The League of Legends World Championship just concluded its final day and crowned a new world champion. Worlds is one of the biggest events in esports annually and a celebration of a year of competitive play across 14 regions. Developer Riot Games hosted the tournament in South Korea, with different stages being held in different cities. The month-long event housed a stage in Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, and Incheon.

The tournament held its final day on November 3^rd in Incheon, South Korea. The Incheon Munhak Stadium acted as the venue, a stadium that hosted the FIFA World Cup and Asian Games, for the finals. The sold-out stadium began to fill up as the live broadcast began across multiple media outlets worldwide.

Opening Ceremony and Champion Hopefuls

The opening ceremony kicked off with the debut of Riot’s new song Pop/Stars performed by singers Madison Beer, Jaira Burns, and two members of the kpop group (G)I-DLE. The stage performance featured augmented reality versions of League’s newest skin set K/DA. Following the debut, a live performance of the World’s anthem Rise introduced the competing teams. The song was performed by The Glitch Mob, Mako, The Word Alive, and Bobby from kpop group iKON. The song ended with teams Invictus Gaming and Fnatic facing each other on an elevated stage.

Invictus Gaming is the 2nd seed from China. They started their bracket run against the Korean titan KT Rolster. In an intense 5 game series, IG pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament. They then showed their dominance by crushing Europe’s G2 esports in one of the quickest series of the tournament. Fnatic had a much easier road by comparison. As a favorite in each of their matches, they were able to dispatch China’s Edward Gaming and North America’s Cloud9.

The Crownless Become Kings

Both of these organizations have a long history in League of Legends. Fnatic is known as the kings of Europe, winning several domestic titles across multiple years. They were the best hope for Western fans as they aimed to be the first Western team to win an international title in 7 years. In comparison, Invictus Gaming struggled far more domestically. Despite existing for so long they have never won a title in their region. As China’s final hope they aimed to win the most important tournament of the year.

The games started, and Invictus Gaming showed their mastery by easily defeating Fnatic in the first two games. Fnatic tried to respond by subbing in veteran player Soaz, but it was far too late. IG ended the series in the 3^rd game, despite a strong start for Fnatic. Invictus Gaming finally earned their crown. Completing the perfect year for China, who had won every major tournament that year. A new era in League of Legends had begun, a perfect way to end the biggest tournament of the year.