World
T1 Wins The ‘League Of Legends’ World Championship… Again
T1 has won the League of Legends World Championship at the O2 Arena in London, England, beating Bilibili Gaming in the grand final 3-2.
The win is the sixth world championship for T1 and star player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, further cementing them both as the greatest team and player ever to have played League of Legends.
The final, which took place at the O2 Arena in London, England, was a back and forth affair, with Bilibili taking the first map before T1 fired back in the second. Bilibili then took game three, which put them on match point and just one game away from writing their name in the League of Legends history books for the first time. T1, however, had other ideas, taking game four despite falling behind early on to set up a final game five, which they would go on to win.
T1 rarely looked troubled throughout the tournament, finishing the Swiss stage in third place, where they beat Bilibili Gaming in the best of one stage. They also took down G2 Esports in the Swiss stage, which gave them a spot in the quarter-finals to take on Top Esports. T1 won that match 3-0, before taking down local rivals Gen.G Esports 3-1 to book a spot in their seventh world championship final.
On the other side, Bilibili Gaming had a tough road though the event, after only finishing in sixth place in the Swiss stage, where they eliminated European favourites G2 Esports to qualify for the playoff stage but lost to T1. After a very middling performance in the Swiss stage, Bilibili Gaming then turned things up, dominating Hanwha Life Esports in the quarter-final 3-1 and then taking down Weibo Gaming in the semi-final to set up the rematch against T1 in the grand final.
Taking the win at Worlds gives T1 $445,000 and of course the title of World Champions, which will likely mean a lot more than the money. Bilibili Gaming takes home $356,000 while Weibo Gaming and Gen.G Esports, who finished in 3rd/4th place, take home $178,000.
With the competitive season now over, all eyes in the League of Legends world turn to the release of new champion Ambessa, who is scheduled to release in the coming days. She is, of course, best known as a character in the first season of Arcane, the League of Legends themed anime on Netflix that is set to return for a second season in the next few days as well.