2018 League Of Legends World Championship

He could see his breath in the crisp night air blending into the residual smoke from the recent pyrotechnics display that crowned Invictus Gaming the 2018 League of Legends World Champions. League of Legends World Championship 2018 was the 8th edition of the annual esports event hosted by the developer of the game Riot Games.It was held from 1st October to November 3rd 2018. The team featured in total 24 teams out of which 12 directly qualified for the group stage whereas 12 of them played the Play-In.

• The League of Legends World Championship ('LoL Worlds' for short) is the annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament operated by Riot Games. It is the largest tournament in LoL esports and is held at the end of the season in October.
• 1 Final Allocation of Seeds by Region 2 Play-In 3 Group Stage 3.1 Pool 1 3.2 Pool 2 3.3 Pool 3 3.4 Example 4 References As it was in 2017, seeding for the 2018 Season World Championship is variable and depends on the results of the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational. The play-in is a new phase of.

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship is upon us. Beginning on Oct. 1, 24 of the best teams in the world will gather together in South Korea to duke it out for the coveted Summoner's Cup. What's on the line? Bragging rights, money and the most prestigious title in the game.

You can catch all the action on ESPN+ and Riot's Twitch channel.

For more information, check out our World Championship primer.

Go to content: Pre-Worlds content Recaps Features Video

World Championship Schedule

World Championship groups

Video

Quarterfinals: Jankos thinks RNG underestimated them.

Quarterfinals: Perkz at a loss for words for making semifinals.

Quarterfinals: Svenskeren is grateful C9 took a chance on him.

Quarterfinals: Jack from C9 says the dinners are going to be expensive if C9 keeps winning.

Groups, Day 8: Ssumday says 100 Thieves truly tried their best.

Groups, Day 8: Thank Mr. Broxah

Groups, Day 8: 100 Thieves' Prolly says the end of the season hasn't hit him yet.

Groups, Day 7: Team Liquid's owner, Steve, weighs in on the year TL had.

Groups, Day 7: Ray has a message for his NA fans.

Groups, Day 7: Haro chats with Emily Rand after making quarterfinals.

Groups, Day 7: Palette has a message for the Vietnamese fans back home.

Groups, Day 7: Olleh talks about how he's doing after being eliminated from worlds.

Groups, Day 6: Wadid talks about those exploding handwarmers.

Groups, Day 6: Kramer is relieved to make it to quarterfinals.

Groups, Day 6: G2's coach Grabbz can't believe it.

Groups, Day 5: Sneaky from C9 talks mentality and the rookies at worlds.

Groups, Day 5: RNG's support Ming talks about his play.

Groups, Day 5: Uzi talks about qualifying for quarterfinals.

Groups, Day 5: Kikis reflects on the run of Team Vitality.

Groups, Day 4: Bwipo talks about how much fun he's having at worlds.

Groups, Day 4: Doublelift on Team Liquid's problems.

Groups, Day 4: Betty from Flash Wolves weighs in on the performance so far.

Groups, Day 4: Hjarnan talks to Ovilee May about how G2 will approach a three-game day.

FionnOnFire orders food with Mowgli

Afreeca Freecs PC bang tour ft. Mowgli

Groups, Day 3: Smeb wishes luck to his fellow LCK teams.

Groups, Day 3: Score says they feel like the hope of the LCK.

Groups, Day 3: Aphromoo can take the criticism.

Groups, Day 3: Xiahuo ranks the teams in his group.

Groups, Day 2: Kuro sees an uphill battle for Afreeca.

Groups, Day 2: Caps says not to count out NA yet.

Groups, Day 2: Veteran laner Soaz gives us his take on the 100 Thieves game.

Groups, Day 2: Moojin wants to get Maple to the finals.

Groups, Day 2: Duke reflects back on worlds when he was with SKT.

ESPN Esports After Dark, Ep. 5: New city, same crew.

Groups, Day 1: Gen'G's CuVee is looking forward.

Groups, Day 1: RNG's Ming talks about facing his friend CoreJJ.

Groups, Day 1: There's more to work on, says EDG's Meiko.

