2014 League of Legends World Championship

Summary

The 2014 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament held from September 18 to October 19, 2014, for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the fourth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. Matches were held in Taipei, Singapore, Busan, and Seoul, with grand finals being at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.[2] The 16 teams qualified by either winning a major professional league or a regional qualifying tournament. There was a 16 team round-robin group stage followed by an 8 team single elimination bracket. The games were officially streamed on Twitch and Azubu in several languages and the finals were aired online on ESPN3.

League of Legends World Championship
2014
Tournament information
LocationTaiwan
Singapore
South Korea
DatesSeptember 18–October 19
AdministratorRiot Games
Tournament
format(s)
16 team round-robin group stage
8 team single-elimination bracket
Venue(s)
5 (in 4 host cities)
Teams16
Purse$2,130,000
Final positions
ChampionsSamsung Galaxy White
Runner-upStar Horn Royal Club
Tournament statistics
Matches played78
Attendance40,000+ (final)
MVPCho "Mata" Se-hyeong (Samsung Galaxy White)[1]
← 2013
2015 →

The group stage began September 18 in Taipei at the National Taiwan University Sports Center and concluded September 28 in Singapore at the Singapore EXPO with eight teams advancing to the bracket stage.[3] The bracket stage started on October 3 in Busan, South Korea at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, and concluded on October 19 with the grand finals hosted at the 45,000-seats Seoul World Cup Stadium,[4][5] where South Korean team Samsung Galaxy White beat the Chinese team Star Horn Royal Club to become the 2014 League of Legends world champions.[6][citation needed]

American band Imagine Dragons contributed the theme song "Warriors" for the tournament,[7] and performed live on the grand finals stage in South Korea.[8] All games were made available for free via live streaming.[9]

The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.

Teams edit

The following teams qualified to participate in the tournament's group stage:[10]

Region League Path Team ID Pool
South Korea The Champions Most Circuit Points #1   Samsung Galaxy Blue SSB 1
Most Circuit Points #2   Samsung Galaxy White SSW 2
Regional Finals Winner   NaJin White Shield NWS
China LPL Regional Finals Winner #1   EDward Gaming EDG 1
Regional Finals Winner #2   Star Horn Royal Club SHR 2
Regional Finals Winner #3   OMG OMG
Europe EU LCS Summer Champion   Alliance ALL 1
Summer Runner-up   Fnatic FNC 2
Summer Third-place   SK Gaming SK 3
North America NA LCS Summer Champion   Team SoloMid TSM 1
Summer Runner-up   Cloud9 C9 2
Summer Third-place   LMQ LMQ 3
TW/HK/MO & SEA GPL Summer Champion   Taipei Assassins TPA 2
Regional Finals Winner   ahq e-Sports Club AHQ
Wildcard Brazil CBLol IWCT CBLol Regional Finals Winner
►IWCT PAX 2014 Winner
  KaBuM! e-Sports KBM 3
Turkey TCL TCL Regional Finals Winner
►IWCT Gamescom 2014 Winner
  Dark Passage DP 3

Venues edit

Taipei, Singapore, Busan and Seoul were the 4 venues chosen to host the competition.

  Taipei, Taiwan   Tampines, Singapore   South Korea
Busan Seoul
Group Stage A and B Group Stage C and D Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
National Taiwan University Sports Center Singapore EXPO BEXCO Center Olympic Gymnastics Arena Seoul World Cup Stadium
         
Capacity: 4,200 Capacity: 16,000 Capacity: 4,002 Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 66,704
 

Group stage edit

The group stage was played in a best of one double round-robin format, with the top two teams from each of the four groups advancing to the knockout stage, for a total of eight teams.

