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League of Legends News

How Riot Games Dominated Tournaments During a Pandemic

With the outbreak of the Covid-19, esports, like the rest of the world, ground to a halt. Starting with IEM Katowice in 2020, hundreds of events were canceled, switched to online, had their crowds removed, or were otherwise changed in response to the coronavirus.

But even as the rest of the esports world was canceling and moving their biggest tournaments online, Riot Games managed to put on three enormous tournaments: Worlds 2020, Mid-Season Invitational 2021, and Worlds 2021. But how did Riot Games succeed where so many other tournaments, such as Dota 2’s The International and CS:GO’s Majors, were forced into cancellation?

The feat of Worlds 2020

Image via Riot Games

Riot Games and their League of Legends competitive scene was not immediately immune to the cancellations that ripped through the esports world in the wake of Covid-19. With their leagues moved online, taken out of studios, and in some cases, postponed, competitive LoL and the newly revealed Valorant competitive scene suffered in early 2020.

Most notable was the cancellation of MSI 2020. The Mid Season Invitational 2020 was initially scheduled for May 2020. But after the outbreak of the Pandemic was canceled in April of that year. It looked like, in all likelihood, Worlds 2020 would share the same fate. After all, several massive international events like Worlds had to be canceled that same year. 

But Riot had an ace up their sleeve: The backing of parent company Tencent. It’s impossible to know just how much sway the state-backed Tencent corporation pulled to ensure that League of Legends got its Worlds 2020. But suffice to say, Worlds 2020 was held in China, with a limited crowd for some days. 

But beyond just greasing the gears with some corporate connections, the measures taken to ensure a safe environment were astronomical. Taking place on a closed set in the Shanghai Media Tech Studio, teams traveling to the event were all placed in the same hotel. Each squad was forced into a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Employees faced similar strict restrictions. Ultimately there were no reported cases during the event.

Many would criticize Riot’s all-spanning control of the competitive scene for League of Legends. But when faced with needing to operate an international tournament in a bubble, it’s hard to fault the total control.

Iceland saved the day in 2021

Image via Riot Games

With the Pandemic continuing into 2021, instead of the eight or 12-month crisis, many had initially predicted, more competitive events would have to be scaled down or canceled. With Riot’s newly launched VCT for Valorant and the new 2021 season of League of Legends starting, it looked like the continuing Pandemic would scupper it. But for several reasons, that wasn’t an option. 

In many ways, Riot Games was snookered by its past decisions. To have held Worlds 2020 and set expectations of what could be achieved in a pandemic so high, only to scale things back in 2021, would be unthinkable. It would have sent two messages: Firstly, Worlds 2020 was a mistake; an event born of hubris and brute force (accurate on many accounts). And secondly that it was a one-off miracle and not something that could be replicated by Riot Games again. Especially not outside of China, without the influence of Tencent on its side.

Scouring the globe, the ideal venue for Riot Games 2021 events became clear. Iceland and its capital of Reykjavík was the perfect location. Nominally a European location, but with enough restrictions and a small population to have prevented huge numbers of coronavirus cases, Iceland was ideal for esports events.

Valorant Masters, MSI 2021, and Worlds 2021 were all hosted in Reykjavik in the Laugardalshöll arena under similar lockdown conditions to Worlds 2020. As a result, the three huge events were pulled off with no press, no audience, and just players and staff isolated in arenas.

Looking ahead to MSI South Korea

Image via Asia Tech Daily

With all these successes, it’s no surprise Riot Games is again looking to hold an event during a global pandemic. This time it’s rumored to be in South Korea, with the League of Legends MSI 2022. What measures Riot Games will put in place remains to be seen. The company has operated well with strict measures, but the overall attitude to the Pandemic has changed over the past two years.

We live in a world where most competitors will be double or even triple vaccinated against the virus. The cases in South Korea have steadily increased over the past months, but so has testing. And in many cases, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 seems to have less severe symptoms, especially for the vaccinated. Under these conditions, Riot Games once again attempts to hold an international tournament. Over the past two years, they’ve proved they’re more than capable of doing so.

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League of Legends

With Worlds on the Line, Sunday 22nd is Make or Break for 4 LoL Teams

League of Legends Worlds 2021 is set to kick off just a few months from now, but some of the best LoL Teams in the West find themselves on the edge of elimination from the event. Out of Team SoloMid, Cloud9, G2 Esports, and Fnatic, only two of these teams will make it to Worlds 2021.

In a landmark series of games over the weekend (Sunday 22), the very makeup of the LoL competitive scene is being reformed.

We break down these two huge matchups and how their outcomes will affect Worlds 2021.

Fnatic vs. G2 to Become an EU Representative at LoL Worlds 

Fnatic and G2 Esports are the two most decorated LoL teams in Europe. With dozens of championships between them, it would seem trivial that these teams would head to Worlds 2021. But, instead, we find them battling it out to even attend.

Despite their normal top-tier play, Fnatic has struggled in both Spring and Summer splits. Sitting strictly at the middle of the table, the team has barely made it to the playoffs in both seasons. Now they have to win this game to even find their way to Worlds 2021.

G2 Esports, with its new roster including Martin “Rekkles” Larsson (a former Fnatic player), has managed to top the tables but struggled in both post-seasons. After two playoffs, they now find themselves taking on historical rivals Fnatic for an international competition spot.

As the teams clash at 16:00pm BST, in a best-of-five competition, they’ll be battling for more than a semi-final spot. They’ll be fighting for survival and the chance to join the ascendant MAD Lions as Europe’s representative at Worlds 2021.

Cloud9 and TSM to Clash With LoL Worlds Spot on the Line

After an incredibly impressive 3-1 victory over Immortals on Friday, the regular season champs, TSM, now have Worlds squarely in their crosshairs. Their match against Cloud9 on Sunday is their most important all year.

On Thursday, Cloud9 3-0’d Evil Geniuses to secure their spot in this matchup. Having spent much of their summer split trying to replicate the success of Spring, the team now struggles in the post-season. By rights, they’d automatically be headed to Worlds alongside Team Liquid. But, instead, they face LCS rivals TSM for this semi-final spot.

What’s so crazy about this matchup is that it’s only round 3 of the Championship. There’s still a trio of incredible matchups on the way, although few will have as high stakes. In the morning, we saw the LPL and LCK have similarly high-profile matchups, and LoL Worlds 2021 feels closer than ever.