The biggest League of Legends event of the year has come to an end this past weekend. It took over a month of action, consisting of Play-Ins, Group Stages and Playoffs before the 2019 World Champion could be crowned.
Teams that qualified for the Main Event
There were 12 teams that qualified for the event through regional leagues and success during the 2019 season:
- FunPlus Phoenix (FPX)
- G2 Esports
- SK Telecom T1 (SKT)
- Team Liquid
- Ahq eSports Club
- Cloud9
- Fnatic
- GAM Esports
- Griffin
- Invictus Gaming (2018 World Champions)
- J Team
- Royal Never Give Up (RNG)
- Clutch Gaming
- DAMWON Gaming
- HK Attitude
- Splyce
The next 12 seeded teams from across the world met in a Play-In tournament, with 4 advancing to join the teams listed above. The 4 that qualified were:
- Clutch Gaming
- DAMWON Gaming
- Hong Kong Attitude
- Splyce
Group Stages
Rather than hitting you with a full breakdown of every group stage match from the two weeks of action, below there is a recap of how things ended up.
Group A
| Position | Team | Record |
| 1st | Griffin | 5-1 |
| 2nd | G2 Esports | 5-1 |
| 3rd | Cloud9 | 2-4 |
| 4th | Hong Kong Attitude | 0-6 |
Group B
| Position | Team | Record |
| 1st | FunPlus Phoenix | 4-2 |
| 2nd | Splyce | 4-2 |
| 3rd | J Team | 3-3 |
| 4th | GAM Esports | 1-5 |
Group C
| Position | Team | Record |
| 1st | SK Telecom T1 | 5-1 |
| 2nd | Fnatic | 4-2 |
| 3rd | Royal Never Give Up | 3-3 |
| 4th | Clutch Gaming | 0-6 |
Group D
| Position | Team | Record |
| 1st | DAMWON Gaming | 5-1 |
| 2nd | Invictus Gaming | 4-2 |
| 3rd | Team Liquid | 3-3 |
| 4th | Ahq eSports Club | 0-6 |
Playoffs
Below is a brief recap of the playoffs prior to the grand final. If you want full recaps of the matches, follow the links below.
Quarter-Finals
DAMWON Gaming 1 – 3 G2 Esports
SK Telecom T1 3 – 1 Splyce
Griffin 1 – 3 Invictus Gaming
FunPlus Phoenix 3 – 1 Fnatic
Semi-Finals
G2 Esports 3 – 1 SK Telecom T1
Invictus Gaming 1 – 3 FunPlus Phoenix
The Grand Final
Much like last year, the grand final consisted of a European team and a Chinese team. The big difference to last year was that each region had a new representative. G2 represented Europe on home soil and had the weight of the Western regions on their shoulders. Meanwhile, FunPlus Phoenix was carrying the weight of China on theirs and had the pressure of bringing the World Championship back to China for a consecutive time.
There was an insane level of hype surrounding the final, but unfortunately, like this year, it ended up being a bit of a blowout. Things kicked off with a 40-minute game that ended in the favour of FPX, although they were in control for most of the mid and late game.
The momentum was heavy going into the next game and FPX demolished G2 in a 25-minute game and found themselves 2-0 up, just one win away from being World Champions. Whilst game 3 was closer, FPX managed to win a team fight which allowed them to capitalise and end the game after 30 minutes.
This meant FPX defeated G2 3-0 in the grand final of the 2019 World Championship. A painful reminder to 2018 for European fans where they also lost 3-0. Despite the scoreline, the final was exciting and had an excellent draft process for every game. Congratulations to FunPlus Phoenix, the League of Legends 2019 World Champions.
