Published : Sept. 24, 2019 - 15:15
The annual League of Legends World Championship will be held next week, with Korean teams including SK Telecom T1, Griffin and Damwon Gaming in the mix.
The LoL Worlds will kick off on Oct. 2 in Berlin, with the quarterfinals and semifinals starting from Oct. 26 in Madrid, culminating with the final round on Nov. 10 in Paris.
According to game maker Riot, the main stage groups have been drawn and the Summoner’s Cup trophy will come in a Louis Vuitton trunk in a new collaboration with the upscale fashion brand.
Damwon will be starting from the play-in stage, which has four groups of three teams each. If it wins, it will make it to the main stage.
On the main stage will be four groups of four teams each, with the fourth team in each group to be decided according to play-in results.
Draw result for 2019 LoL World Championship’s main stage (Riot Games)
Griffin, which has the most wins in the most recent LoL season in Korea, is in Group A, together with Europe’s G2 Esports and US’ Cloud9. G2 Esports is the finalist from the 2019 LoL European Championship. Cloud 9, on the other hand, is considered the most likely winner among North American contenders.
SK Telecom T1, which won both the spring and summer trophies for this year’s LoL Championship Korea, is in Group C with Fnatic from Europe and Royal Never Give Up from China. Fnatic was the first-ever LoL Worlds champion in 2011. In 2018, the team placed runner-up. RNG won the 2018 Tencent LoL Pro League, in the biggest LoL match in China.
With such formidable opponents, SKT T1’s Group C has been labeled the “Group of Death” among LoL fans.
The winner this year will take home, as always, $1 million in prize money, and gain possession of the 32-kilogram Summoner’s Cup.
French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton produces the LoL Worlds trophy case. (Riot Games)
The trophy will come in a Louis Vuitton bespoke trunk as a result of a newly forged tie between the two companies. The fashion house has created trophy cases for coveted sports events including the FIFA World Cup. English bespoke luxury trophy creator Thomas Lyte designed the Summoner’s Cup made of brass, pewter, gold, silver and glass.
League of Legends celebrates its 10th anniversary on Oct. 16. At its daily peak, the game has about 8 million people simultaneously logged in to play, greater than the number of active users of the top 10 games on the major Steam platform combined.
There are approximately 100 professional LoL esports teams worldwide and 800 professional LoL players.
By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)