The 2023 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the thirteenth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament began in South Korea on October 10 until November 19.[2] Twenty-two teams from nine regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits;[3] defending champions DRX[4] failed to do so after losing to Dplus KIA in the 2023 LCK Regional Finals.[5][6]JD Gaming were in contention to become the first team to complete the "Golden Road"[a], but lost to eventual champions T1 in the semifinals of the knockout stage.[7]
"Gods" (stylized in all caps), performed by NewJeans, was announced as the tournament's theme song.[8][9] A virtual boyband named "Heartsteel" (stylized in all caps) was unveiled by Riot Games during the event, with Baekhyun from Exo and SuperM, ØZI, Tobi Lou and Cal Scruby representing the group as its human counterpart and in the live performance of their debut song, "Paranoia".[10]
The final took place on 19 November 2023 at the Gocheok Sky Dome, where T1 defeated Weibo Gaming by a 3–0 score, marking the organization's record-extending fourth World Championship.[11][12] The event's concurrent viewership reached a peak of 6.4 million viewers, breaking the all-time viewership record for a single esports event, not accounting for Chinese viewership.[13]
Format changes
Starting from 2023, teams from LCL (CIS), TCL (Turkey), and LCO (Oceania) region no longer qualified directly for Worlds due to their leagues being cancelled (LCL, by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine) and downgraded (TCL became a regional league for EMEA Masters, LCO was merged into PCS).
The number of teams was decreased from 24 to 22 compared to 2022. For seedings, first-seeded teams from PCS (Asia-Pacific) and VCS (Vietnam) were relegated to start in the play-in stage, while fourth-seeded teams from LCK (South Korea), LPL (China) and third-seeded from LEC (EMEA) and LCS (North America) were promoted to the main event. Prior to the kick off of the tournament, a "Worlds Qualifying Series" match between the fourth-seeded teams from LEC and LCS was played to decide the last team for the play-in stage.[14]
Seoul and Busan were the two cities chosen to host the tournament.[17][18] The LoL Park, which hosted the play-in stage of the tournament, is the only venue that hosted a Worlds tournament, having hosted the same phase during the 2018 League of Legends World Championship.
Date and time: October 9, start time at 13:00 (KST) (UTC+9)
The fourth-seeded teams from LEC (Team BDS) and LCS (Golden Guardians) faced off in a best-of-five series to determine the last team that would qualify for the play-in stage.[19]
Qualifying Match
October 9, 1:00 pm
Team BDS
3
Golden Guardians
0
Play-in stage
Groups
Date and time: October 10–14, start time at 16:00 KST (UTC+9)
8 teams were divided into 2 groups of four teams each playing in a GSL-style double-elimination format. Teams from same region could not be placed in the same group.
All matches were best-of-three.
Group A
Opening Matches
Winner's Match
Advance to Qualifiers
October 10, 7:00 pm
LOUD
2
October 12, 4:00 pm
GAM Esports
0
LOUD
0
October 10, 4:00 pm
A1
PSG Talon
PSG Talon
2
Movistar R7
0
PSG Talon
2
Elimination Match
Decider Match
October 14, 4:00 pm
October 13, 4:00 pm
LOUD
0
A2
GAM Esports
GAM Esports
2
GAM Esports
2
Movistar R7
0
Group B
Opening Matches
Winner's Match
Advance to Qualifiers
October 11, 7:00 pm
Team BDS
1
October 12, 7:00 pm
Team Whales
2
Team Whales
2
October 11, 4:00 pm
B1
Team Whales
CTBC Flying Oyster
1
DetonatioN FocusMe
0
CTBC Flying Oyster
2
Elimination Match
Decider Match
October 14, 7:00 pm
October 13, 7:00 pm
CTBC Flying Oyster
0
B2
Team BDS
Team BDS
2
Team BDS
2
DetonatioN FocusMe
0
Qualifiers
Date and time: October 15, start time at 12:00 KST (UTC+9)
Upper bracket winner of one group faced the lower bracket winner of the other group.
Qualifiers were best-of-five.
Two winners of the qualifiers advanced to the swiss stage as Pool 4.[20]
Qualifying Matches
Qualified
October 15, 12:00 pm
A1
PSG Talon
2
Q
Team BDS
B2
Team BDS
3
October 15, 5:00 pm
B1
Team Whales
1
Q
GAM Esports
A2
GAM Esports
3
Swiss stage
Date and time: October 19–29, start time at 14:00 KST (UTC+9)
16 teams play in Swiss-system format with five rounds.
In Round 1, Pool 1 teams will play against Pool 4 teams, and Pool 2 teams will play against Pool 3 teams. Teams from the same region do not play against each other.
From Round 2 onward, teams with the same record will play each other. Match up will be determined by draw after each round and teams from the same region can play each other.
Teams had matched each other in previous rounds will not matched again until last round (score 2–2).
Teams with three wins advance to knockout stage, while teams with three losses are eliminated.
All matches are best-of-one, excluding the advancement and elimination matches in round 3 along with the latter 4th and 5th round matches, which are best-of-three matches.
Bracket
Advance to knockouts
2–0
JD Gaming
1–0
G2 Esports
0
Gen.G
0–0
Weibo Gaming
0
Gen.G
2
Advance to knockouts
T1
1
G2 Esports
1
JD Gaming
2
2–1
LNG Esports
Team Liquid
0
Bilibili Gaming
0
LNG Esports
1
KT Rolster
1
NRG Esports
Cloud9
1
JD Gaming
1
LNG Esports
2
T1
MAD Lions
0
LNG Esports
1
1–1
T1
2
Advance to knockouts
Gen.G
1
Cloud9
0
NRG Esports
1
Bilibili Gaming
0
2–2
KT Rolster
GAM Esports
0
Gen.G
1
MAD Lions
0
NRG Esports
2
KT Rolster
2
Weibo Gaming
Team BDS
0
T1
0
T1
1
G2 Esports
0
Dplus KIA
0
Bilibili Gaming
JD Gaming
1
Cloud9
0
G2 Esports
1
G2 Esports
1
0–1
KT Rolster
1
1–2
Bilibili Gaming
2
Eliminated
Dplus KIA
0
Team Liquid
0
Weibo Gaming
0
Cloud9
1
Fnatic
1
Dplus KIA
Weibo Gaming
1
NRG Esports
1
Bilibili Gaming
1
Fnatic
2
Weibo Gaming
2
Fnatic
NRG Esports
0
Dplus KIA
0
Fnatic
0
Dplus KIA
2
G2 Esports
LNG Esports
1
KT Rolster
1
GAM Esports
0
Eliminated
Fnatic
0
Team BDS
0
0–2
Weibo Gaming
2
Cloud9
Bilibili Gaming
1
MAD Lions
1
Dplus KIA
2
MAD Lions
0
MAD Lions
KT Rolster
0
Fnatic
1
Team BDS
0
GAM Esports
GAM Esports
0
Team Liquid
1
Eliminated
GAM Esports
2
Team Liquid
Team BDS
Knockout stage
Date and time: November 2–19, all games start time at 17:00 KST (UTC+9)
Eight teams from group stage are drawn into a single-elimination bracket.
Two teams with a 3–0 record in the swiss stage are on opposite sides of the bracket and face those with a 3–2 record, while all remaining teams will be seeded randomly.
All matches are best-of-five.
The members of the winning team will lift the Summoner's Cup, earning their title as the League of Legends 2023 World Champions.
Qualified teams
Eight teams qualified for the playoff portion of the tournament from the swiss stage.