2021 League of Legends World Championship

11th competition of the League of Legends World Championship

2021 League of Legends World Championship

Tournament information
Game| League of Legends
Location| Iceland
Dates| October 5–November 6
Administrator| Riot Games

Tournament
format(s)

| 10 team single round-robin play-in stage
16 team double round-robin group stage
8 team single-elimination bracket
Venue(s)| Laugardalshöll (Reykjavík)
Teams| 22
Final positions
Champion| Edward Gaming
Runner-up| DWG KIA
Tournament statistics
Attendance| Peak viewership: 73,860,742[1]
MVP| Lee "Scout" Ye-chan (Edward Gaming)

<- 2020

2022 ->

The 2021 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the eleventh iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was held from 5 October to 6 November in Reykjavík, Iceland.[2] Twenty two teams from 11 regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, Europe, North America, South Korea and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia with ten of those teams having to reach the main event via a play-in stage.

"Burn It All Down" was the tournament's theme song, put together by PVRIS, while Denzel Curry, CIFIKA, Besomorph, and Wang Yibo from Uniq, produced their own respective remix versions of "Burn It All Down".[3][4]

Edward Gaming of China's LPL defeated the defending world champions, DWG KIA of Korea's LCK, to win their first World Championship title.

## Impact of coronavirus on the tournament

[edit]

The COVID-19 pandemic, which was mainly confined to China in January and early February 2020, once again affected the scheduled multi-city hosting format that was most recently present for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. On June 16, Riot Games originally announced the dates and locations of the event, with the event taking place in Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, and the finals taking place in Shenzhen.[5][6] However, due to travel complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, Riot Games announced Reykjavík, Iceland (where the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational had been hosted), as the new host city for the event.[7]

Due to complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, two teams from the VCS (Vietnam) were once again unable to participate in the tournament.[8]

Like the 2020 event, the tournament did not feature a live audience as result of the pandemic.[9]

## Qualified teams

[edit]

South Korea (LCK) and China (LPL) received an additional spot in the group stage, totaling up to four representatives each for their respective region. The qualification format for North America (LCS) changed to a one-season-per-year system, with the seeding decided by the cumulative scoreboard from the whole season and the results from their respective championship series.

Due to Vietnam (VCS) being unable to field teams for the event, the third seed from Europe (LEC) received direct entry into the group stage.[10]

Top 4 regions in 2021 Mid-Season Invitational (LPL, LCK, LEC, PCS) are seeded to pool 1 in the main event's group stage for the summer champion.

Region  | League  | Qualification Path  | Team  | ID  | Pool

|
|
|
|
|

Started from Group Stage
China  | LPL  | Summer Champion  | Edward Gaming | EDG  | 1
Most Championship Points  | FunPlus Phoenix | FPX  | 2
Regional Finals Winner  | Royal Never Give Up | RNG  | 3
Europe  | LEC  | Summer Champion  | MAD Lions | MAD  | 1
Summer Runner-Up  | Fnatic | FNC  | 2
Summer Third Place  | Rogue | RGE  | 3
South Korea  | LCK  | Summer Champion  | DWG KIA | DK  | 1
Most Championship Points  | Gen.G | GEN  | 2
Regional Finals Winner  | T1 | T1  | 3
North America  | LCS  | Summer Champion  | 100 Thieves | 100  | 2
Summer Runner-Up  | Team Liquid | TL  | 3
TW/HK/MO/SEA  | PCS  | Summer Champion  | PSG Talon | PSG  | 1
Started from Play-in stage
China  | LPL  | Regional Finals Runner-Up  | LNG Esports | LNG  | 1
South Korea  | LCK  | Regional Finals Runner-Up  | Hanwha Life Esports | HLE
North America  | LCS  | Summer Third Place  | Cloud9 | C9
TW/HK/MO/SEA  | PCS  | Summer Runner-Up  | Beyond Gaming | BYG
CIS  | LCL  | Summer Champion  | Unicorns of Love | UOL  | 2
Latin America  | LLA  | Infinity Esports  | INF
Turkey  | TCL  | Galatasaray Esports  | GS
Brazil  | CBLOL  | RED Canids  | RED
Japan  | LJL  | DetonatioN FocusMe | DFM
Oceania  | LCO  | PEACE  | PCE

## Venue

[edit]

Reykjavík was the city chosen to host the competition. All matches were played at Laugardalshöll without spectators.[2]

Reykjavík, Iceland

Laugardalshöll

Reykjavík

## Play-in stage

[edit]

### Play-in groups

[edit]

* Date and time: October 5–7, began at 11:00 UTC.
* Ten teams are drawn into two groups, with five teams in each group.
* Single round robin, all matches are best-of-one.
* If teams have same win–loss record at the end of play-in groups, tie-breaker matches are played. A two-way tie is not broken by the results of the head-to-head game those teams played, however the team that won in the head-to-head gets side selection in the tiebreaker game.
* The top team automatically qualifies for the Main Event, while 2nd to 4th-place of each group advance to the play-in knockouts and 2nd-place receive a bye to match 2. The bottom team is eliminated.