Groups, Day 1: Jiizuke's got nothing to prove.

Groups, Day 1: Wadid over the moon after beating Afreeca.

Groups, Day 1: Spirit explore the upset loss to G2.

ESPN Esports After Dark, Ep 4: Memory lane

Play-in knockouts: G-Rex's Candy tells us what he knows about Groupd D

Play-in knockouts: Clearlove talks about advancing to groups

ESPN Esports After Dark, Ep 3: Farewell Gambit, Ascension

Play-in knockouts: C9 Sneaky talks about the rookies at worlds.

Play-ins, day 4: Scout wants to be prepared for DFM.

Play-ins, day 4: iBoy talks about DFM and not underestimating opponents.

ESPN Esports After Dark, Ep 2: Play-in knockout stage preview

Play-ins, day 3: Is Koala the best support in the LMS? He doesn't think so.

Play-ins, day 2: Shernfire from the Dire Wolves thinks EU and KR servers are more toxic than OCE.

Play-ins, day 2: EDG's Meiko reflects on the massive EDG fan project in Seoul.

Play-ins, day 2: EDG's Ray talks to Tyler Erzberger about EDG's big day at LoL Worlds.

Play-ins, day 1: DFM's Ceros may, or may not, break out something new for worlds.

Play-ins, day 1: Cloud9's Licorice opened up worlds with a pair of wins for his birthday.

Play-ins, day 1: Cloud9's Jensen on how they should have lost against DFM

Play-ins, day 1: G-Rex's Empt2y talks about communication in game while translating three languages

Team power rankings

Top 5 players at each League of Legends position

Features

Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing

Worlds 2018: The triumph of JackeyLove

Who, or what, is Invictus Gaming?

iG's Ning: 'I would rate myself and Broxah as the top two junglers at this worlds.'

Which League of Legends World Championship finals was the best?

2018 League Of Legends World Championship

A marquee match in mid lane: Caps vs. Rookie

The parallels of Cloud9 and Fnatic a year apart at worlds

A reflection on G2's run at LoL Worlds 2018

'I think our chances are better than [iG's].'

iG's Rookie on Fnatic's Caps: 'I think some revenge is due. I want the world to know that I'm the number one [mid laner].'

Fnatic's Bwipo embraces sixth-man role at worlds

Wonderboy: the rise of G2's Wunder

The dreams of mid laner Rookie

Royal Never Give Up and the price of being stubborn.

KT Rolster and the consequences of caring

The many faces of Afreeca Freecs' Choi 'iloveoov' Yeon-sung

Worlds 2018 quarterfinal predictions

Team Liquid's worlds exit marred by scared play

Afreeca rights the ship, but questions remain

The crown has fallen -- a eulogy for defending champions Gen.G

League Of Legends Championship 2017

Cloud9, Team Vitality prove Royal Never Give Up aren't invincible

Worlds by the numbers: A remarkable day for League of Legends

Adapt or die: How Cloud9 shocked the League of Legends World Championship

Phong Vũ Buffalo's Naul: '[We can] get out of groups'

iG's Baolan on the 100 Thieves match: 'We didn't think it would be that quick.'

iG's Baolan on the 100 Thieves match: 'We didn't think it would be that quick.'

'Quantity over quality.' -- an afternoon with the Afreeca Freecs, the hardest working team in esports

Gen.G's slow start not a cause for worry ... yet

Cloud9's Licorice: '[We] just weren't great as a team.'

Gen.G's Ruler: 'I'll play ... as if it's victory or death'

Flash Wolves battle it out on top

On the train to Busan with Cloud9

Afreeca Freecs' Kuro: 'The atmosphere in the team is terrible at the moment'

G-Rex's Stitch: 'I think I am better than Cody Sun. I want to meet him in the group stage.'

Cuballende's sacrifice for team inspired Tierwulf and those around him

C9 Jensen: 'They had a lot of good moments but also we played pretty bad.'

DetonatioN FocusMe's Evi: 'I knew I won ... that's when I started crying.'

