League of Legends: Season 2 World Championship

The Season 2 World Championship occurred on October 4–13, 2012, in Los Angeles, California and was the second iteration of the annual League of Legends World Championship. The tournament was won by Taipei Assassins over Azubu Frost in the finals.

Season 2 World Championship
2012
League of Legends Season 2 World Championship finals
Tournament information
SportLeague of Legends
LocationLos Angeles, California
DatesOctober 4, 2012–October 13, 2012
Administrator(s)Riot Games
Venue(s)Galen Center
Teams12
Purse$2,000,000 USD
Final positions
Champion Taipei Assassins
Runner-up Azubu Frost

Background
A group picture of the Taipei Assassins, the champions of season 2.

After Season 1, Riot announced that US$5,000,000 would be paid out over Season 2. Of this $5 million, $2 million went to Riot's partners including the IGN Pro League and other major esports associations. Another $2 million went to Riot's Season 2 qualifiers and championship. The final $1 million went to other organizers who applied to Riot to host independent League of Legends tournaments.[1]

The Season 2 World Championship was held in early October 2012 in Los Angeles, California to conclude the US$5 million season. Twelve qualifying teams from around the world participated in the championship, which boasted the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports tournaments at the time at US$2 million, US$1 million going to the champions, until The International 2013 beat it the next year. The group stage, quarter-final, and semi-final matches took place between October 4 and 6. The grand final took place a week after, on October 13 in the University of Southern California's Galen Center in front of 10,000 fans, and were broadcast in 13 different languages.[2] In the grand final, Taiwan's professional team Taipei Assassins triumphed over South Korea's Azubu Frost 3-to-1 and claimed the US$1 million in prize money.[3]

Over 8 million viewers tuned in to the Season 2 World Championship broadcast, with a maximum of 1.1 million concurrent viewers during the grand final, making the Season 2 World Championship the most watched esports event in history at the time.[4]

Controversies

Format

Several top teams missed out on the World Championship, including Fnatic and Azubu Blaze.[5] The IGN Pro League 5 tournament has been touted by some as the true Season 2 World Championships.

Cheating incident

During the quarter-final round of the Season 2 World Championship, Jang Gun Woong of team Azubu Frost cheated by turning his head to look at the big screen which was positioned behind him. The screen, which presents an overview of the game, is meant to be watched only by the crowd, as it displays elements that are supposed to be hidden from the players inside the game. This led to Azubu Frost being fined US$30,000.[6][7][8]

Technical issues

During the last quarter-final best-of-three match on October 6 between European team Counter Logic Gaming EU and Chinese team World Elite, multiple technical difficulties occurred. Roughly twenty minutes into the second game, the network connection in the arena went down, terminating the live stream on Twitch and disconnecting all ten players from the game, forcing a remake of the game. Then, roughly sixty minutes into the third game, the network went down again. A final attempt was made at finishing the third game, but due to more network outages and technical issues, including a player's defective computer which had to be replaced, the last game and the following semi-finals were rescheduled to be played on October 10 in the Galen Center, which was still undergoing construction work. The cause of the connection issues is uncertain, but is suspected to have been caused by faulty hardware.[9][10][11]

Qualification

The Participants qualified through the Regional Finals:

  • China: July 26 – Shanghai, China at China Joy – 2 teams
  • Europe: August 16 – Cologne, Germany at Gamescom – 3 teams
  • North America: August 30 – Seattle, United States at PAX Prime – 3 teams
  • Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau: September 1 – Taipei, Taiwan at G1 – 1 team
  • Southeast Asia: September 9 – Da Nang, Vietnam at Tien Son Sports Palace – 1 team
  • South Korea: September 21 – Seoul, Korea at the OGN eSports Stadium – 2 teams

Group stage

Group A
Pos Team Record
1 Azubu Frost 3–0
2 Invictus Gaming 2–1
3 CLG Prime 1–2
4 SK Gaming 0–3

Group B
Pos Team Record
1 NaJin Sword 3–0
2 CLG Europe 2–1
3 Saigon Jokers 1–2
4 Team Dignitas 0–3

Bracket stage
Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
Moscow Five 2
Invictus Gaming 0
Moscow Five 1
Taipei Assassins 2
Taipei Assassins 2
NaJin Sword 0
Taipei Assassins 3
Azubu Frost 1
Team SoloMid 0
Azubu Frost 2
Azubu Frost 2
CLG Europe 1
Team WE 1
CLG Europe 2

Final standings
Place Team Prize money
1st Taipei Assassins $1,000,000
2nd Azubu Frost $250,000
3rd Moscow Five $150,000
4th CLG Europe $150,000
5–8th Invictus Gaming $75,000
NaJin Sword
Team SoloMid
Team WE
9-10th CLG Prime $50,000
Saigon Jokers
11-12th SK Gaming $25,000
Team Dignitas

Top four
Place Team Players[12] Prize money
ID Name
1st Taipei Assassins

Stanley
Lilballz
Toyz
bebe
MiSTakE

Wang June Tsan
Kuan-Po Alex Sung
Kurtis Lau Wai-kin
Cheng Bo-Wei
Chen Hui Chung

 $1,000,000
2nd Azubu Frost

Shy
CloudTemplar
RapidStar
Woong
MadLife

Park Sang-myeon
Lee Hyun-woo
Jung Min-sung
Jang Gun-woong
Hong Min-gi

 $250,000
3rd–4th Counter Logic Gaming Europe

Wickd
Snoopeh
Froggen
yellowpete
Krepo

Mike Petersen
Stephen Ellis
Henrik Hansen
Peter Wüppen
Mitch Voorspoels

 $150,000
Moscow Five

Darien
Diamondprox
Alex Ich
Genja
GoSu Pepper

Evgeny Mazaev
Danil Reshetnikov
Alexey Ichetovkin
Evgeny Andryushin
Edward Abgaryan

References
  1. "League of Legends Season 2". Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  2. "The League of Legends Season 2 World Championship Live from the Galen Center (TV Movie 2012) - Plot Summary - IMDb". Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  3. "Taipei Assassins triumph in 'League of Legends' world finals". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  4. "Riot: League of Legends Season 2 Championships most watched eSports event of all time". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  5. https://gamurs.com/articles/the-greatest-tournament-of-all-time-the-storylines-of-ipl-5
  6. "League of Legends playoffs soured by allegations of cheating". Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  7. "League of Legends tournament cheaters fined $30,000". Archived from the original on May 10, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  8. "World Playoffs - Rule Violations". Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  9. "League of Legends Season 2 playoffs Day 3 recap: Network failure suspends play, Riot postpone finale of CLG EU v. World Elite match, semifinals | PCGamesN". Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  10. "League of Legends season two World Playoffs rescheduled - Destructoid". Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  11. CLG.eu vs WE - Game 3 - Season 2 Quarter Finals - YouTube. Riot Games. October 12, 2012. Event occurs at 0:00. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  12. "League of Legends Season Two World Championships". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
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