#### Group A

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | LNG Esports  | 4  | 4  | 0  | 1.000  | Advance to group stage
2  | Hanwha Life Esports  | 4  | 3  | 1  | .750  | Advance to play-in knockouts round 1
3  | PEACE  | 4  | 2  | 2  | .500  | Advance to play-in knockouts round 2
4  | RED Canids  | 4  | 1  | 3  | .250
5  | Infinity Esports  | 4  | 0  | 4  | .000  |

Source: LoL Esports
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) Tiebreaker match(es); 3) Total game victory time[a]

#### Group B

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | DetonatioN FocusMe  | 5  | 4  | 1  | .800  | Advance to group stage
2  | Cloud9  | 5  | 3  | 2  | .600  | Advance to play-in knockouts round 1
3  | Galatasaray Esports  | 4  | 2  | 2  | .500  | Advance to play-in knockouts round 2
4  | Beyond Gaming  | 5  | 2  | 3  | .400
5  | Unicorns of Love  | 5  | 1  | 4  | .200  |

Source: LoL Esports
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) Tiebreaker match(es); 3) Total game victory time[a]

### Play-in knockouts

[edit]

* Date and time: October 8–9
* King of the hill format with two branch. The 3rd-place teams from the group stage facing 4th-place teams from the same group in match 1. Winner will play against with the 2nd-place team from other group in match 2.
* Single-elimination. All matches are best-of-five.
* The upper-place team chooses the side for all odd-numbered games, while the lower-place team chooses the side of even-numbered games.
* The winners of the match 2 in each branch advances to the main event group stage.

| | | | | | | |
| Round 1| | | Round 2
| |
| | A2| Hanwha Life Esports| 3
| B3| Galatasaray Esports| 2| | | B4| Beyond Gaming| 0
| |
| B4| Beyond Gaming| 3| | |
| |
| |
| | B2| Cloud9| 3
| A3| PEACE| 3| | | A3| PEACE| 0
| |
| A4| RED Canids| 2| | |
| |
| | | |

Source: LoL Esports

## Group stage

[edit]

* Date and time: October 11–18, began at 11:00 UTC.
* Sixteen teams are drawn into four groups with four teams in each group based on their seeding. Teams of the same region cannot be placed in the same group.
* Double round robin, all matches are best-of-one.
* If teams have the same win–loss record and head-to-head record, tiebreaker matches are played for first or second place. If more than 2 teams, tiebreaker placement is based on the combined times of teams' victorious games.
* Top two teams will advance to Knockout Stage. Bottom two teams are eliminated.

### Group A

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | DWG KIA  | 6  | 6  | 0  | 1.000  | Advance to knockouts
2  | Cloud9  | 7  | 3  | 4  | .429
3  | Rogue  | 8  | 3  | 5  | .375  |
4  | FunPlus Phoenix  | 7  | 2  | 5  | .286

Source: LoL Esports
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) Tiebreaker match(es); 3) Total game victory time[a]

### Group B

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | T1  | 6  | 5  | 1  | .833  | Advance to knockouts
2  | Edward Gaming  | 6  | 4  | 2  | .667
3  | 100 Thieves  | 6  | 3  | 3  | .500  |
4  | DetonatioN FocusMe  | 6  | 0  | 6  | .000

Source: LoL Esports
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) Tiebreaker match(es); 3) Total game victory time[a]

### Group C

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Royal Never Give Up  | 7  | 5  | 2  | .714  | Advance to knockouts
2  | Hanwha Life Esports  | 7  | 4  | 3  | .571
3  | PSG Talon  | 6  | 3  | 3  | .500  |
4  | Fnatic  | 6  | 1  | 5  | .167

Source: LoL Esports
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) Tiebreaker match(es); 3) Total game victory time[a]

### Group D

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Gen.G  | 8  | 5  | 3  | .625  | Advance to knockouts
2  | MAD Lions  | 8  | 4  | 4  | .500
3  | LNG Esports  | 7  | 3  | 4  | .429  |
4  | Team Liquid  | 7  | 3  | 4  | .429

Source: LoL Esports
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage; 2) Tiebreaker match(es); 3) Total game victory time[a]

## Knockout stage

[edit]

* Date and time: 22 October–6 November, time for all matches 12:00 UTC.
* Eight teams are drawn into a single elimination bracket.
* All matches are best-of-five.
* The first-place team of each group is drawn against the second-place team of a different group.
* The first-place team chooses the side for the first games, loser of the previous game chooses the side for the next game.
* Teams from same group will be on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning they cannot play each other until the Finals.

