAD | W | L | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
Group D
# | Team | ~ | FNC | IG | 100 | GRX | W | L | 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 |
Knock-out Stage
- Eight teams are drawn into a best-of-five single elimination bracket.
- The 1st-place team of each group is drawn against the 2nd-place team of another group.
- Teams of the same group can not play each other until the finals.
- All matches are best-of-five.
Quarterfinals
Match 1
- Date and time: October 20, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 and time: October 20, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 and time: October 21, 13:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 and time: October 21, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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.
- The winner advances to the finals.
Match 1
- Date and time: October 27, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 and time: October 28, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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 and time: November 3, 17:00 KST (UTC+09:00).
Team | ID | 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
- (*) Does not include tiebreaker games.
Place | Region | Team | PS1 | PS2 | GS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD)[16] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | LPL | Invictus Gaming* | 5-1 | 3-2 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 37.5% | $2,418,750 | ||
2nd | EU LCS | Fnatic* | 5-1 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 0-3 | 13.5% | $870,750 | ||
3rd–4th | NA LCS | Cloud9* | 4-0 | 3-2 | 4-2 | 3-0 | 0-3 | 7% | $451,500 | |
EU LCS | G2 Esports* | 3-1 | 3-1 | 3-3 | 3-2 | 0-3 | ||||
5th–6th | LCK | KT Rolster | 5-1 | 2-3 | 4% | $258,000 | ||||
LPL | Royal Never Give Up* | 4-2 | 2-3 | |||||||
7th | LPL | EDward Gaming | 3-1 | 3-0 | 4-2 | 1-3 | ||||
8th | LCK | Afreeca Freecs | 4-2 | 0-3 | ||||||
9th–11th | LMS | Flash Wolves* | 3-3 | 2.25% | $145,125 | |||||
EU LCS | Team Vitality | 3-3 | ||||||||
NA LCS | Team Liquid | 3-3 | ||||||||
12th | NA LCS | 100 Thieves | 2-4 | |||||||
13th | VCS | Phong Vũ Buffalo | 2-4 | 1.25% | $80,625 | |||||
14th | LCK | Gen.G eSports | 1-5 | |||||||
15th-16th | LMS | G-Rex | 4-0 | 3-1 | 0-6 | |||||
LMS | MAD Team | 0-6 | ||||||||
17th | LCL | Gambit Esports | 2-2 | 2-3 | 0.75% | $48,375 | ||||
18th-19th | TCL | Super Massive e-Sports* | 3-1 | 1-3 | ||||||
LLN | Infinity eSports CR | 2-2 | 1-3 | |||||||
20th | LJL | DetonatioN FocusMe* | 1-3 | 0-3 | ||||||
21st-22nd | CBLOL | KaBuM! e-Sports* | 1-3 | 0.5% | $32,250 | |||||
OPL | Dire Wolves | 1-3 | ||||||||
23rd-24th | CLS | Kaos Latin Gamers | 0-4 | |||||||
SEA | Ascension Gaming | 0-4 | ||||||||
Place | Region | Team | PS1 | PS2 | GS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
Regional ranking
- The win-ratio is determined by number of won games compared the number of games played.
- Bracket stage wins are prioritized.
- (*) Does not include tiebreaker games.
References
- 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.
- "24 teams complete the lineup for the 2018 League of Legends World Championship".
- "The Worlds 2018 Quarterfinals were full of upsets". The Rift Herald.
- "Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing". ESPN.com.
- "Ranking the League of Legends World Championship finals". ESPN.com.
- "League of Legends in 2018 was the World's Most Viewed Esports Game in History - TalkEsport". www.talkesport.com.
- "LoL World Championship draws more viewers than the Super Bowl". Dexerto.
- "2018 World Championship detailed stats". esc.watch.
- Crecente, Brian (November 7, 2018). "Fictional Hologram Band Tops Real-World Charts After Stunning 'League of Legend' Show (Watch)". Variety.
- "Watch The Word Alive crush their 'League Of Legends' Worlds performance". Alternative Press. November 3, 2018.
- "K/DA comes to life through AR at the 2018 Worlds Finals Opening Ceremony". The Rift Herald.
- "RISE is the newest Worlds theme song". The Rift Herald.
- "Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing". ESPN.com.
- "China's frenzy over League of Legends championship sheds light on esports growth". TechCrunch.
- "Ning is your 2018 League of Legends World Championship Finals MVP".
- "2018 Season World Championship". Leaguepedia | League of Legends Esports Wiki. Retrieved January 9, 2020.