2015 League of Legends World Championship explained

League of Legends World Championship
Year:2015
Location:France
England
Belgium
Germany
Start Date:October 1
End Date:October 31
Administrator:Riot Games
Tournament Format:16 team round-robin group stage
8 team single-elimination bracket
Teams:16
Purse:$2,130,000 USD (€1,907,194.31)
Champion:SK Telecom T1
Runner-Up1:KOO Tigers
Matches:73
Mvp:Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-hwan (SK Telecom T1)[1]
Previous:2014
Next:2016

The 2015 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the fifth 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 31 in various cities across Europe: the group stages in Le Dock Pullman, in Paris, France; the quarterfinals at the Wembley Arena in London, England, United Kingdom; the semifinals in the Brussels Expo in Brussels, Belgium; and the finals at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany. The 16 teams qualified by either winning a professional league or a regional qualifying tournament.[2] There was a 16 team round-robin group stage followed by an 8 team single elimination bracket. The games were officially streamed on Twitch, YouTube and Azubu in several languages. The BBC also streamed the tournament online on BBC Three but for British IP addresses only. A peak of around 14 million concurrent viewers watched the finals, according to official sources.

Teams

The following teams qualified to participate in the tournament's group stage:[3]

RegionLeaguePathTeamIDPool
EuropeEU LCSSummer Champion FnaticFNC1
Most Championship Points H2k-GamingH2K2
Regional Finals Winner OrigenOG3
ChinaLPLMost Championship Points LGD GamingLGD1
Regional Finals 1st-place EDward GamingEDG2
Regional Finals 2nd-place Invictus GamingIG
North AmericaNA LCSSummer Champion Counter Logic GamingCLG1
Most Championship Points Team SoloMidTSM2
Regional Finals Winner Cloud9C93
South KoreaLCKSummer Champion SK Telecom T1SKT1
Most Championship Points KOO TigersKOO2
Regional Finals Winner KT RolsterKT
TW/HK/MOLMSSummer Champion ahq e-Sports ClubAHQ2
Regional Finals Winner Flash WolvesFW
WildcardBrazilCBLOLIWCTCBLOL Winter Champion
►IWCT Chile Winner
paiN GamingPNG3
Southeast AsiaGPLGPL Regional Finals Winner
►IWCT Turkey Winner
Bangkok TitansBKT3

Venues

Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin were the four cities chosen to host the competition.

Paris, France London, England, UK Brussels, Belgium Berlin, Germany
Group StageQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
Le Dock PullmanWembley ArenaBrussels ExpoMercedes-Benz Arena
Capacity: 3,500Capacity: 12,500Capacity: 15,000Capacity: 17,000

Group stage

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. The group stage started on October 1 in Le Dock Pullman, Paris and concluded on October 11. In Group B, ahq e-Sports Club and Cloud9 both ended in a 3–3 tie, resulting in a tiebreaker won by ahq e-Sports Club to win second place in the group.

Group A
  • Group B
  • Group C
  • Group D
  • Knockout stage

    The bracket stage started on October 15 in Wembley Arena in London, continued to Brussels Expo in Brussels, and concluded on October 31 with the grand finals hosted in Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.[4] The knockout stage has been streamed on BBC Three,[5] while the final will be streamed on ESPN3.[6] The bracket stage is played in a best of 5 format. In the grand final, SK Telecom T1 beat KOO Tigers 3 to 1, dropping their only game of the whole tournament.

    Final standings

    PlaceTeamPrize money[7]
    1st SK Telecom T1$1,000,000
    2nd KOO Tigers$250,000
    3rd–4th Fnatic$150,000
    Origen
    5–8th ahq e-Sports Club$75,000
    EDward Gaming
    Flash Wolves
    KT Rolster
    9–11th Cloud9$45,000
    H2k-Gaming
    LGD Gaming
    12–13th paiN Gaming$35,000
    Counter Logic Gaming
    14–16th Bangkok Titans$25,000
    Invictus Gaming
    Team SoloMid

    Viewership numbers

    The final was expected to have over 30 million people streaming it online.[8] The finals were watched by 36 million people, with a peak concurrent viewership of 14 million viewers.[9]

    Controversies

    Obscenity incident

    During the final day of the group stage in Paris, Cloud9's Hai "Hai" Lam made an obscene gesture towards an opponent while on stage. Hai was fined €500.[10]

    Technical issues

    In game 2 of the quarterfinals between Fnatic and EDward Gaming, an in-game bug occurred to Fnatic's Kim "Reignover" Ui-Jin which prevented the game from continuing, forcing the game to be remade from scratch. EDG lost 0–3 to FNC, but because the remade of game 2, in which FNC had an advantage over EDG, EDG was taunted "lost 0–4 in a BO5" in China. After investigating the issue, Riot Games chose to disable Gragas, the champion Reignover was playing, for the rest of the tournament, along with Lux and Ziggs, champions who were deemed susceptible to the same issue.[11]

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: SKT rises above KOO Tigers 3–1 to become the 2015 World Champion . Magrino . Tom . October 31, 2015 . LoL Esports . . November 11, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151109061201/http://worlds.lolesports.com/en_US/worlds/articles/skt-rises-above-koo-tigers-3-1-become-2015-world-champion . November 9, 2015 . dead .
    2. Web site: League of Legends World Championships: What you need to know . October 15, 2015 . . October 18, 2015 .
    3. Web site: Everything you need to know about the 2015 World Championship . Fields . Frank . September 7, 2015 . September 15, 2015 .
    4. Web site: 2015 World Championship Venues LoL Esports. April 9, 2015.
    5. Web site: League of Legends makes global gains . Ward . Mark . October 16, 2015 . BBC . November 11, 2015 .
    6. Web site: Team CLG Gets Focused - League of Legends Finals - ESPN.
    7. Web site: 2015 World Championship Rules . https://web.archive.org/web/20160215220925/https://riot-web-static.s3.amazonaws.com/lolesports/Rule%20Sets/2015%20Revised%20World%20Championship%20Rule%20Set%20Version%201_01.pdf . dead . February 15, 2016 . July 7, 2015 . 5–6 . Riot Games . November 11, 2015 .
    8. Web site: SKT rises above KOO Tigers 3–1 to become the 2015 World Champion . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/league-of-legends-saturday-s-final-is-the-biggest-sporting-event-you-have-never-heard-of-a6715101.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . Ramgobin . Ryan . October 30, 2015 . . November 11, 2015 .
    9. Web site: League of Legends 2015 ChampionShip Saw 334 million Unique Impressions | SegmentNext. 10 December 2015 . 2015-12-10.
    10. Web site: Competitive Ruling: C9 Hai . Leigh . Hunter . October 21, 2015 . LoL Esports . Riot Games . October 25, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151109120504/http://worlds.lolesports.com/en_US/worlds/articles/competitive-ruling-c9-hai . November 9, 2015 . dead .
    11. Web site: Gragas Disabled for Rest of Worlds 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151019134120/http://worlds.lolesports.com/en_US/worlds/articles/gragas-disabled-rest-worlds-2015 . dead . October 19, 2015 . Leigh . Hunter . October 18, 2015 . LoL Esports . Riot Games . October 25, 2015 .