2014 League of Legends World Championship
| 2014 | |
 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location |
   |
| Dates | September 18–October 19 |
| Administrator(s) | Riot Games |
Tournament format(s) |
16 team round-robin group stage 8 team single-elimination bracket |
| Venue(s) | 5 (in 4 host cities) |
| Teams | 16 |
| Purse | $2,130,000 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Samsung White (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Star Horn Royal Club |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 78 |
| Attendance | 40,000+ (final) |
| MVP |
|
| Highest KDA |
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| Highest GPM |
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The 2014 League of Legends World Championship was the world championship that was held from September 18, 2014 to October 19, 2014 for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game League of Legends. It was the fourth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship. Matches were held in Taipei, Singapore, and Seoul, with grand finals being at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.[3] The 16 teams qualified by either winning a major professional league or a regional qualifying tournament. There was a 16 team round-robin group stage followed by an 8 team single elimination bracket. The games were officially streamed on twitch.tv and Azubu in several languages and the finals were aired online on ESPN3.
The group stage began September 18 in Taipei at the National Taiwan University Sports Center and concluded September 28 in Singapore at the Singapore EXPO with eight teams advancing to the bracket stage.[4] The bracket stage started on October 3 in Busan, South Korea at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, and concluded on October 19 with the grand finals hosted at the 45,000-seats Seoul World Cup Stadium,[5][6] where South Korean team Samsung Galaxy White beat the Chinese team Star Horn Royal Club to become the 2014 League of Legends world champions.[7][8][9]
American band Imagine Dragons contributed the theme song "Warriors" for the tournament,[10] and performed live on the grand finals stage in South Korea.[11] All games were made available for free via live streaming.[12] The music video for Warriors is currently the most viewed League of Legends video online, with over 100 million views.[13]
The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.
Teams
The following teams qualified to participate in the tournament's group stage:[14]
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Group stage
The group stage was played in a best of one double round-robin format, with the top two teams from each of the four groups advancing to the knockout stage, for a total of eight teams.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
6-0 |
| 2 |  |
3-3 |
| 3 | |
3-3 |
| 4 |  |
0-6 |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
5-1 |
| 2 |  |
4-2 |
| 3 |  |
2-4 |
| 4 | |
1-5 |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
5-1 |
| 2 | |
3-3 |
| 3 | |
2-4 |
| 3 |  |
2-4 |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
4-2 |
| 2 | |
4-2 |
| 3 |  |
3-3 |
| 4 |  |
1-5 |
Knockout stage
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 2014-10-03 – Busan[lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||
| 2014-10-11 – Seoul[lower-alpha 2] | ||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 2014-10-04 – Busan | ||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||
| 2014-10-19 – Seoul[lower-alpha 3] | ||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 2014-10-05 – Busan | ||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 2014-10-12 – Seoul | ||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 2014-10-06 – Busan | ||||||||||
| 2 | |||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
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| Champion Samsung Galaxy White 1rs title |
Final standings
| Place | Team | Prize money[15] |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | |
$1,000,000 |
| 2nd | |
$250,000 |
| 3rd–4th | |
$150,000 |
| ||
| 5–8th | |
$75,000 |
| ||
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| 9–11th | |
$45,000 |
| ||
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| 12–13th | |
$35,000 |
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| 14–16th | |
$25,000 |
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Viewership and attendance
Around 40,000 fans attended the grand finals between Samsung White and Star Horn Royal Club.[16] It is estimated that there were 288 million cumulative views throughout the entire tournament.[17][18][19]
The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.[17][18]
Racism incident
Prior to the World Championship group stage in Taipei, SK Gaming's Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen acted in a racially insensitive way while playing on the Taiwanese server, being disrespectful towards other players and naming his account "TaipeiChingChong". Johnsen was fined US$2,500 and was suspended from his team's first three games in the tournament.[20]
References
- ↑ Fields, Frank (October 19, 2014). "SAMSUNG WHITE WINS 2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- 1 2 "TOP PERFORMERS". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ↑ MOZUR, PAUL (October 19, 2014). "For South Korea, E-Sports Is National Pastime". New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ↑ "World Championship 2014 Preliminary Schedule". Retrieved October 8, 2014.
- ↑ "'League of Legends' scholarship". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ↑ Magrino, Tom. "Welcome to the League of Legends 2014 World Championship!". Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ↑ "Bracket". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ↑ "Riot - World Championship 2014 - Leaguepedia - Competitive League of Legends Wiki". Archived from the original on 2014-10-20. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ↑ "League of Legends 2014 World Championship". Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ↑ "Imagine Dragons teams with 'League of Legends' for $2.3m tournament - Yahoo News Singapore". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ↑ "Prepare yourself for the 2014 Worlds Final". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ↑ "Watch ‘League Of Legends’ World Championship 2014 Live Online". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ↑ "Imagine Dragons: Warriors | Worlds 2014 - League of Legends". 17 September 2014.
- ↑ Jackson, Leah (September 8, 2015). "WORLDS 2014 GROUP STAGE SELECTION RESULTS". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ↑ "League of Legends World Championships Prize Distribution - $2.13 Million USD Total". onGamers. CBS Interactive. August 5, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
- ↑ Tassi, Paul (October 19, 2015). "40,000 Korean Fans Watch SSW Win 2014 'League of Legends' World Championship". Forbes. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- 1 2 "WORLDS 2014 BY THE NUMBERS". Riot Games. December 1, 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-12-02. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- 1 2 Gafford, Travis (December 1, 2014). "League of Legends 2014 World Championship Viewer Numbers (Infograph)". onGamers. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ↑ Dorsey, Patrick (December 14, 2014). "'League of Legends' ratings top NBA Finals, World Series clinchers". ESPN. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ↑ "League of Legends Competition Ruling: Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen | LoL Esports". Retrieved October 8, 2014.