SuperMassive has a lot to prove for team and country

Scout's mother on how she supports her son's League of Legends career

G-Rex clawing through LoL Worlds play-ins

Cloud9's Zeyzal: 'We can reliably beat top teams when we try our best'

SuperMassive's FabFabulous: 'They should be scared of us. We will do anything to win.'

Caster Jun opens LCK Arena to uncertain future

Recaps

Knockout stage

Invictus Gaming sweeps Fnatic 3-0 to win League of Legends World Championship

Fnatic trounces Cloud9 3-0 to face iG in LoL Worlds finals

Cloud9 sweeps Afreeca in an easy series, Fnatic punches ticket over EDG

iG knocks out KT in a five-game slugfest

Group stage

Fnatic and Invictus separate from pack in Group D

KT Rolster in control of Group C at the League of Legends World Championship

Any team could advance in Group A

Cloud9 stays alive in Group B of LoL Worlds groups

KT Rolster rolls to 2-0 record at LoL Worlds groups

Flash Wolves start 2-0 in LoL Worlds group stage

Team Liquid drops first LoL Worlds group stage game vs. favorite KT Rolster

Play-in stage

G-Rex, G2 move on at the League of Legends World Championship

Cloud9 survives play-ins, advances to LoL Worlds group stage

EDG, G2, SuperMassive and Infinity advance at the League of Legends World Championship

G-Rex, Cloud9, Detonation FocusMe and Gambit advance at Worlds

EDG, SuperMassive walk away unscathed after Day 2 at the LoL World Championship play-ins

Cloud9 tested, but finishes LoL worlds 2-0 on Day 1

Pre-Worlds content

Everything you need to know about the 2018 League of Legends World Championship

What we want to see at play-ins and groups

KLG aims for group stage appearance at worlds

Worlds: Top 5 top laner power rankings

Worlds: Top 5 jungler power rankings

Worlds: Top 5 mid laner power rankings

Worlds: Top 5 AD Carry power rankings

Worlds: Top 5 Support power rankings

League of Legends is returning to South Korea once more for the LoL World Championship finals. Sixteen of the world’s top teams are left to compete for the Summoner’s Cup, but who will progress past the Group Stage? Read on to inform your League of Legends World Championship predictions.

League of Legends is returning to South Korea once more for the LoL World Championship finals. Sixteen of the world’s top teams are left to compete for the Summoner’s Cup, but who will progress past the Group Stage? Read on to inform your League of Legends World Championship predictions.

What is the League of Legends World Championship?

Every year, Riot hosts the League of Legends World Championship, also known as Worlds, arguably one of the most watched and best-executed eSports event. There is a total prize pool of $2,250,000 on offer with nearly $850,000 going to the winner.

Twenty-four teams are initially invited to the tournament. Twelve teams automatically qualified into the Group Stage, with the remaining 12 fighting for a spot through the Play-In Stage. Now that the Play-In Stage has finished, the 16 remaining teams will compete in the Group Stage for a chance to make it to the Bracket Stage (quarter-finals through to Grand Final).

The remaining 16 teams have now moved to Busan, South Korea’s second city, for the Group Stage (October 10-17) with the quarter-finals of the Bracket Stage to be played on October 21 and 22, the semi-finals on October 27 and 28. The Grand Final will take place on November 3.

League of Legends World Championship 2018 odds

Royal are looking like the strong favourites coming into the LoL World Championship odds with KT and Invictus are close behind. Outsiders to keep an eye on would be Phong and G-Rex who have demonstrated top level performances in the build up to Worlds.

LoL World Championship 2018 Group Stage

Bettors should keep in mind that a region’s seed is based on previous international performances and Riot have stipulated rules for the seedings of each group.

Riot have also organised it so that no same region can be in the same group together and each team typically tends to do better in their own regions. This means that potentially more dominant regions, such as Korea, could have multiple teams going through to the quarter-finals. To benefit bettors, it would be better to break down the teams as whole.

Analysing the Group Stage

Flash Wolves (25.18*), Royal (2.17*), KT (4.88*) and Fnatic (35.61*) are all the strongest in their regions as they’ve proven their ability time and time again. Collectively they are all very highly-skilled and highly-determined teams that all have an opportunity to win the League of Legends World Championship 2018.

