The 2014 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament held from September 18 to October 19, 2014, for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the fourth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. Matches were held in Taipei, Singapore, Busan, and Seoul, with grand finals being at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.[2] The 16 teams qualified by either winning a major professional league or a regional qualifying tournament. There was a 16 team round-robin group stage followed by an 8 team single elimination bracket. The games were officially streamed on Twitch and Azubu in several languages and the finals were aired online on ESPN3.
2014 | |
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Location | Taiwan Singapore South Korea |
Dates | September 18–October 19 |
Administrator | Riot Games |
Tournament format(s) | 16 team round-robin group stage 8 team single-elimination bracket |
Venue(s) | 5 (in 4 host cities)
|
Teams | 16 |
Purse | $2,130,000 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Samsung Galaxy White |
Runner-up | Star Horn Royal Club |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 78 |
Attendance | 40,000+ (final) |
MVP | Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong (Samsung Galaxy White)[1] |
The group stage began September 18 in Taipei at the National Taiwan University Sports Center and concluded September 28 in Singapore at the Singapore EXPO with eight teams advancing to the bracket stage.[3] The bracket stage started on October 3 in Busan, South Korea at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, and concluded on October 19 with the grand finals hosted at the 45,000-seats Seoul World Cup Stadium,[4][5] where South Korean team Samsung Galaxy White beat the Chinese team Star Horn Royal Club to become the 2014 League of Legends world champions.[6][citation needed]
American band Imagine Dragons contributed the theme song "Warriors" for the tournament,[7] and performed live on the grand finals stage in South Korea.[8] All games were made available for free via live streaming.[9]
The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.
Teams
editThe following teams qualified to participate in the tournament's group stage:[10]
Region | League | Path | Team | ID | Pool | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
South Korea | The Champions | Most Circuit Points #1 | SSB | 1 | |||
Most Circuit Points #2 | SSW | 2 | |||||
Regional Finals Winner | NWS | ||||||
China | LPL | Regional Finals Winner #1 | EDG | 1 | |||
Regional Finals Winner #2 | SHR | 2 | |||||
Regional Finals Winner #3 | OMG | ||||||
Europe | EU LCS | Summer Champion | ALL | 1 | |||
Summer Runner-up | FNC | 2 | |||||
Summer Third-place | SK | 3 | |||||
North America | NA LCS | Summer Champion | TSM | 1 | |||
Summer Runner-up | C9 | 2 | |||||
Summer Third-place | LMQ | 3 | |||||
TW/HK/MO & SEA | GPL | Summer Champion | TPA | 2 | |||
Regional Finals Winner | AHQ | ||||||
Wildcard | Brazil | CBLol | IWCT | CBLol Regional Finals Winner ►IWCT PAX 2014 Winner |
KBM | 3 | |
Turkey | TCL | TCL Regional Finals Winner ►IWCT Gamescom 2014 Winner |
DP | 3 |
Venues
editTaipei, Singapore, Busan and Seoul were the 4 venues chosen to host the competition.
Busan | Seoul | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Group Stage A and B | Group Stage C and D | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
National Taiwan University Sports Center | Singapore EXPO | BEXCO Center | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Seoul World Cup Stadium |
Capacity: 4,200 | Capacity: 16,000 | Capacity: 4,002 | Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 66,704 |
Group stage
editThe 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.
