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League of Legends’ premier event, the LoL World Championship, is set to kick off on Tuesday, October 5. The tournament will play out in Reykjavik, Iceland, which will host the second LoL international esports tournament of the year, following the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational.
Action Begins with The Play-In Stage
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship will begin on Tuesday, October 5, with the opening round of the Play-In. The opening stage will feature lower-seeded LoL esports teams from major regions and minor region squads, who will vie for a ticket for the main event.
Since the Vietnamese teams couldn’t travel to Europe due to COVID-19 restrictions, the 2021 LoL Worlds format has changed. With that, the Play-In stage will divide ten teams into two groups of five.
- Group A: Hanwha Life Esports (LCK), LNG Esports (LPL), Infinity (LLA), PEACE (LCO), Red Canids (CBLOL)
- Group B: Cloud9 (LCS), Beyond Gaming (PCS), Unicorns of Love (LCL), Galatasaray Esports (TCL), DetonatioN FocusMe (LJL)
The LoL Worlds Play-In will run from October 5-9, and it will play out in two stages.
During the first stage (October 5-7), the teams will compete in a single round-robin format, with all matches played as best-of-one (Bo1). With that, the teams will play each other once, resulting in 20 games across both groups.
The top team from each group will receive a direct invite to the main event, while the bottom team gets eliminated. Second and third-place teams from each group advance into the second stage (October 8-9), where they face each other for a spot in the second stage finals.
The winning team then plays the second-placed team from the other group for a spot in the main event. All stage two games will be played in Bo5.
The LoL Worlds Main Event
Upon the conclusion of the LoL Worlds Play-In Stage, the 16 remaining teams will get divided into four groups of four. Since the main event draw has already concluded, we have a pretty good idea of how the groups will look.
- Group A: DWG KIA (LCK), FunPlus Phoenix (LPL), Rogue (LEC), Play-In Team
- Group B: EDward Gaming (LPL), T1 (LCK), 100 Thieves (LCS), Play-In Team
- Group C: Royal Never Give Up (LPL); Fnatic (LEC), PSG Talon (PCS), Play-In Team
- Group D: MAD Lions (LEC), Team Liquid (LCS), Gen.G (LCK), Play-In Team
The final draw for the 2021 LoL Worlds group stage will happen after the Play-In stage concludes. After that, the four qualified teams will get randomly seeded into one of the four groups, following the rule that no group can feature two teams from the same region.
As an example, Group B can’t have another team from LPL, LCK, or LCS. Therefore, Cloud9, LNG Esports, and Hanwha Life Esports can’t end up in this group.
LoL World Championship Format
The 2021 LoL Worlds group stage will run from October 11-13 and October 15-18. The teams will play a double round-robin format, meaning that each team will play against every other team twice.
All games are played in a Bo1, with the top two teams from each group advancing into the playoffs. The bottom two teams get eliminated from the tournament.
The LoL Worlds playoffs will start with the quarter-finals (October 22-25), followed by the semi-finals (October 30-31), and culminate with the Grand Finals on Saturday, November 6.
LoL Worlds playoffs will use a single-elimination bracket, where the top-seeded team from one group faces a second-place team from another group. All matches will be Bo5, including the finals, where the top two teams will face off for the Summoner’s Cup.
Odds to Win 2021 LoL World Championship
Odds courtesy of BetOnline Sportsbook:
- FunPlus Phoenix +200
- EDward Gaming +250
- DWG KIA +300
- Royal Never Give Up +400
- MAD Lions +1000
- T1 +1200
- Gen.G +1600
- Fnatic +1600
- LNG Esports +2000
- Rogue +2000