The League of Legends 2019 World Championship nears closer, and the groups for the game's most significant event have been drawn. The tournament starts with a play-in, which will see four surviving teams moving on to the group stage. Twelve teams currently wait in the group stage, ready for the battle to begin. One of the total sixteen teams will come out victorious as the event comes to an end in November.
To qualify for Worlds, teams had to perform well in their respective regular seasons. The Summer season winners from four of the biggest leagues were seeded into the group stage, while other teams were decided by the number of points they had accrued over the season. Season winners FunPlus Phoenix, SK Telecom T1, G2, and Team Liquid were placed into the top pool for the group stage draw. They were each placed in separate groups with two teams from the second pool. A winning play-in team will later complete these groups. Many play-in teams qualified for the event from their respective Regional Finals.
The Worlds play-in will see twelve teams divided into four groups of three. They will play in a double round-robin format, and the top two teams from each group will move on to the knockout stage. Teams will be matched up to play a single best-of-five, the winners of which will move on to the group stage. The group stage will see those four teams divided into the four groups, once again playing in a double round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will move on to the single-elimination best-of-five play-offs.
Fans are already feeling the excitement with the groups now drawn. Among the hottest group draws is main stage Group A, which features European powerhouse G2 Esports, LCK Summer runners up Griffin, and LCS Summer runners up Cloud9. G2 has had a fantastic year, winning LEC Spring, the Mid-Season Invitational, and LEC Summer. Griffin topped both the LCK Spring and Summer seasons, though they fell in both grand finals to a Faker-led SK Telecom T1. Cloud9 took the second seed in the LCS Summer season, falling in the grand final to first-seed Team Liquid.
The main stage's Group C appears even more stacked, as it features the likes of LCK Spring and Summer champions SK Telecom T1. Faker's squad will be joined in Group C by LEC Summer runners up Fnatic, and LPL Summer runners up Royal Never Give Up. The two other groups aren't so hotly contested, though Group D will see MSI runners up and LCS Summer champions Team Liquid taking on reigning world champions Invictus Gaming.
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship will begin on Oct. 2nd and run until Nov. 10th.