The main team to look out for would be Fnatic. Some might remember Fnatic’s miracle run where they impressed in the build-up to Worlds 2017, but they couldn’t keep a hold of it until they were almost knocked out of groups. After they eventually made it through groups, Royal knocked out them, going 3:0.

• Read: Our top 10 eSports moments, featuring the miracle run

Liquid (44.29*) and iG (6.08*) are also teams that bettors will want to keep an eye on heading into the Group Stage. Liquid stormed their way through the NA 2018 LCS Spring, Summer, and Summer Playoffs, coming first in all competitions, but did fall short at MSI this year, losing the fourth-place tie breaker to Fnatic.

iG fell short against Royal, losing the LPL 2018 Summer Playoffs 3:2 but came first place at Summer – East, winning almost all of their games. Both teams have the opportunity to cause a massive upset amongst the top teams within their groups.

Gen.G (6.95*) and PvB (435.08*) are newly established teams who have shown good form of late. The fact that they aren’t as well-established as other teams in the competition means they’ll be seen as outsiders to win the tournament, but they do pose a genuine threat to the bigger names.

Gen.G, previously KSV, managed to cause a stir at the Korean Regional finals where they defeated SK Telecom 3:2, Griffin 3:2 and KING-ZONE DragonX. PvB also demonstrated great skill during the VCS Summer Play offs in Vietnam, the only thing that might hold them back is the fact that they haven’t played outside of Vietnam since GPL Summer 2017, where they ended up in second place.

Play-In Stage qualifiers who have a chance

Cloud9 (109.42*), EDward Gaming (13.03*), G2 Esports (87.71*) and G-Rex (131.13*) all managed to qualify from the Play-In Stage.

G-Rex are probably going to be the most eye-catching team out of the four that qualified. Their performance this year hasn’t managed to get them a first-place trophy except at the Taiwan Regionals where they defeated J Team.

EDward Gaming steamrolled through the Play-In Stage (including an impressive 3:0 against FocusMe)

However, after seeing them stomp their way through the Play-In Stage (including a comeback win against Supermassive) they will certainly get some attention in the betting market.

It should come as no shock that Cloud9 managed to make it through to the Group Stage. That said, their incredible back and forth Bo5 match against Gambit might have laid some seeds of doubt heading into the Group Stage.

Group B might prove to be difficult for Cloud9, with Gen.G and Royal both having a very successful introduction to Worlds so far, Vitality might be their life line in this group to get that motivation they need when moving between games.

EDward Gaming steamrolled through the Play-In Stage (including an impressive 3:0 against FocusMe) and they will be looking to shake things up a little as they aim to progress from Group C. On face value, KT and Liquid will probably be the games to watch, while MAD could be the group’s surprise package.

G2 are certainly one team that could offer value in the League of Legends World Championship odds - they won at Rift Rival and came second at the Spring LCS. The one negative against G2’s name is a lack of international experience but this could be the tournament where they really prove themselves.

Can the outsiders cause an upset?

Looking at all the groups, you have to take note of teams like Vitality, 100 Thieves, MAD and Afreeca. On face value, in their groups, they aren’t the strongest of teams.

Afreeca (6.51*) might be a team that people consider to be outsiders but looking at their track record, they are a fairly strong team and might prove to be one of the stronger or strongest outsiders within the LoL World Champions 2018.
Vitality (217.98*) might have a tough time against both Gen.G and Royal, and they haven’t had the best track record this year in the EU region and they now have to come into Worlds against a whole new arsenal of people.

100 Thieves (174.55*) are in the same boat as Vitality and will need some luck to progress from the Group Stage, let alone challenge for the title. It’s also worth noting that 100 traded long-time fan favourite Meteos for AnDa, and the PR nightmare that followed has meant they might be playing against their own supporters.

MAD Team (217.98*) fall into the same category as Vitality and 100 Thieves and are arguably in one of the hardest groups, against KT, Liquid and EDward who are all in their own right, very strong teams. MAD might have an up hill struggle in their group and their lack of international experience might hold them back.

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