The 2022 League of Legends World Championship () was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the twelfth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was held from September 29 to November 5 in Mexico and the United States. It was the fourth edition of the World Championship to be held in the United States after the 2012, 2013, and 2016 editions, while this marked the first time Mexico hosted the tournament.
Twenty-four teams from 11 regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in China, Europe, North America, South Korea, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia and Vietnam, with twelve of those teams having to reach the main event via a play-in stage.
On August 29, Riot Games announced and revealed the new Summoner's Cup that would be awarded to the winner of the finals. "Star Walkin'" was announced as the tournament's theme song, performed by Lil Nas X.
DRX won the tournament after defeating T1 3–2 in a close final series. This was the first international title won by DRX, as well as the first by a play-in team. DRX's advance to the finals was widely described by commentators as a Cinderella run. DRX was considered an underdog team, having barely qualified for the tournament as South Korea's final seed, and having been pitted against a number of tournament favorites, including defending world champions Edward Gaming.
This is the last edition of Worlds to feature a round-robin play-in stage and group stage before switching to a GSL-style double-elimination bracket for the play-in stage and a Swiss stage main stage for the next edition of the tournament.
Qualified teams and rosters
Qualified teams China (LPL) and South Korea (LCK) received an additional spot, totaling up to four representatives each for their respective region.
Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, CIS (LCL) will not be able to send their representative this year, their slot will be given to the Europe (LEC) due to their strong performance over the past two years, making the LEC having four representatives for the region.
Top 4 regions in 2022 Mid-Season Invitational (LPL, LCK, LEC, LCS) are seeded to pool 1 in the main event's group stage for the summer champion. Region League Qualification Path Team ID PoolStarted from Group StageChinaLPL Summer Champion JD Gaming JDG 1 Most Championship Points Top Esports TES 2 Regional Finals Winner Edward Gaming EDG 3South KoreaLCK Summer Champion Gen.G GEN 1 Most Championship Points T1 T1 2 Regional Finals Winner DWG KIA DK 3EuropeLEC Summer Champion Rogue RGE 1 Summer Runner-Up G2 Esports G2 2North AmericaLCS Championship Champion Cloud9 C9 1 Championship Runner-Up 100 Thieves 100 3TW/HK/MO/SEAPCS Summer Champion CTBC Flying Oyster CFO 2VietnamVCS Summer Champion GAM Esports GAM 3Started from Play-in StageChinaLPL Regional Finals Runner-Up Royal Never Give Up RNG 1South KoreaLCK Regional Finals Runner-Up DRX DRX 1EuropeLEC Summer Third Place Fnatic FNC 1 Summer Fourth Place MAD Lions MAD 2North AmericaLCS Championship Third Place Evil Geniuses EG 2TW/HK/MO/SEAPCS Summer Runner-Up Beyond Gaming BYG 1VietnamVCS Summer Runner-Up Saigon Buffalo SGB 2BrazilCBLOL Split 2 Champion LOUD LLL 3JapanLJL Summer Champion DetonatioN FocusMe DFM 2 Latin AmericaLLA Closing Champion Isurus ISG 3OceaniaLCO Split 2 Champion Chiefs Esports Club CHF 3TurkeyTCL Summer Champion Istanbul Wildcats IW 3
Venues Mexico City, New York City, Atlanta and San Francisco were the four cities chosen to host the tournament. Toronto formerly had been chosen to host the semifinals, but later Riot Games decided to host in Atlanta due to COVID-19 impacting the viability of securing multi-entry visas from Canada to the United States within necessary timelines. Mexico City, Mexico United States New York City Atlanta San FranciscoPlay-in StageGroup Stage and QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals Arena Esports Stadium Hulu Theater State Farm Arena Chase Center Capacity: 100 Capacity: 5,600 Capacity: 21,000 Capacity: 18,060
Play-in stage
Play-in groups The play-in groups took place from 29 September to 2 October. Twelve teams were drawn into two groups of six based on their seeding, with the restriction that two teams from the LEC could not be placed in the same group. The stage was played in a single round-robin format, with all matches contested as best-of-one. When teams finished with identical win–loss records, tie-breaker matches were held. In the case of a two-way tie, the result of the head-to-head game was not used to determine the winner; however, the team that had won the head-to-head match received side selection in the tiebreaker. The top team from each group automatically qualified for the main event, while the second- to fourth-placed teams advanced to the play-in knockouts, with the second-placed team receiving a bye to match 2. The bottom two teams were eliminated.
Group A
Group B
Play-in knockouts The play-in knockouts were held from 3 to 4 October, using a king-of-the-hill format with two branches. The third-placed teams from the group stage faced the fourth-placed teams from the same group in the first match of each branch. The winners then played against the second-placed teams from the other group in the second match. All matches were single-elimination and contested as best-of-five series. The winners of the second match in each branch advanced to the main event group stage.
Group stage The main event group stage took place from 7 to 16 October. Sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four based on their seeding, with teams from the same region generally not permitted to be placed in the same group. In the scenario where both the LEC 3rd and 4th seeded teams advanced to the group stage, the 4th-seeded team was exempt from the rule preventing a group from having more than one team from the same region. If either LEC team was eliminated during the play-in stage, the restriction remained in place. The stage was played in a double round-robin format, with all matches contested as best-of-one. When teams finished with identical win–loss and head-to-head records, tiebreaker matches were held to determine first or second place. In cases where more than two teams had the same record, tiebreaker placement was determined by the combined times of the teams’ victorious games. The top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage, while the bottom two were eliminated.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage The main event knockout stage took place from 20 October to 5 November. Eight teams that advanced from the group stage were drawn into a single-elimination bracket. All matches were contested as best-of-five series. Each first-placed team from the group stage was matched against a second-placed team from a different group. The first-placed team selected the side for the first game, while the loser of each game chose the side for the following game. Teams that had advanced from the same group were placed on opposite sides of the bracket, ensuring that they could not meet until the final.
Ranking Team ranking PlaceTeamPGPK1PK2GSQFSFFinalsPrize (%)Prize (USD)1st DRX 5–0 – – 4–2 3–2 3–1 3–222%$489,5002nd T1 – – – 5–1 3–0 3–1 2–315%$333,7503rd–4th JD Gaming – – – 5–1 3–0 1–38%$178,000 Gen.G – – – 5–1 3–2 1–35th–8th DWG KIA – – – 5–1 2–34.5%$100,125 Edward Gaming – – – 4–2 2–3 Royal Never Give Up 4–1 – 3–1 5–1 0–3 Rogue – – – 4–2 0–39th–10th Top Esports – – – 3–32.5%$55,625 Fnatic 4–1 – – 2–411th–14th Evil Geniuses 3–2 – 3–0 1–52.375%$52,843.75 100 Thieves – – – 1–5 CTBC Flying Oyster – – – 1–5 G2 Esports – – – 1–515th–16th Cloud9 – – – 1–52.25%$50,062.50 GAM Esports – – – 1–517th–18th DetonatioN FocusMe 3–2 3–1 1–31.75%$38,937.50 MAD Lions 3–2 3–1 0–319th–20th LOUD 3–2 1–31.5%$33,375 Saigon Buffalo 2–3 1–321st–22nd Beyond Gaming 2–31%$22,250 Isurus 1–423rd–24th Chiefs Esports Club 0–50.75%$16,687.50 Istanbul Wildcats 0–5PlaceTeamPGPK1PK2GSQFSFFinalsPrize (%)Prize (USD)
Notes
References
External links 2022 World Championship Rules v22.0