League of Legends World Championship 2013

The third iteration of the League of Legends World Championship was held in 2013. Hosted BY Riot Games in Los Angeles. The group stages and quarterfinals were held at Culver Studios, the semi-finals were held at the Galen Center and the Grand Finals took place at Staples Center.    

Format of League of Legends World Championship 2013

Qualifiers

1. Total of four regional finals were held. Winners advanced to the World championship
2. Runners-up of the China regional finals advanced to the World Championship
3. One Wildcard match was held where the winner advanced to the World Championship

Group Stage

1. Ten teams were divided into groups of five each
2. Top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage. Rest were eliminated

Knockout Stage

1. Four teams that received direct entry to the championship face the teams from Group stage.
2. Except the Quarter finals all matches are played best of five.

Teams of League of Legends World Championship 2013

Total of 14 teams qualified for the World Championship. Out of the 14, four teams received direct entry to the quarterfinals. The other teams have to go through the group stage and face elimination. Season 3 of the World Championship was a changing point for the tournament. Of the fourteen teams that had qualified only three had previously competed in Season 2. These were – Team SoloMid, Gambit Gaming (formerly known as Moscow 5) and NaJin Black Sword. 

Season 2 World Championship winner Taipei Assassins didn’t make a return as they had been knocked out in the qualifying rounds. The fourteen teams participating included – 

1. Cloud9
2. Fnatic
3. Gama Bears
4. Gambit Gaming
5. GamingGear.eu
6. Lemondogs
7. Mineski
8. NaJin Black Sword
9. Oh My God
10. Royal Club
11. SK Telecom T1
12. Samsung Ozone
13. Team SoloMid
14. Team Vulcan

Prize Pool

Season 3 of the World Championship saw a rise in the prize pool. The total prize pool was- US$2,050,000 and were spread among the teams as seen below :- 

1st : US$1,000,000 

2nd : US$250,000 

3rd-4th : US$150,000

5th-8th : US$75,000

9th-10th : US$45,000 

10th-12th : US$30,000 

13th-14th: US$25,000

Grand Finals

The Grand Finals of season 3 saw South Korean team SK Telecom T1 and Chinese team Royal Club go head to head. SK Telecom used an aggressive strategy and capitalised on Royal Club’s errors to take home US$1,000,000 and a shiny trophy. The South Korean team swept Royal Club three games to nil. In addition to this the South Korean team received big paydays from their sponsors including global giant Nike and local wireless carrier SK Telecom.

At that time all of the team members except one in SK Telecom were below the age of 20.  In a Korean press conference, Team Member Jung Eon-yeong said “ We are all going to save it all.“I’m not overly excited,” Jung said of the victory. “We still have to improve, try harder, dominate next year and continue to be strong.”

Viewership of League

The World Championship final was watched on Twitch by over 32 million people making it one of the most viewed Esports events of 2013. The 2013 viewership numbers saw a large jump from 8.2 million in 2012. In addition to this Staples center was sold out by fans eager to watch their favorite teams win the prestigious championship. 

Read here about League of Legends World Championship 2012 and 2011.