EDG won the 2021 World Championship

| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Quarterfinals| | | Semifinals| | | Final
| | |
| C1| Royal Never Give Up| 2
| | |
| B2| Edward Gaming| 3| |
| | | Edward Gaming| 3
| | | | |
| | | Gen.G| 2| |
| D1| Gen.G| 3| | | |
| | | |
| A2| Cloud9| 0| |
| | | Edward Gaming| 3
| | |
| | | DWG KIA| 2
| B1| T1| 3| | | | |
| | | |
| C2| Hanwha Life Esports| 0| |
| | | T1| 2|
| | | | |
| | | DWG KIA| 3| | |
| A1| DWG KIA| 3| | | |
| | | |
| D2| MAD Lions| 0| |
| | |
| | | | |

## Ranking

[edit]

### Team ranking

[edit]

Place  | Team  | PG  | PK1  | PK2  | GS  | QF  | SF  | Finals  | Prize (%)  | Prize (USD)

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1st  | Edward Gaming  | –  | –  | –  | 4–2  | 3–2  | 3–2  | 3–2  | 22%  | $495,000
2nd  | DWG KIA  | –  | –  | –  | 6–0  | 3–0  | 3–2  | 2–3  | 15%  | $337,500
3rd–4th  | T1  | –  | –  | –  | 5–1  | 3–0  | 2–3  |  | 8%  | $180,000
Gen.G[b] | –  | –  | –  | 3–3  | 3–0  | 2–3
5th–8th  | Royal Never Give Up[b] | –  | –  | –  | 4–2  | 2–3  |  | 4.5%  | $101,250
Hanwha Life Esports[b] | 3–1  | –  | 3–0  | 4–2  | 0–3
MAD Lions[b] | –  | –  | –  | 3–3  | 0–3
Cloud9[b] | 3–1  | –  | 3–0  | 2–4  | 0–3
9th–11th  | 100 Thieves  | –  | –  | –  | 3–3  |  | 2.5%  | $62,500
PSG Talon  | –  | –  | –  | 3–3
Rogue[b] | –  | –  | –  | 2–4
12th–13th  | LNG Esports[b] | 4–0  | –  | –  | 3–3  | 2.375%  | $53,347.50
Team Liquid[b] | –  | –  | –  | 3–3
14th–16th  | FunPlus Phoenix[b] | –  | –  | –  | 2–4  | 2.25%  | $56,250
Fnatic  | –  | –  | –  | 1–5
DetonatioN FocusMe[b] | 3–1  | –  | –  | 0–6
17th–18th  | PEACE  | 2–2  | 3–2  | 0–3  |  | 1.75%  | $43,750
Beyond Gaming[b] | 1–3  | 3–2  | 0–3
19th–20th  | Galatasaray Esports  | 2–2  | 2–3  |  | 1.25%  | $28,125
RED Canids  | 1–3  | 2–3
21st–22nd  | Unicorns of Love[b] | 1–3  |  | 1%  | $22,500
Infinity Esports  | 0–4
Place  | Team  | PG  | PK1  | PK2  | GS  | QF  | SF  | Finals  | Prize (%)  | Prize (USD)

### Regional ranking

[edit]

* The win-ratio is determined by number of won games compared the number of games played.
* Bracket stage wins are prioritized.

