The group draw for the League of Legends World Championship took place Tuesday morning, and worlds groups have been decided for the play-in and group stages.
The newly created play-in stage for worlds will feature 12 teams divided into four groups of three. Round 1 of the play-in will be played in a double round robin with best-of-one games, and the top two from each group will reach to the next round. Round 2 will be played in best-of-five series, with the winners advancing to the group stage. The groups for the play-in are as follows:
Group A
Team WE (China)
Gambit (CIS)
Lyon Gaming (Latin America North)
Group B
Cloud9 (North America)
Team oNe Esports (Brazil)
Dire Wolves (Oceania)
Group C
Fnatic (Europe)
Young Generation (Southeast Asia)
Kaos Latin Gamers (Latin America South)
Group D
Hong Kong Attitude (LMS)
1907 Fenerbahçe (Turkey)
Rampage (Japan)
The winners of the play-in stage will be added to the open four spots in the group stage. The 16 competing teams will be divided into four groups of four, playing in a double round robin best-of-one games, and the top two teams of each group will move onto the knockout stage, a single elimination tournament played in a best-of-five series. It’s important to note that the seeding rules for the group stage from the play-in will not allow two teams of the same region be in the same group. The group stage draw went as follows:
Group A
EDward Gaming (China)
SK Telecom T1 (Korea)
ahq e-Sports Club (LMS)
Play-in team
Group B
Longzhu Gaming (Korea)
Immortals (North America)
Gigabyte Marines (Southeast Asia)
Play-in team
Group C
G2 Esports (Europe)
Samsung Galaxy (Korea)
Royal Never Give Up (China)
Play-in team
Group D
Flash Wolves (LMS)
Misfits (Europe)
Team SoloMid (North America)
Play-in team
Worlds will begin on Sept. 23 with the play-in stage, and will continue until Nov. 4, when the champion of Season 7 will be crowned. The advancing play-in teams will be drawn into their groups before the group stage begins.
Cover photo courtesy of Riot Games