The 2018 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the eighth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. It was held from October 1 to November 3, 2018, in cities across South Korea. Twenty four teams qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, South Korea, Europe, and North America, with twelve of those teams having to reach the group stage via a play-in round.[2] The tournament became known for its very surprising results, numerous upsets, and has often been considered the most unpredictable worlds in League of Legends' history.[3][4][5] The tournament also became the most watched esports event in history, reaching a peak of over 200 million concurrent viewers during the finals. It surpassed the viewership of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship, as well as the peak viewership of numerous worldwide sporting events including the Super Bowl.[6][7]
The tournament's opening ceremony received significant attention, with over 90 million concurrent viewers tuning in for the performance. A virtualK-pop group named K/DA was unveiled by Riot Games during the ceremony, with Soyeon and Miyeon from (G)I-dle, Madison Beer and Jaira Burns representing the group as its human counterpart and in the live performance of the finals. K/DA topped global music charts after the initial release of their debut song "Pop/Stars", receiving considerable attention online and raking in one of the fastest viewership records for its music video on YouTube. A dance practice video of "Pop/Stars", as popular in the K-pop scene, was also released.[8][9][10] "RISE" is the tournament's theme song, put together by The Glitch Mob, Mako and The Word Alive. A remix version of "RISE" featuring Bobby from IKON was also released shortly after, with the song being performed on the tournament's finals by all the involved music groups and artists.[11] The song would be performed again when Korea hosted the tournament for the second time in 2023.
The victory of China's Invictus Gaming over Europe's Fnatic in the tournament's finals marked the first time in League of Legends history that the LPL (China) as a region won the world championship, as well as the first time a non-LCK (Korean) team has won after five consecutive years of prior Korean winners. The final series is also the fastest world championship finals in history at 85 minutes total game time.[12] Gao “Ning” Zhenning was awarded the MVP of the finals due to his outstanding performance and contributions during the series, marking the first time a jungle position player has won a world championship MVP.[13][14]
Qualified teamsedit
Although the South Korea (LCK) representative, Kingzone DragonX, lost to China's (LPL) representative Royal Never Give Up (LPL) in 2018 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) Finals, all three teams from South Korea (LCK) started in the Main Group Stage, having won the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational and the previous two World Championships. With the results of 2018 MSI and following their separation from the rest of the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, Vietnam (VCS) had a direct seed into the Main Group Stage for the summer split victor in their region, but unlike the previous year, Vietnam had no additional slots in the Play-In Stage for their summer runner-up team, because of the 24 team limit. The North American (NA LCS) summer split champion team was seeded to Pool 2 due to their performance at the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational.
The win-ratio is determined by number of won games compared the number of games played.
Bracket stage wins are prioritized.
(*) Does not include tiebreaker games.
Place
Region
Teams
Play-in Round 1 (4 games total)
Play-in Round 2 (Best-of-five)
Group Stage (6 games total)
Quarterfinals (Best-of-five)
Semifinals (Best-of-five)
Finals (Best-of-five)
1st
LPL
2G+1P
1 team 3W-1L (75%)
1 team 3W-0L (100%)
3 teams 12W-6L (66.67%)*
3 teams 6W-8L (42.86%)
1 team 3W-0L (100%)
3W-0L (100%)
2nd
EU LCS
2G+1P
1 team 3W-1L (75%)*
1 team 3W-1L (75%)
3 teams 11W-7L (61.11%)*
2 teams 6W-3L (66.67%)
2 teams 3W-3L (50%)
0W-3L (0%)
3rd
NA LCS
2G+1P
1 team 4W-0L (100%)
1 team 3W-2L (60%)
3 teams 8W-10L (44.44%)*
1 team 3W-0L (100%)
1 team 0W-3L (0%)
4th
LCK
3G
3 teams 10W-8L (55.56%)
2 teams 2W-6L (25%)
5th
VCS
1G
1 team 2W-4L (33.33%)
6th
LMS
2G+1P
1 team 4W-0L (100%)
1 team 3W-1L (75%)
3 teams 3W-15L (16.67%)*
7th
LCL
1P
1 team 2W-2L (50%)
1 team 2W-3L (40%)
8th
TCL
1P
1 team 3W-1L (75%)*
1 team 1W-3L (25%)
9th
LLN
1P
1 team 2W-2L (50%)
1 team 1W-3L (25%)
10th
LJL
1P
1 team 1W-3L (25%)*
1 team 0W-3L (0%)
11th
CBLOL
1P
1 team 1W-3L (25%)*
12th
OPL
1P
1 team 1W-3L (25%)
13th
CLS
1P
1 team 0W-4L (0%)
14th
SEA
1P
1 team 0W-4L (0%)
Referencesedit
^"League of Legends Esports Breaks World Championship Viewership Record". Riot Games. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
^"24 teams complete the lineup for the 2018 League of Legends World Championship".
^"The Worlds 2018 Quarterfinals were full of upsets". The Rift Herald.
^"Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing". ESPN.com.
^"Ranking the League of Legends World Championship finals". ESPN.com.
^"League of Legends in 2018 was the World's Most Viewed Esports Game in History – TalkEsport". www.talkesport.com.
^"2018 World Championship detailed stats". esc.watch.
^Crecente, Brian (November 7, 2018). "Fictional Hologram Band Tops Real-World Charts After Stunning 'League of Legend' Show (Watch)". Variety.
^"Watch The Word Alive crush their 'League Of Legends' Worlds performance". Alternative Press. November 3, 2018.
^"K/DA comes to life through AR at the 2018 Worlds Finals Opening Ceremony". The Rift Herald.
^"RISE is the newest Worlds theme song". The Rift Herald.
^"Fnatic, Worlds 2018 and the pain of believing". ESPN.com.
^"China's frenzy over League of Legends championship sheds light on esports growth". TechCrunch.
^"Ning is your 2018 League of Legends World Championship Finals MVP".
^Austen Goslin (December 11, 2018). "The 2018 League of Legends World Finals had nearly 100 million viewers". Rift Herald. Retrieved November 8, 2019. Through purchasing the [Champion Kha'Zix] skin, fans managed to raise the prize pool by more than $4.2 million adding to the $2.5 million that Riot themselves contributed.