League of Legends World Championship Tournament Update: Lemondogs, Cloud 9 Compete for Korea's Crown
The League of Legends Championship is like the Olympics in the world of eSports. This is where regional styles clash and powerhouses will face off against each other without necessarily setting aside the power of dark horses and underdogs. In short, the best of the best in the world of video gaming come together to face each other during the tournament.
The tournament format is quite simple. There are 14 teams that have qualified from around the world. From these teams, four of them have already secured an automatic spot in the quarterfinals round. This is because they have won their respective regions. This does not, however, include the European team Fnatic after finishing last during the All-Start tournament in Shanghai last May.
The remaining ten teams will be divided into two groups. They will then face all the members of their groups twice in a round robin style tournament. The top two teams in each division will then advance to the next round and join the first four teams that have already qualified. From this point onwards, the format will be single-elimination up until the Grand Finals, which will be held at the Staples Center.
This year, it is expected that the competition will be more heated with new teams coming into the game to be a part of the top 14. Last year, of the teams that competed, three of them had already showed during the season 2 World Championship. Although these three have solid fan bases, none of them was heavily favored to take the title home. As expected, none of them ended up as the World Champion.
It is also important to note the dominance of South Korea in the tournament, being the home of eSports and the home of StarCraft. Their All-star team won the tournament without losing even a single game. This year, they are expected to reign supreme. However, the Lemondogs of Europe along with Cloud 9 of North America are expected to pull an upset. Both are relatively new teams but have done well in their respective regional competitions. They have yet to prove themselves in a much bigger stage.