Place  | Region  | League  | Teams  | Play-in Stage  | Main Event

|
|
|
|
|

Groups
(4 games total)  | K.O Match 1
(Best-of-five)  | K.O Match 2
(Best-of-five)
Group stage
(6 games total)  | Quarterfinals
(Best-of-five)  | Semifinals
(Best-of-five)  | Finals
(Best-of-five)
1st  | China  | LPL  | 3G+1P | 1 team
4W-0L
(100%)  |  |  | 4 teams[b]
13W-11L
(54.17%)  | 2 teams
5W-5L
(50%)  | 1 team
3W-2L
(60%)  | 1 team
3W-2L
(60%)
2nd  | South Korea  | LCK  | 3G+1P | 1 team
3W-1L
(75%)  |  | 1 team
3W-0L
(100%)  | 4 teams[b]
18W-6L
(75%)  | 4 teams
9W-3L
(75%)  | 3 teams
7W-8L
(46.66%)  | 1 team
2W-3L
(40%)
3rd  | North America  | LCS  | 2G+1P | 1 team[b]
3W-1L
(75%)  |  | 1 team
3W-0L
(100%)  | 3 teams[b]
8W-10L
(44.44%)  | 1 team
0W-3L
(0%)  |  |
4th  | Europe  | LEC  | 3G |  |  |  | 3 teams[b]
6W-12L
(33.33%)  | 1 team
0W-3L
(0%)  |  |
5th  | TW/HK/MO/SEA  | PCS  | 1G+1P | 1 team[b]
1W-3L
(25%)  | 1 team
3W–2L
(60%)  | 1 team
0W-3L
(0%)  | 1 team
3W-3L
(50%)  |  |  |
6th  | Japan  | LJL  | 1P | 1 team[b]
3W-1L
(75%)  |  |  | 1 team
0W-6L
(0%)  |  |  |
7th  | Oceania  | LCO  | 1P | 1 team
2W-2L
(50%)  | 1 team
3W–2L
(60%)  | 1 team
0W-3L
(0%)  |  |  |  |
8th  | Turkey  | TCL  | 1P | 1 team
2W-2L
(50%)  | 1 team
2W-3L
(40%)  |  |  |  |  |
9th  | Brazil  | CBLOL  | 1P | 1 team
1W-3L
(25%)  | 1 team
2W–3L
(40%)  |  |  |  |  |
10th  | CIS  | LCL  | 1P | 1 team[b]
1W-3L
(25%)  |  |  |  |  |  |
11th  | Latin America  | LLA  | 1P | 1 team
0W-4L
(0%)  |  |  |  |  |  |

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f The total amount of time it took a team to win their games against all other teams in the tiebreaker
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Not including tie-break games.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "League of Legends Esports Breaks World Championship Viewership Record". Riot Games. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
2. ^ a b "Worlds 2021 Location and Format Announcement". lolesports. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
3. ^ "Riot premieres Worlds 2021 official song 'Burn It All Down'". Dot Esports. September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
4. ^ "Wang Yibo, Denzel Curry, Besomorph, and CIFIKA remix League Of Legends' 'Burn It All Down' ahead of Worlds Finals 2021". Bandwagon Asia. October 21, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
5. ^ "2020 World Championship final heads to Shanghai". nexus.leagueoflegends.com. November 10, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
6. ^ Esports, LoL (June 16, 2021). "Riot Games Announces Multi-City Lineup for the 2021 League of Legends World Championship in China". lolesports. Archived from the original on June 16, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
7. ^ Peters, Jay (September 9, 2021). "League of Legends' world championships will take place in Iceland". theverge. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
8. ^ Nguyen, Hoang (September 10, 2021). "Travel restrictions block Vietnam from League of Legends World Championship 2021". theverge. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
9. ^ "Worlds 2021 Location and Format Announcement". lolesports.com. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
10. ^ "Worlds 2021 Primer". lolesports. Retrieved September 16, 2021.

## External links

[edit]

* 2021 World Championship Rules

* v
* t
* e

League of Legends

Riot Games, Tencent, Esports

World Championship|

* 2011
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Mid-Season Invitational|

* 2015
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* ~~2020~~ 1
* 2021
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First Stand|

* 2025

Regional leagues|

| Current|

* South Korea (LCK)
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* EMEA (LEC)
* Asia-Pacific (LCP)
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* Vietnam (VCS)

|

Former|

* Challenger Series
* CIS (LCL)
* Americas
* LCS
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Other tournaments|

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Music|

* Pentakill
* "Warriors"
* "Legends Never Die"
* "Masterpiece"
* K/DA
* "Pop/Stars"
* All Out
* "The Baddest"
* "More"
* Arcane League of Legends
* "Enemy"
* "Everything Goes On"
* "Star Walkin'"
* "Heavy Is the Crown"

Characters|

* Jinx
* Teemo
* Vi

Other games|

| Riot Games|

* Teamfight Tactics
* League of Legends: Wild Rift
* Legends of Runeterra
* 2XKO

|

Riot Forge|

* Ruined King
* Hextech Mayhem
* The Mageseeker
* Convergence
* Song of Nunu
* Bandle Tale

Tabletop games|

* Mechs vs. Minions
* Tellstones: King's Gambit

Other media|

| Television series|

* Arcane

|

1 The 2020 Mid-Season Invitational was cancelled and replaced by the 2020 Mid-Season Streamathon due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
*[Pos]: Position
*[Pld]: Played
*[W]: Won
*[L]: Lost
*[PCT]: Win percentage
*[G]: Start in Group Stage
*[P]: Start in Play-in Stage
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template