League of Legends World Championship descends on Seoul

The League of Legends World Championship, the World Cup of Esports, begins in Seoul this week with top local team T1 competing at home for the first time. The tournament features the world's best teams competing for a multi-million dollar prize pool

Korean League of Legends gamers Kim ″Deft″ Hyuk-kyu, wearing white, and Lee ″Faker″ Sang-hyeok are headed to the 2023 LoL World Championships with their respective teams, Dplus KIA and T1, as the tournament kicks off in Seoul on Tuesday. [RIOT GAMES]

The biggest global Esports competition is headed back to Korea as the 2023 League of Legends World Championship kicks off in Seoul on Tuesday.

During the monthlong “Worlds,” fans await the chance to watch their favorite gamers duke it out tournament-style in LoL’s fantastical online world of Summoner’s Rift, a magical square battlefield in a forest teeming with wild creatures that’s used as the main gameplay map.

Think of Worlds as the Superbowl or World Cup of Esports, which ends the year’s LoL — often referred to as “League” internationally — season.

It’s the penultimate challenge for top-ranked teams coming out of national and regional competitions during the regular season where they’ll vie for the biggest slice of a massive base prize pool. This year, that could be around nearly three billion won ($2.2 million).

In 2022, the first place winner got 22 percent of the pie, while second place took 15 percent and third place, eight. Last year, champions DragonX (DRX), a Korean team, took home roughly 680 million won ($489,000), according to November 2022 exchange rates.

This year is Korea’s third time hosting the tournament, with previous editions here in 2014 and 2018. But it will be the first time top Korean Esports team T1 plays at home, after failing to qualify for the tournament the other two years Worlds has been held in Korea.

It also marks 10 years since star Korean gamer Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, at age 17, led his team T1 — then called SK Telecom T1 — to victory at his Worlds debut in Los Angeles.

The first Worlds by Riot Games was held in 2011, in Jönköping, Sweden. Asian teams have since dominated, with either a Chinese or Korean team taking the Summoner’s Cup since Faker’s legendary championship debut in 2013.

At Worlds, gamers are sat in a line beside their teammates on a long table directly facing their opponents in the same setup. Each player wears a headset to talk to their teammates, and judges hover over their shoulders to watch each play.

Since its 2011 debut, Worlds has evolved into its own spectacle, with millions tuning in to the tournament. Those streaming the opening ceremony of the final match in 2017 saw a CGI-ed “elder dragon” soar over the in-person crowd at the famous Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.

A crowd watches a round-of-32 League of Legends match between Kyrgyzstan and Macau during the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. [NEWS1]

This year, star K-pop girl group NewJeans sings the Worlds official anthem.

LoL is played by two teams of five, with each member taking on a specific role in the arena.

Every player selects a different “champion” as their game avatar. LoL now has more than 160 unique champions, and each comes with a different skill set that gamers can choose depending on their style.

The goal of the game is simple: To destroy the enemy’s base, their “Nexus,” at the opposite side of the map. But everything else after that gets more complicated. Teams must get through a slate of obstacles between their base and their opponent’s, collecting “gold” and cashing in for bonuses along the way, while defending themselves against the constant threat of a kill.

Korea takes on China during the League of Legends semifinal round at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. [NEWS1]

A total of 22 teams will compete in the tournament across three stages: The Play-In Stage, Swiss Stage and the Knockout Stage — before the final match between the top two teams.

Before the Play-In stage, Golden Guardians from the United States and Team BDS from France faced off in the Worlds Qualifying Series (WQS) on Monday at LoL Park in central Seoul to determine the side that would join the eight-team Play-In Stage. Team BDS won the game and with it, a ticket to the next phase of the tournament.

Eight teams — from Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Japan, Brazil and South America, in addition to Team BDS — will take part in the Play-In stage running from Oct. 10 to 15 at LoL Park.

During the Play-In, teams are split into two double-elimination groups. The top team from each group will face off against the second place team from the other bracket in a final best-of-five match.

The two Play-In winners will then join the 14 already seeded teams in the five-round Swiss Stage, which pits the same win-loss record against each other until they achieve three either wins or three losses.

The Swiss Stage will run from Oct. 19 to 23, before starting again from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29, and all matches will take place at KBS Arena in western Seoul.

Teams then head to the knockout stage, which will take place with a single elimination bracket and best-of-five format. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be held at Sajik Arena in Busan, with the final taking place at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Nov. 19.

Four Korean teams qualified for the championship — T1, Dplus KIA, Gen.G and KT Rolster. All of them have already made it to the seeded Swiss Stage. Their first matches will take place beginning in the second week of the monthlong schedule.

China, whose teams have won three Worlds titles, second to Korea’s seven, is also sending four already-seeded teams to Worlds this year — JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, LNG Esports and Weibo Gaming.

Among the remaining seeded teams, three are from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, along with three from North America.

Although Korea, crowned LoL gold-medalists at the Hangzhou Asian Games, enters the tournament fresh off a win, teammates will become rivals at Worlds.

Within the Asian Games winning team, Faker, Choi “Zeus” Woo-je and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok belong to Korean team T1, while Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon plays for Korea’s Gen.G. Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyeok are currently members of the Chinese team JD Gaming.

A large number of local and international Esports fans are expected to attend Worlds in-person while millions are expected to tune in online.

Even those who do not attend the tournament can enjoy the Esports culture across Seoul.

From Oct. 7 through Nov. 30, fans can try out gaming booths and watch a documentary made specifically for the LoL World Championship at the HiKR Ground in central Seoul. All five floors of the HiKR Group will be LoL themed.

They can also buy Esports goods at a pop-up shop inside Lotte World Mall in southern Seoul from Oct. 7 to 17.

On Oct. 20, there will be a drone show at Hangang Park in eastern Seoul to commemorate the tournament.

From Nov. 16 through 19, fans can gather at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul and enjoy a music concert and watch the final live on Nov. 19, as Seoul Metropolitan Government will set up facilities at the venue to promote the LoL World Championship and attract Esports fans.

Over the next month, fans will also have their eyes on individual gamers who’ve achieved international stardom just as much as those athletes whose games take place on a field or court.

Korean League of Legends coach Kim ″kkOma″ Jung-gyun stands behind player Jeong ″Chovy″ Ji-hoon during the final match against Chinese Taipei at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. [YONHAP]

While defending champions DRX failed to qualify for this year’s Worlds after losing to Korea’s Dplus KIA during the 2023 LCK regional finals in August, former DRX star player, Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu will return.

Deft, who helped oust his former DRX teammates at the LCK finals as a member of Dplus KIA, will have a chance to again spar against rival — and former high school classmate — Faker, whose team he crushed during last year’s final.

Fans are expectantly awaiting a rematch of 2022 underdog Deft and longtime LoL legend Faker as their teams fight for the Summoner's Cup, who will find its next champion during the finals Nov. 19.

BY MARY YANG AND PAIK JI-HWAN [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]