Just a few days have passed since Riot Games revealed the full schedule for 2020 League of Legends World Championship and every region all around the world is now knowing which teams will represent them in the biggest tournament of the year… and we are not out of surprises!
In this article, we will focus on the four major regions: China, Korea, Europe, and North America.
Each of these regions (except Korea) has already fulfilled all the spots that they had reserved for them in the World Championship, so we will study them one by one.
LPL – China representatives
China is probably the favorite region to win (again) the League of Legends World Championship. Two of its representatives are probably the strongest and most talented teams of the moment, two teams that, after getting the same score in the Chinese competition, faced each other in a spectacular final series that left all the fans speechless (and with no doubts about how favorite they are to get the tournament).
These two teams are Top Esports and JD Gaming, and you can check all the details of their Final Series here.
Since Top Esports was crowned as LPL Summer Split Champion (apart from being second in LPL Spring Split), the team will represent China from the first seed, while JD Gaming, who won the LPL Spring Split and lost to Top Esports in the Summer Finals will part from the second seed.
The third seed is occupied by one of the teams with the most interesting narratives in the Chinese league: Suning, who qualified for the Regional Finals and, once there, made it to Worlds by destroying LGD Gaming on a 3-0 series.
On the other side of the regional qualifiers, two World Champions faced each other: FunPlus Phoenix and Invictus Gaming, and only one of them could make it and keep having chances to revalidate the title.
Invictus Gaming was the one who won that series (3-2) and thus passed to the Qualification Match, where LGD Gaming was waiting for them. Today, Saturday 30th, Invictus Gaming lost 3-1 against LGD, which means that none of the Chinese World Champions will be playing 2020 LoL World Championship.
On the other hand, we have LGD Gaming qualified for Worlds’ Play-In stage, a very well deserved fourth seed that ends the list of LPL representatives… a scary list!
LCK – Korea Representatives
The Korean league is the only major league whose qualified teams are still to be set. This year, the region will only have three representatives, and DRX has already guaranteed themselves the second seed of the region.
The first seed is still to be fulfilled, and the name of the team who will be there we will know the upcoming September 5th, when DRX and DAMWON Gaming face each other in the LCK Summer Playoffs Finals!
The winner of the series will be the first-seeded representative of Korea. This means that DRX can upgrade from second to first seed, and also means that DAMWON Gaming could be the first seed of the region.
DAMWON Gaming has qualified for the LCK Summer Finals after defeating early this morning Gen.G (2-3), and this leads us to the third seed of the region:
Gen.G is also a participant of this fight for Worlds, and pay attention because this gets complicated: if DAMWON Gaming wins the Finals, Gen.G will be seeded to the Finals of the Regional Qualifiers.
If DRX wins the Finals, then Gen.G and DRX will qualify for Worlds, while DAMWON Gaming will be seeded to the Finals of the Regional Qualifiers.
All of it happens due to the LCK Championship Points that each of these teams has.
In the Regional Qualifiers, Afreeca Freecs will face KT Rolster in Round 1. The winner of this series will play against T1 in Round 2, and the winner of this series will qualify to the Finals and face either DAMWON Gaming or Gen.G (depending on what happens next weekend).
Finally, the winner of the LCK Regional Finals will be qualified for the 2020 World Championship Play-In stage.
LEC – European representatives
Despite we still have to wait one more week to set the seeds that each of the European teams will occupy, we already know what teams are going to represent their region within the four spots that, for the first time ever, the LEC has (it has always been three).
Rogue was the first European team to qualify for the 2020 World Championship, after finishing the Summer regular season in the first position (remember that in the LEC, Summer points are much higher than Spring points). This means that Rogue will play at Worlds for the first time in their history.
But Rogue is not the only one having a new experience: Mad Lions, the newest LEC organization (born from the ashes of the disbanded team of Splyce) has also qualified for Worlds after finishing the Spring Split in the third position and the regular season of the Summer Split in the second position.
Both teams, Rogue and Mad Lions, guaranteed themselves to be, at least, in the Play-in stage, and only one of them would have chances to upgrade their seed: the one who wins today’s Playoff series.
In the end, it was Rogue who won (3-0), so we now know that Mad Lions will be the fourth seed from LEC, starting from the Play-in stage, while Rogue will keep competing for the first three seeds.
Fnatic and G2 Esports have guaranteed the second and third seed respectively. In the case of Fnatic, the legendary organization ended in the second position last Spring Split, and this weekend has qualified for the LEC Summer Finals, which means that in case they win the Finals, they can upgrade to the first seed.
G2 Esports, who won the Spring Split, still need to play the LEC Summer Semi-Finals against Rogue. The team that loses this series will be, for sure, in the third seed, and the one who wins it will still have the chance to dispute with Fnatic the first seed.
Both Fnatic and the winner of the Semi-Finals will be the first and second seed representatives for the LEC.
LCS – North American representatives
The North American League of Legends Championship Series has a very similar situation to the LEC: we already know what three teams are qualified, but the seed positions are still to be set.
But first, let’s focus on the biggest surprise from the LCS qualified teams: after losing the LCS Summer Semi-Finals against TSM, Cloud9 won’t be representing their region for the first time in the history of the organization.
North American LCS will have two seeds in the Group Stage, and one in the Play-In stage. The teams that will dispute these positions, those who qualified for the 2020 World Championship are FlyQuest, Team Liquid, and Team SoloMid.
FlyQuest was the first LCS team to get a spot in the biggest tournament of the year, surprising not only their own region but also the entire world. For now, like the others, they have guaranteed the third seed of the region, which means that at least they will be in the Play-in stage.
To upgrade this position, FlyQuest needs to win its series against Team Liquid in the LCS Summer Semi-Finals, which means that Team Liquid is in the exact same situation. The Liquid team has also guaranteed the third seed, but have the chance to upgrade it tonight.
The winner of this series will guarantee a spot in the LCS Summer Finals, and the loser will have to face TSM in a new best of five. Then, the winner of the series with TSM will go to the finals, while the loser will be the third-seeded qualified team, condemned to play in the Play-in stage.
The winner of the LCS Summer Finals will get the first seed, and thus, the loser will get the second.
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