Group A
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 Samsung White 6 6 0 1.000 Advance to knockouts
2 Edward Gaming 7 4 3 0.571
3 Ahq e-Sports Club 7 3 4 0.429
4 Dark Passage 6 0 6 0.000
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)
Group B
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 Star Horn Royal Club 6 5 1 0.833 Advance to knockouts
2 Team SoloMid 6 4 2 0.667
3 SK Gaming 6 2 4 0.333
4 Taipei Assassins 6 1 5 0.167
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)
Group C
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 Samsung Blue 6 5 1 0.833 Advance to knockouts
2 OMG 6 3 3 0.500
3 LMQ 6 2 4 0.333
4 Fnatic 6 2 4 0.333
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)
Group D
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 NaJin White Shield 7 5 2 0.714 Advance to knockouts
2 Cloud9 7 4 3 0.571
3 Alliance 6 3 3 0.500
4 KaBuM e-Sports 6 1 5 0.167
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)

Knockout stage edit

 
Seoul World Cup Stadium for the finals
Quarterfinals
BEXCO
Semifinals
Olympic Gymnastics Arena
Final
Seoul World Cup Stadium
October 3
Team SoloMid1
October 11
Samsung Galaxy White3
Samsung Galaxy White3
October 4
Samsung Galaxy Blue0
Cloud91
October 19
Samsung Galaxy Blue3
Samsung Galaxy White3
October 5
Star Horn Royal Club1
Star Horn Royal Club3
October 12
EDward Gaming2
Star Horn Royal Club3
October 6
OMG2
NaJin White Shield0
OMG3

Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)

Final standings edit

Place Team Prize money[11]
1st   Samsung Galaxy White $1,000,000
2nd   Star Horn Royal Club $250,000
3rd–4th   OMG $150,000
  Samsung Galaxy Blue
5–8th   Cloud9 $75,000
  EDward Gaming
  NaJin White Shield
  Team SoloMid
9–11th   ahq e-Sports Club $45,000
  Alliance
  SK Gaming
12–13th   Fnatic $35,000
  LMQ
14–16th   Dark Passage $25,000
  KaBuM! e-Sports
  Taipei Assassins

Viewership and attendance edit

Around 40,000 fans attended the grand finals between Samsung White and Star Horn Royal Club.[12] It is estimated that there were 288 million cumulative views throughout the entire tournament.[13][14][15]

The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.[13][14]

Racism incident edit

Prior to the World Championship group stage in Taipei, SK Gaming's Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen acted in a racially insensitive way while playing on the Taiwanese server, being disrespectful towards other players and naming his account "TaipeiChingChong". Johnsen was fined US$2,500 and was suspended from his team's first three games in the tournament.[16]

References edit

  1. ^ Fields, Frank (October 19, 2014). "SAMSUNG WHITE WINS 2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  2. ^ MOZUR, PAUL (October 19, 2014). "For South Korea, E-Sports Is National Pastime". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  3. ^ "World Championship 2014 Preliminary Schedule". Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  4. ^ "'League of Legends' scholarship". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  5. ^ Magrino, Tom. "Welcome to the League of Legends 2014 World Championship!". Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Bracket". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  7. ^ "Imagine Dragons teams with 'League of Legends' for $2.3m tournament – Yahoo News Singapore". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  8. ^ "Prepare yourself for the 2014 Worlds Final". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  9. ^ "Watch 'League Of Legends' World Championship 2014 Live Online". 21 September 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  10. ^ Jackson, Leah (September 8, 2015). "WORLDS 2014 GROUP STAGE SELECTION RESULTS". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  11. ^ "League of Legends World Championships Prize Distribution – $2.13 Million USD Total". onGamers. CBS Interactive. August 5, 2014. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  12. ^ Tassi, Paul (October 19, 2015). "40,000 Korean Fans Watch SSW Win 2014 'League of Legends' World Championship". Forbes. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  13. ^ a b "WORLDS 2014 BY THE NUMBERS". Riot Games. December 1, 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-12-02. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Gafford, Travis (December 1, 2014). "League of Legends 2014 World Championship Viewer Numbers (Infograph)". onGamers. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  15. ^ Dorsey, Patrick (December 14, 2014). "'League of Legends' ratings top NBA Finals, World Series clinchers". ESPN. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  16. ^ "League of Legends Competition Ruling: Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen | LoL Esports". Retrieved October 8, 2014.

External links edit

  • Information
  • 2014 World Championship Rules (Archived 2014-10-09 at the Wayback Machine)