- Group A
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Samsung White | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | Advance to knockouts |
2 | Edward Gaming | 7 | 4 | 3 | .571 | |
3 | Ahq e-Sports Club | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | |
4 | Dark Passage | 6 | 0 | 6 | .000 |
- Group B
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Star Horn Royal Club | 6 | 5 | 1 | .833 | Advance to knockouts |
2 | Team SoloMid | 6 | 4 | 2 | .667 | |
3 | SK Gaming | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | |
4 | Taipei Assassins | 6 | 1 | 5 | .167 |
- Group C
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Samsung Blue | 6 | 5 | 1 | .833 | Advance to knockouts |
2 | OMG | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | |
3 | LMQ | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | |
4 | Fnatic | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 |
- Group D
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | NaJin White Shield | 7 | 5 | 2 | .714 | Advance to knockouts |
2 | Cloud9 | 7 | 4 | 3 | .571 | |
3 | Alliance | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | |
4 | KaBuM e-Sports | 6 | 1 | 5 | .167 |
Knockout stage
editQuarterfinals BEXCO | Semifinals Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Final Seoul World Cup Stadium | |||||||||||
October 3 | |||||||||||||
Team SoloMid | 1 | ||||||||||||
October 11 | |||||||||||||
Samsung Galaxy White | 3 | ||||||||||||
Samsung Galaxy White | 3 | ||||||||||||
October 4 | |||||||||||||
Samsung Galaxy Blue | 0 | ||||||||||||
Cloud9 | 1 | ||||||||||||
October 19 | |||||||||||||
Samsung Galaxy Blue | 3 | ||||||||||||
Samsung Galaxy White | 3 | ||||||||||||
October 5 | |||||||||||||
Star Horn Royal Club | 1 | ||||||||||||
Star Horn Royal Club | 3 | ||||||||||||
October 12 | |||||||||||||
EDward Gaming | 2 | ||||||||||||
Star Horn Royal Club | 3 | ||||||||||||
October 6 | |||||||||||||
OMG | 2 | ||||||||||||
NaJin White Shield | 0 | ||||||||||||
OMG | 3 | ||||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)
Final standings
editPlace | Team | Prize money[11] |
---|---|---|
1st | $1,000,000 | |
2nd | $250,000 | |
3rd–4th | $150,000 | |
5–8th | $75,000 | |
9–11th | $45,000 | |
12–13th | $35,000 | |
14–16th | $25,000 | |
Viewership and attendance
editAround 40,000 fans attended the grand finals between Samsung White and Star Horn Royal Club.[12] It is estimated that there were 288 million cumulative views throughout the entire tournament.[13][14][15]
The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.[13][14]
Racism incident
editPrior to the World Championship group stage in Taipei, SK Gaming's Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen acted in a racially insensitive way while playing on the Taiwanese server, being disrespectful towards other players and naming his account "TaipeiChingChong". Johnsen was fined US$2,500 and was suspended from his team's first three games in the tournament.[16]
References
edit- ^ Fields, Frank (October 19, 2014). "SAMSUNG WHITE WINS 2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ^ MOZUR, PAUL (October 19, 2014). "For South Korea, E-Sports Is National Pastime". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ "World Championship 2014 Preliminary Schedule". Retrieved October 8, 2014.
- ^ "'League of Legends' scholarship". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ Magrino, Tom. "Welcome to the League of Legends 2014 World Championship!". Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ "Bracket". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ^ "Imagine Dragons teams with 'League of Legends' for $2.3m tournament – Yahoo News Singapore". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ "Prepare yourself for the 2014 Worlds Final". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ "Watch 'League Of Legends' World Championship 2014 Live Online". 21 September 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^ Jackson, Leah (September 8, 2015). "WORLDS 2014 GROUP STAGE SELECTION RESULTS". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ^ "League of Legends World Championships Prize Distribution – $2.13 Million USD Total". onGamers. CBS Interactive. August 5, 2014. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ^ Tassi, Paul (October 19, 2015). "40,000 Korean Fans Watch SSW Win 2014 'League of Legends' World Championship". Forbes. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ a b "WORLDS 2014 BY THE NUMBERS". Riot Games. December 1, 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-12-02. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ a b Gafford, Travis (December 1, 2014). "League of Legends 2014 World Championship Viewer Numbers (Infograph)". onGamers. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ Dorsey, Patrick (December 14, 2014). "'League of Legends' ratings top NBA Finals, World Series clinchers". ESPN. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ "League of Legends Competition Ruling: Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen | LoL Esports". Retrieved October 8, 2014.
External links
edit- Information
- 2014 World Championship Rules (Archived 2014-10-09 at the Wayback Machine)