2020 League of Legends World Championship

A Tournament Shaped by a Pandemic

The 2020 World Championship was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally planned as a multi-city event across China, Riot Games announced in August that the entire tournament would be consolidated in Shanghai. All stages were played within a controlled isolation bubble to ensure the safety of players and staff. This led to matches being held without live spectators for the first time in the event's history.

Travel restrictions had a direct impact on the competing teams. In September, Riot Games announced that the two qualified teams from Vietnam's VCS region, Team Flash and GAM Esports, would be unable to attend. Their absence forced adjustments to the qualification structure, promoting other regions' seeds. Furthermore, PSG Talon faced visa and quarantine issues, requiring them to loan substitute players from other organizations just to field a roster for the play-in stage.

Qualification and Format Adjustments

Twenty-two teams from eleven global regions qualified based on their performance in regional leagues like China's LPL, Europe's LEC, and South Korea's LCK. The merger of the Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau LMS and the Southeast Asian LST leagues into the new PCS league reduced its Worlds slots from four to two. This change granted Europe's LEC another direct spot in the group stage and gave China's LPL an additional spot in the play-in stage for their regional finals runner-up.

Due to the Vietnamese teams' absence, the third seed team from South Korea's LCK, which was originally set for the play-in stage, was promoted to start directly in the main group stage. The qualification format for North America and Europe also changed, with teams directly qualifying based on the results from their respective summer playoffs instead of championship points.

The Play-In Stage Structure

The tournament began with the play-in stage at the Shanghai Media Tech Studio from September 25 to 30. Ten teams were drawn into two groups of five. They played a single round robin where all matches were best-of-one. If teams finished with the same win-loss record, a tiebreaker match was played. Notably, a two-way tie was not broken by the head-to-head result, though the team that won the earlier match got side selection for the tiebreaker game.

The top team from each group automatically qualified for the main group stage. The second, third, and fourth-place teams from each group advanced to the play-in knockouts, with the second-place team receiving a bye to the second round. The knockout stage used a king-of-the-hill format with two branches and single-elimination, with all matches being best-of-five. The third and fourth-place teams from the same group played each other in Round 1, with the winner facing the second-place team from the other group in Round 2. The winners of these Round 2 matches secured the final spots in the group stage.

The Group Stage Draw and Format

The main group stage also took place at the Shanghai Media Tech Studio from October 3 to 11. Sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four based on their seeding, with the rule that teams from the same region could not be placed in the same group. The seeding pools were adjusted from previous years. The main group stage's Pool 2, which previously had eight teams, was split into Pool 2 and Pool 3, each with four teams. Teams advancing from the play-in stage were drawn as Pool 4.

The group stage followed a double round-robin format, with all matches being best-of-one. The top two teams from each group advanced to the playoff stage, while the bottom two were eliminated. If teams were tied in win-loss record and head-to-head record, a tiebreaker match was played to determine first or second place.

The Playoff Bracket and Final

The playoff stage ran from October 15 to 31. It featured an eight-team, single-elimination bracket where all matches were best-of-five. The first-place team from each group was drawn against a second-place team from a different group. The draw also ensured that teams originating from the same group were placed on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning they could not meet each other again until the final.

The tournament concluded on October 31 at the Pudong Football Stadium with the final between Dplus KIA and Suning Gaming. Dplus KIA won the series to claim the Summoner's Cup. The final was a major global viewing event, drawing an average of 45.95 million concurrent viewers and over one billion hours watched.

Notable Incidents and Cultural Elements

The tournament was notable for several last-minute roster changes due to pandemic-related issues. During the group draw show, it was revealed that PSG Talon's players River and Tank could not attend the play-in stage due to delayed visas and quarantine. The team loaned Kongyue and Uniboy from ahq eSports Club as replacements. They also later confirmed that their player Unified would miss the first half of the play-ins for the same reason, leading to a loan of Dee from Machi Esports.

The event featured the official theme song 'Take Over', a collaborative piece by Henry Lau, Max Schneider, and Jeremy McKinnon, the lead vocalist of A Day to Remember. Despite the absence of live fans, the opening ceremony for the final was presented by Mastercard. The Vietnamese teams that could not participate, Team Flash and GAM Esports, were still allocated a share of the prize pool, receiving 2.1 percent collectively.